The XX's personal album

The XX never thought anyone would hear their album.

The UK band - who picked up the prestigious Barclaycard Mercury Prize last night - admit they wrote their self-titled debut for each other, and never expected to win any fans.

Singer and instrumentalist Romy Madley Croft - who makes up the band with childhood friends Oliver Sim and Jamie Smith - told Absolute Radio: "We do all this for ourselves. Originally when I wrote these songs I didn't think that anyone would hear them apart from Oliver and Jamie.

"We just really loved doing it. And the only thing I've really won was when I got a swimming badge for a race that I came third in once."

Elsewhere nominees I Am Kloot admitted they bought their suits for the awards - held at London's Grosvenor House hotel - from budget clothing store TK Maxx ,while folk group Mumford and Sons said they were planning to drink as much free alcohol at the awards as they could.

When asked if they would be ok to perform at the show after drinking so much, singer Marcus Mumford said: "We'll test it out tonight, we'll find our threshold, We'll see how far we can go and then we'll play.

"That's what people do at the Mercurys isn't it? I've only ever seen it on TV before but people always look inebriated"

Since the XX's win last night (07.09.10), online retailer Amazon.co.uk has reported at 500 per cent increase in sales of the band's album.