Winston Marshall says he got his “soul back” after quitting Mumford & Sons, the band he co-founded in 2007.
“I felt I could sleep again,” the musician added. “It’s amazing the effect that had on me. It has been completely liberating. I feel like it was the right decision.”
Marshall announced his departure from the band last June, three months after causing a stir by promoting a book by Andy Ngô, an editor at conservative Canadian website The Post Millennial.
In a since-deleted tweet, Marshall called Unmasked: Inside Antifa’s Radical Plan to Destroy Democracy an “important” book and Ngô “a brave man.”
The musician said at the time that leaving Mumford & Sons would enable him “to speak my mind” without his bandmates "suffering the consequences.”
In an interview with The Times published Saturday, Marshall said: “I really didn’t think Antifa would end up being the hill I died on. It’s not even a topic I actually care that much about.”
The 34-year-old, whose father is British billionaire Paul Marshall, added: “Obviously artists have a right to boycott. The difference now is that it’s ‘silence him or I’m out.’ This feels so bizarre and I don’t think it ends well.
“Musicians’ careers are all about self-expression, so how can they think that’s going to work if they’re not up for people expressing themselves?”
Marshall said he doesn’t miss fame but continues to love his former band and the songs they created together. He said he has been collaborating with a “well-known” pop singer.