Mark E. Smith, longtime frontman/only consistent member of the British punk band the Fall, is one of the legendary cranks in rock history, and he is not mellowing with age. Pity, for instance, rootsy festival mainstays Mumford & Sons. As the Quietus points out, Smith made his feelings about the band very, very clear in a recent interview with the Australian magazine Brag.

In the interview, Smith complains about playing festival shows with bands comprised of "ass lickers." Then, this: "We were playing a festival in Dublin the other week. There was this other group, like, warming up in the next sort of chalet, and they were terrible. I said, 'Shut them cunts up!' And they were still warming up, so I threw a bottle at them. The bands said, 'That's the Sons of Mumford' or something. 'They're number five in charts!' I just thought they were a load of retarded Irish folk singers." The man truly has a way with words.

In the same interview, Smith says that he "left Domino Records last week". However, according to Domino, the Fall was signed to a one-album deal. That album, Your Future Our Clutter, is out now, and so the deal is done. Can't imagine why they wouldn't want to maintain a long-term relationship with this guy.