Mumford and Sons celebrate their best album win backstage at the 55th Grammy Awards.

Credit: AP Photo/Matt Sayles

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LOS ANGELES - By the time the presentation for album of the year came around at the end of the Grammy Awards, Mumford & Sons had long given up any notion that they might win, despite the fact that most critics had predicted “Babel” would take home the prize.

“I can tell you definitely, we were in the Pre-tel stuff. We sat there. We had six nominations, we were like 'Oh, cool, we’ve got six nominations. And one after another was like, ‘And the Black Keys, the Black Keys. The Black Keys’,” recounted Marcus Mumford backstage with a cup of his favorite adult beverage in his hand.“And so I think we just sort of resigned ourselves to, like last year was Adele’s year, it was the Black Keys’ year and good on ‘em, they’re fu**king awesome. We came here, we honestly were just happy to be nominated. We really didn’t care about winning. I'm not just bullshitting you.”

But now that the band has won, “it’s fucking awesome,” exclaimed keyboardist BenLovett. The band members remain based in London, but that’s only a technicality given how much time the band spends away from home. “We’re on tour most of the time, so it doesn’t matter where we live,” Mumford said.

In short time, Mumford & Sons have become a favorite among such celebrities and fellow musicians as Eddie Vedder, Johnny Depp and Dave Grohl. “It’s amazing when your heroes have even heard of you. It’s weird. It’s fu**ing weird,” says banjo player. Winston Marshall.