NEWS: The Fall's Mark E Smith talks about new album and his dislike of Mumford & Sons

Mark E Smith of The Fall has spoken about The Fall's forthcoming new album, which he says he'd like to release in January of next year. He said: "We've been in The Kinks' studio for a fortnight... The improvement in the group is marvellous - they're just tighter and better. We're actually just finishing off the next record. I haven't got a title for it yet but we are thinking about a January release."

He added that he’s seen more and more young people showing up at Fall shows of late, saying: "There are a lot of younger people in the audiences these days. You've got the old guard and the young guard, I think a lot of it has to do with computers and getting music that way."

He continued: "The crowds are great though. We went to Sweden - and they hate our fucking guts there - but even that was all right. I don't know though, it doesn't bother me at all who is there. I don't fucking care who comes."

Meanwhile in some more widely publicised news, Smith spoke about his issues with Mumford and Sons. According to NME.com, the iconic frontman initially bad-mouthed them two years ago at a festival in Dublin whilst they were enjoying a backstage sing-a-long.

Speaking to The List, Smith recalled the incident, saying: I was talking to the promoter who's a mate of mine and said, 'look, don't take the piss. You've stuck us next to some mongoloid Irish folk band.' The promoter turns around and says, "they're number one in your English charts." I thought he was fucking joking. They started clopping about singing, sounded like they were dancing on the tables - so I told them to shut the fuck up."

This seems to match a story Smith told a couple of years ago: "We were playing a festival in Dublin the other week," he told Australian magazine Brag. "There was this other group warming up in the next sort of chalet, and they were terrible."

He added: "I said, 'Shut them cunts up,' and they were still warming up, so I threw a bottle at them. The band said, 'That's the Sons Of Mumford [sic] or something, they're Number Five in charts!'. I just thought they were a load of retarded Irish folk singers."