Remember when everyone thought Phoenix was an American band, or a Scandinavian band? It was probably rather annoying for the Versailles rockers, though it seems as though there's one huge benefit of nobody being quite sure we're you're from.

Phoenix
Contactmusic Caught Up With Phoenix At Leeds Festival 2013

We caught up with Thomas Mars and Laurent Brancowitz of the French quartet ahead of their triumphant set at Leeds Festival over the weekend and asked how it felt to be the subject of mistaken identity.

"In the beginning it did [feel annoying], but I think in the beginning it wasn't specific to being American," Thomas told us, "Americans would think we were Swedish, English would think we were Swiss...but after they got to know us after more than one more album...it's really clear now"

"Confusion is nice, it's nice to part of this, nobody can say exactly who you are.but it was important that somehow it was true to who we were as teenagers," he added.

Elaborating on the need to stay true to their French heritage, Laurent added, "We want to be French for sure, because it was very hard in the beginning because nobody really believed in a French band, but now, for us, we feel lucky that we have all this heritage," before joking, "And we can copy all these French songs that you don't' even know, so everyone is thinking we are geniuses, but we are still stealing things that people have never heard of."

Watch our full interview with Phoenix at Leeds Festival:

We'd like to think Laurent meant taking inspiration from home-grown acts, rather than ripping off songs. In fact, we're sure that's what he meant.

Phoenix's new album Bankrupt is out now.