Following their set on the NME/Radio1 stage, R13 caught up with DFA1979's Jesse (J) and their sound man Angus (A) in relaxed mood on a sunny afternoon at Leeds Festival.

R13: You've gathered quite a collection of remixes so far, how do you choose who remixes your music?
J:My policy is to let whoever remix it and if they do a good job then it'll get used, if they don't do a good job then regardless of who they are it won't get used.
R13: What do you think about remixes that have happened without your knowledge beforehand?
J:It's great, well my other job is doing remixes so I appreciate it.

R13: Your musical style is something that has to be seen live, when did you become known for your live performances?
J: Day one.
R13: Was there a moment when you came across the formula for a good set?
J: Well I used to be a DJ in a reggae nightclub and I found the best thing to do is, it's all about choosing songs that go well with each other, it's finding a flow for your set like a bell curve, actually an inverse bell curve works the best where you get a low point in the middle. I know it sounds too scientifical and not so musical but that's the reality of a good feel, so we sort of organise our set so that songs flow together well and the transitions will be smooth and musical and that's how we do it.

R13: How did your music come about? Did you begin with the intention of becoming the most aggressive, dirty drum and bass band around?
J: I don't know if that's what we are, we just intended to be a pop band! We wanted to be a pop band like other pop bands but it doesn't work out because that's not who we are as people. We just ended up being the dirtiest, angriest, mouthiest band for some reason. Our band was born out of the punk scene, not because we wanted to make punk music but because what we were doing both instinctively and naturally was way too much for the audience that we intended on playing for. So we're just doing what comes naturally.

R13: A few months ago there were rumours flying around regarding the new album, what exactly have you got in mind for it?
J: There's gonna be three versions of our new album, one is the actual version that will be released, the second will be an all dance remix version that I'm doing with a group called Mastercraft, Sebastian's going to do another cover version with a full band with guitars, keyboards and everything called 'Girl On Girl'. When everything's going to be released I'm not sure but the album will be out in April and so far I'm really proud of the songs we've been writing, they're better than what we were doing before.

R13: What do you think about the charity wristband phenomenon?
J: I don't understand it, I won't wear a wristband if I don't know what the charity does. My parents and I were going to give a lot of money to World Vision, which is like an organisation that does stuff for kids in Africa. So we asked them could you give us your financial statements and they said OK and sent them to us and like 60 or 80% of the money they brought in went to administration! I saw that and was like 'fuck that!'. I'm not giving them the money, that's bullshit, you're spending all the money on yourselves. If that money actually went to the kids, it's better if I go to Africa and actually hand them money, then the same money would actually get somewhere!

R13: Have you ever adopted an elephant?
J: One of my dreams is like you know how miniature poodles are just large poodles where the small ones are bred together until they're little? I want to get elephants, small elephants and breed them together until I get an elephant that's the size of a Great Dane. I would like to have an elephant that could live in my house and I could ride around, it would be beautiful!
R13: Good answer!

(At this point DFA1979's sound man, Angus, jumps in to ask the question!)
R13/Angus: What other bands are you going to check out at the festival?
J: I watched the Blood Brothers and I'm gonna watch QOTSA and for the rest of the time I'm going to be drinking and hanging out with my friends cos I never get to see them when we're on tour. There are good bands, Yourcodenameis:milo played earlier, they're great, there's a lot of musicians that don't like it but My Chemical Romance is a great band to watch too cos the crowd goes insane but to be honest when we got here they didn't give us the schedule so I don't even know who's playing!

R13:How did you go down today? What was it like playing here?
J:It was great and it was nuts and it was satisfying because it was the last show of our whole tour that started in January, actually that's a lie! It started in October of last year!
R13: Are you going to be doing any other tours or dates this year or is that it now?
J: We're going to be touring with QOTSA and NIN in October/November and that's about it. Other than that it's all about the record.

R13: OK here's a couple of questions that have come from your fans; how's the search for a new guitarist going?
J: What? Haha Do you know that we don't have a guitar player?
R13:Well I kind of figured but you know, a fan wrote it!
J: haha it's going great, we've found him, he's joining the band and his name is 'eat shit!'

A: Can I ask one?
R13: Sure
A: If you had to use a colour to describe the feeling of todays festival here at Leeds, what colour would you use? The vibe at Leeds festival, what colour would you use to describe it?
J: Green cos it's the colour of marijuana and a good beer bottle! Everyone here is drunk or high and it's great.
A:So green and brown essentially?
J: Ps. I'm colour blind question asker so green and brown to me are basically one colour!

A: Any thoughts on giving your sound guy a raise?
J: I'd love to give my sound man a raise! Not so much because of his work as a sound man but because of his almost like, unattainable beauty.
A: And his ability to do impromptu interviews!
J: Yeah and he's an incredible interviewer and one of the best room mates I've ever had! That's all I gotta say.
(laughter)

R13: One more from another fan, which might make sense to you or not! Have your lives changed since you revolutionised guitar karaoke albums?
J: I have some good friends who were in Japan I guess last week, you know that band Arcade Fire? Well they're in Japan and they said they went out to do karaoke and there was two DFA songs in the karaoke machine! So I think I have officially arrived without a shadow of a doubt. You can go to Japan and sing a long to muzak versions of the music that I wrote so I am officially a success, so has my life changed? Yes I feel a great deal more accomplished and that's about it.

A:One more! (sung) Doot dootle oot do?
J: Doot do!
(laughter)

Questions written by Philippa McMahon with additions from Andrew Latham and Angus!