“Sometimes fire a** bars is funny. That’s what makes them hard.”
Paris Texas is a raucous duo comprised of Louie Pastel and Felix, ushering in the new vanguard of hip-hop. Their grunge-infused jams seamlessly blend energetic guitar riffs with effortlessly witty and layered lyricism. Their penchant for experimentation breathes life into their enthralling visuals that weave outlandish tales that include things like conjoined twins being separated by a magic sword or those same twins being compelled to commit crimes by a sentient gun. The duo joined Grammy-award-winning artist and hip-hop tastemaker Tyler, the Creator on the Chromakopia tour, where they continue to make their ascent to stardom thanks to their chaotic and frenetic performances.
Newsweek sat with the duo on their break from the world tour to talk about their origin, musical inspiration, creative collaborations, and their decision to drop two EPs, They Left Me with a Sword and They Left Me with a Gun, a week apart back in February.
Y’all are on break from the Chromakopia world tour with Tyler, The Creator, and y’all are making waves with your crazy performances. What goes into your stage prep, and what can fans expect from a Paris Texas show?
Felix: A lot of jumping. It’s just a lot of high energy, a lot of jokes. It’s just having fun on stage for everybody, just being excited, man, that’s really all it is.
Louie: I feel like one of our shows. You gotta bring the same energy of, like, a backyard show to big stages.
Just uncontrollable energy everywhere, basically.
F: Yeah, as much as we can.
How does it feel to be on break from that tour? I know y’all have been around the U.S. for a couple of months now. Are you taking any time off to relax, or is it back to work?
F: Here and there we go to the studio, but I’m pretty much relaxing.
L: I just started relaxing yesterday.
F: Aw man, sorry about that.
L: It’s cool, man. I got like 9 more days to chill.
Did you pick up any new hobbies or anything while you’re away? How did you deal with that time away?
F: New hobbies? No, I don’t know. I’m trying to read where it’s hard, though, because I be falling asleep when we’re traveling, but then just reading. I don’t even know if that’s a hobby, but yeah, I’m trying to read. That’s all I know. I’ve been doing everything else, kind of the same.
I would say reading is a hobby. A lot of people don’t pick up books like that.
F: Oh, I just felt like, [people] read every day. I don’t know. Yeah, just reading, bro, I don’t know. I haven’t really changed anything too much in terms of hobbies, there’s not really much time to have a hobby for real.
Just chilling between cities, recharging?
F: Yeah, exactly, because that last s*** forever, it was like 30 shows. It was like a show almost every other day. You know, there’s no real hobbies to have. No disrespect, though. Just like, [people] can’t really do something.
Oh, no problem, that’s why I asked! I want to know, what are you doing during that time?
F: Aw yeah, everybody’s doing different s***. People playing Mario Party. Some [people] be sleep, that’s kind of like the big thing at least for me.
Have you had a favorite city in the U.S. so far that you’ve hit?
F: I’ve had a few. I have a list of cities that I think were really good, but in terms of, just like, besides the performance, I don’t even know, I’m forgetting where we even went low-key.
L: I really like Austin.
F: Yeah, I would say Austin was really fun.
L: I like the South, weirdly enough.
F: We went at a cool time too.
L: We hit South by Southwest.
F: There was a lot of s*** going on.
What did y’all experience during that? Because there’s something going on every second at South by Southwest.
F: Yeah, yeah, yeah, we was tapping in. I tried a little bit, it was kind of harder, but I tried to see a few people. We saw some homies. Yeah, it was cool. Just walking around. It’s just that traffic is a**. But other than that, it’s chill.
Do you have any cities you’re looking forward to on the second half of the tour?
L: I’m looking forward to all the random cities. I think we’re going to Prague.
F: Yeah, we’re going to Prague.
L: All those places I’m gonna be eyes wide-open, just seeing all these things I never seen before like “Wow. Like ‘What, I didn’t know–, huh?'” Just filled with childlike wonder again.
Tell me a little bit about Paris Texas, how y’all met, and some of your inspirations?
L: We met in our youth and we both liked music. We were rocking with each other. We’re like, “We should do this,” and then we did it.
F: It’s even just, like, more silly, like, [we] met out of high school for real, like, and then we had our mutual friend who introduced us to each other because he knew we both did music and just decided we should meet each other on some chill s***. I don’t think anybody expected to be taken this far. I know I didn’t. I didn’t know…
L: I did. [laughs]
F: Yeah, it was a mutual homie. He was like, “Yo, you guys should link up.” And even at first, we weren’t even, like, best homies. We’re just like, “All right. Like, yeah. Like, OK.” I think it’s always weird when people try to matchmake you like, you know, I’m saying, like, they’ll be like, “Yo, you know this person? I think you would f*** with them” and you’re like, “I’ll be the judge of that.” You get way more skeptical because you’re like, “Do you really know me?”
And then, yeah, just over time. Like, you know, I’m saying it’s like that, like meeting a shorty or meeting a homie. You’re like, someone’s like, man, “You gotta meet Todd bruh.” And you like, “Yeah, aight, we’re gonna see if Todd’s really cool.”
You don’t know me like that.
F: Yeah, we gonna see, bro. I hear you, like, it sounds good, but I’m like, which is so funny, because like, you doubting your friend, who’s probably like, mad close to you, but just like, you know you’re still different in some ways. I don’t know who I’m about to meet, but we’re gonna find out.
L: I hate matchmaking homies. I’ll bring homies around if they’re funny. But I’m never like, “You gotta meet this particular homie.”
You gotta bring the homies to audition first, right?
F: [Laughs] Yeah, man. You said inspiration?
Yeah. What are some of your musical inspirations?
F: It’s just a lot of different s***. A lot of rap, though, more rap than anything for me. But there’s a lot of other cool s*** that I really f*** with. I’m trying to think of like a easy statement to say.
L: I don’t know the easiest way to say the influences. Just like…F***, that is a hard question to answer. Just general s***. I feel like it’s not as like crazy as people think, like influences, yeah, like it’s like some pop stuff and popular stuff. Indie stuff. Like, was there something Bickle’s so inspiring right now.
F: Yeah, Bickle’s going f****** crazy.
Was there a certain thing that y’all were sitting down and being like, “Oh, damn, we both do like this thing together,” and it like drove the group?
F: I feel like early on, it was a lot of early Soundcloud s*** for real, and then like the big mainstream people like Kendrick and a lot of like, Uzi and Carti at the time. There’s always been like pockets of like, you know, like Toro y Moi, and like, there’s like pockets of people that like crossover, that like come through as we like make music and then just explore different artists. It changes over time.
I think the overlap we had was a lot of early SoundCloud s***, a lot of Tumblr s***. All the s*** you’d find on there. A lot of [artists] from like Florida at the time, and like, oh, like, Indigo shower, yeah. Like, it was like, Florida, New York, because our scene here it didn’t grow yet.
Like the Raider Klan era?
F: Right. Yeah, you know, only people in our scene was kind of OF [Odd Future] and then the popular contemporary we didn’t really listen to like that. Then like with Kendrick and s***, you know, like when that during that emergence and s***? Yeah, we listened to a lot of internet s*** for real.
Yeah, that was my prime era coming up to that SoundCloud, DatPiff. So what is your collaboration process like when y’all get in the studio, are y’all always working together, or y’all bringing stuff back to each other and workshopping?
L: Mostly working together. We usually start things together. Or maybe like a certain idea, because I don’t like creating without him in the room because then y’all can’t really feel the vibe. I hate bringing beats to people, that’s why I never will make a beat for somebody else. Like, I hate that process. It just doesn’t feel like real music.
It creates an imbalance, you would say?
L: Yeah, it feels alien to me personally. I didn’t get in it to be like, “Here’s a beat pack goes.” I like being a part of it.
It’s the unification that creates the sound.
L: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
One of my favorite things about Paris Texas is the earnestness, which you say some of the funniest stuff, like, are y’all always trying to out-funny each other? And do you have a funniest line from each other, from Gun or Sword?
L: Oh, you know what’s crazy? We don’t be trying to be funny. It just comes off that way. [laughter]
I can tell because you’re not letting it breathe like it’s a joke. You’re just saying it like so matter of fact, and I’m like, “Hold on, man, let me rewind this. I know they just didn’t say–“
F: At least with the rapping part, it just ends up being funny. But yeah, outside of recording, it’ll be like just [us] joking around. I feel like, low-key, don’t be saying anything too funny. That’s one thing I feel like I’m missing sometimes. I say things that’s funny to me, but I don’t know if it translates the same. A conversation and music is kind of sometimes a little different. It’s hard to pick because I feel like Louie be saying really funny s***.
L: It be f***** up ‘cause he’ll be like, “It’s hilarious.” I’m like, “I just thought it was a cool bar.” Like, damn, I’m not trying to be funny at all.
F: Sometimes fire ass bars is funny.
L: I know, I know, I know.
F: That’s what makes them hard, like, I don’t know that’s a big part. I think I feel like, for me, it’s probably on ‘Holy Spinal Fluid.’
I had to stop multiple times when I first heard it and just laugh.
L: Yeah, that was a crazy talk.
I think that’s probably one of my favorites off of both EPS.
F: ‘Holy Spinal’? Oh s***, that’s crazy. Big ups.
L: Thank you. That’s crazy.
I have a hard time choosing between them both. I just throw them on back-to-back in the order they were released.
F: Respect, yeah, that’s all you can do. Sometimes, you’ll get to a point you can shuffle them around. It takes time, though, bro. [People] got to live with it. And then you’ll be like, “Alright, I’m going to these ones.”
L: I saw Drew yesterday. He was telling me how the second one grew on him, he only listened to the first one for a long time.
F: Yeah, that’s what happens.
L: Yeah, that s*** ended up happening.
I can understand that, because I did have a tough time going from one to the other. I was like, “Man, this Sword is perfect, and I wasn’t ready to go to Gun yet.” I was really stuck on Holy Spinal Fluid, and then ‘Twin Geeker’ really grew on me. Another one that is pure comedy.
F: Yeah, yeah, that one also is very funny. [laughter]
While we’re there, can you, can you explain a little bit of the difference in sounds between ‘Gun’ and ‘Sword’ and why you chose to split them up that way?
L: That was the audible. We called an audible last minute. Yeah, we had one done. We had ‘Sword’ done and, we just sequenced one, so we weren’t planning on the second EP. We were just like, “Oh, we got one done.” And then I was like, “We’ll just do a second one, f*** it,” and so the second one has newer stuff on there.
That’s all it is. It was like newer ideas that we were kind of working through, working on, like, the first sword has, like, things that we were like, these are tight, no questions asked. It feels like the cemented Paris Texas sound that’s why I think people kind of get drawn to ‘Sword’ more. It’s more easily digestible, where the second EP is just the newest stuff they’re trying to figure out.
F: Yeah, I thought, well, you could probably correct me on this too, because the more I’ve been listening recently, when I think about it. It feels like ‘Gun‘ isn’t as heavy, drum-forward. It’s not mad heavy. I feel like sort of a lot of the beats are heavier, if that makes sense. And then, like, ‘Gun’ feels more stripped back and melodic, but also it still carries, like there’s still songs that have rhythm and drums to them, but it doesn’t feel as bass-heavy or grungy. No, not grungy, but just bass-heavy and 808, and drums and just mad, hard percussions. It just feels like there’s more space in ‘Gun’.
L: Yeah, as you can see, we’re trying to figure out the difference as well. We also don’t know.
F: Yeah, that’s what I’ve been taking away more now that I’m listening more. I’m like, “Oh, it feels more stripped back,” and just kind of like letting us try in a little different way.
L: I think, well, first, we first did both of those, we spent so long mixing it, so I’d listen to everything, kind of in sequence, and when I got back from tour, I been listening to everything out of sequence. So, yeah, I can see a difference. I probably have a better answer. I don’t know, this is a conversation for another time because we’re getting carried away. We don’t have an answer for you.
F: We’re, like, debating in front of you. He’s like, answer the question, man. [Laughter]
What made you decide it was time to bring back the narrator from the earlier projects for this narrative between the two, between ‘Sword’ and ‘Gun’?
L: It was like two reasons. One, I think the first time, we didn’t utilize it well enough. The first time we used him in ‘Red Hand Akimbo’, the narrator, it was it wasn’t like a character. It was kind of like this cool situation we had, and we thought, “Alright.” They didn’t feel important. Now, we made it a character. Even in the videos, we made it a character. So it felt like it would kind of give this part of our career a real voice, if that makes sense.
Yeah, definitely. With that narrative connection between those older projects and the new ones. Does that mean that there’s a Paris Texas Cinematic Universe?
L: You know, I’ve been working on it, and I don’t answer for that yet. I don’t want to say no, and then I do it later. I don’t want to say yes, and I don’t do it. But possibly.
That’s more of an answer than I expected. Actually.
L: [Laughter] The more I think about I know, I know in my head how to connect everything I just don’t want to do it yet.
Ok, Ok, don’t give away the sauce. Speaking of the that’s that connected storyline, you’ve also dropped the short films for both projects, and that’s something you’ve done since your earlier days. Are y’all conceptualizing these visuals at the same time as the music or are you working on the project, “Ok, we’ve laid it out, and then we’re going to form something around it?”
L: It’s super random. There’s no method to it, really. Sometimes, I would do it at the same time. I’m trying to learn not to do that because I think it limits creativity on either end. So if I sit there and I go, “Time to do the visual, I work on the music. Now I’m limiting the music. I have this idea of a visual, but if I like, only do the music without any visuals, and I’m limiting the visuals, if that makes sense.
That definitely makes sense. They go hand in hand and create the full package.
L: Yeah, so we kind of just wait.
I know y’all are on break. So, one more, and I’ll let y’all slide. If you could pick a fictional, legendary weapon to wield, what would it be to go with the Gun and Sword theme?
F: Any weapon?
No, it doesn’t have to be a gun or a sword.
F: Probably the mask that Jim Carrey wore, whatever mask Jim Carrey had.
L: Ahh, that’s a f****** good one.
That’s a cheat code.
F: That’s the one I choose. That boy Jim, man. There’s a lot of other weapons out there! There’s Infinity Gauntlets, all types of s***.
L: You just took the best one possible. That’s so crazy. Mine would probably be like, I’m gonna go green too. I’m probably gonna say the Green Lantern’s ring.
OK, you got any ideas of what you would make with that ring?
L: It’s limitless, man, it’s limitless because he left me with the Infinity Gauntlet. I might, I might have to conjure up some crazy s***, I can’t say it’s crazy.
Don’t say something we have to edit out. [Laughter]
L: Yeah. Oh, man, big bomb. Big Bomb. I’m bout to save the world. Bout to conjure up a tariff. [laughter] You know what? I lied, I wanna change my answer to wand, just say wand.
F: Oh, wow.
L: I want a wand. I want magic.
OK, OK. I’m rocking with it.
L: ‘They Left Me with a Wand’ that’d be hard.
Alright, that’s in print. I’m gonna have to hold y’all to that.
F: Respect.
L: Yeah, OK, bet. [Laughter]
I appreciate y’all for coming through and spending your time with me. Anything else y’all have coming up, or you’re getting ready for, or you’d like to talk about?
L: Super Bowl, 2028!
F: What is that? 2028? [Laughter]
F: I was like, wait a minute for real? This [guy] been watching football?
L: Get ready for it, we coming, Super Bowl.
F: Second leg of tour, man. F*** it, second leg of tour and more music and, yep, I don’t even know what else. Man, more music and some s***. [laughter]
Appreciate y’all so much, fellas.
F: Man, appreciate you.
L: Man, thank you.
Y’all have a good one, and take it easy and enjoy yourself before you take off for that second leg.
F: Appreciate it, man.
L: We’ll do our best, brother.
