Ever since their explosive debut single “HEAVY METAL” dropped in 2021, music fans and journalists alike have scrambled to project some deeper meaning onto LA-raised rap duo Paris Texas. What does their name mean? Are they the new rap-rock revival? Is this the death of genre?

Last week’s surprise release They Left Me With a Gun arrives as a giant middle finger to all of these questions. It concludes the loose storyline laid out in They Left Me With the Sword, in which Paris Texas’ Felix and Louie appear as conjoined twins miraculously separated by a medieval sword and immediately proceed to rob a convenience store. If that sounds completely insane, it is – they’re not here to fill anyone’s expectations but their own.

“People have their own analysis of what we are, their own takeaways from our music, who’s better – me or bro,” says Felix over video call. The duo are currently on tour, packing up their belongings and preparing for a long drive from Milwaukee to Kansas City. “I was like, ‘Damn.’ It wasn’t fun for a second. This [project] goes back to 2019 when we were just throwing anything at the wall. It’s fun again.”

If anything can describe this latest chapter in Paris Texas’ career, which arrives sort of like kitsch family comedy Stuck On You meets Tupac-led thriller Juice, it’s definitely fun. Maximalist is a close second, owing to the stank-faced production, tongue-in-cheek rap lyrics (“My ex-girl transitioned now she my ex-BF”) and distorted guitar stabs running through the double-release.

“This is a spin-off,” says Louie when asked where the EPs fit into their wider discography. “This Better Call Saul!” interjects Felix to laughs all-round. The duo regularly finished each other’s sentences throughout the call, speaking to a seemingly unshakeable bond between them. It’s a bond that has carried Paris Texas since their high school days, where they found common ground as misfits entering hip hop through the unlikely background listening of System of a Down and Pierce the Veil, and right through to their current notoriety, where their intersectional approach to music has suddenly found them bearing the weight of two genres worth of expectations.

“People want us to represent something. They want us to be the new, nerdy, Black, odd kids doing the ‘new thing’,” says Louis. “First of all, I’m grown as fuck. Two? No, I’m not doing that. We’re not just some punk band, we’re rapping more than anybody else. All I’m rapping about is pussy and drugs. Ya’ll are fucking up my bag.”

Below, Paris Texas tells Dazed about how they’re subverting expectations with their latest double-release They Left Me With the Sword and They Left Me With a Gun.

Can we get a little bit of the Paris Texas origin story?

Louie: Yeah, so I was taking French class [at school] and I met this guy named Jesús. We just ended up talking about a bunch of dumb shit. He was like, ’You should meet my homie! He raps, you make beats.’ There were a lot of similarities. We soon ended up just finishing each other’s sentences. I was like, ‘This is my family.’

Previous attempts at fusing rap and rock have had mixed results, but, when you guys came out with ‘Heavy Metal’, it felt like a complete revolution. What did you do differently to the bands that came before you?

Felix: Louie used to always say that there was a section of rock music that people always avoided. So, whenever they tried to cross over into hip hop, they either think like almost stadium rock, or really hairspray-type rock, or they’ll go into this very, very emo pop punk stuff – which is not always bad. Some of it is good, and sometimes it can be complete dogshit. But, for us, there’s a certain pocket of rock that we both liked the way the guitars would sound.

Louie: I guess I’ve always been fascinated with trying to do something that people don’t really try to do. I’m never going to the booth like, ‘Damn, bro, I really like Earl and Mike, let’s go make an Early-Mike song,’ because in my head, they've already completed that. For me, I just go in there and play guitar until I hear something that I’ve personally never heard somebody rap on.

So, were you into rap or rock first?

Louie: Being Black, I already knew what hip hop was. Before [age] 14-15 I wasn’t using music emotionally, I had no real life experience or any hormones telling me to be sad. So, before I got into my rock phase, I knew some hip hop songs and albums. But when I hit 15 – different brain group. I was tapped out, listening to System of a Down, This Town Needs Guns, Pierce the Veil – a whole list.

It wasn’t until after high school that I got back in the rap. Once Tyler [the Creator] came out, I was like, ‘I have a place in hip hop again.’ Beforehand, I felt like there wasn’t a place for a person like me in rap, even for fun. I’m not like the most gangster n***a, so where do I really fit? That’s right when I met Felix and we started sharing music and doing all this stuff.

You mentioned how genre and race seem to intertwine, at least in people’s perceptions. That’s also something you’ve touched on in previous projects, too, right?

Louie: Even when we get applauded sometimes – like on the early stuff. People would be like, ‘Yo! this is crazy!’ and I’m like, ‘It’s not that good.’ [Laughs] People want us to represent something. They want us to be the new, nerdy, Black, odd kids who do the ‘new thing’. First of all, I’m grown as fuck. You’re dumb as fuck. Two? No, I’m not doing that. We don’t sing. We’re not just some punk band. We’re rapping more than anybody else. All I’m rapping about is pussy and drugs. Ya’ll are fucking up my bag.

Felix: N***as is rapping on the same level as our colleagues in hip hop, if not better. If you put our lyrics next to Rio Da Young OG’s lyrics, we’re rapping about most of the same shit. Just less guns, probably.

So, you spoke about your previous album Mid Air being season two. Is this season three now?

Louie: This is a spin-off…

Felix: This Better Call Saul! This is the first time we’re just doing it as we go along. Before, we tried to do all that planning shit.

Why now?

Felix: There was a point in time when we did everything we possibly could and we didn’t get the results we exactly wanted. I was like, ‘Damn man. Might as well have fun at this point.’ People have their own analysis of what we are, their own takeaways. They pick sides of who they like better – me and bro. It wasn't fun for a second. This [project] goes back to 2019 when we were just throwing anything at the wall. It’s fun again.

Sounds like you’re always evading people’s expectations of you.

Louie: Pretty much, it’s just like the box thing. We don't really bring it up as much on this project, but on Mid Air we were all like, ‘I like girls that listen to rock! Don’t put me in a box!’ On this project, I’m like, ‘I’m not that n***a anymore.’ It’s the first time I’m chalant about it. I don’t really care about boxes. I’m just like, ‘Let’s just do it.’ Being mad about a box, is me accepting the box.

Talking to you guys today, it feels like you’re returning to a hungry period in your career, but you’re not small. Even here in the UK, you’re both pretty well-known. It’s funny to hear you still have such an underdog mindset.

Louie: I don’t know, I still feel hungry. I’m always gonna feel hungry. Technically, I don’t even want fame, I think I’m too weird. I’d probably say some weird shit and fuck it up. I want to go wild before I’m on Jimmy Kimmel or some shit, but I think that’s why I’m still hungry. We haven’t got there yet.

Felix: I have the One Punch Man face to [fame]. Before, I would think it was merit, this constant proving to yourself, an almost selfish way of ‘I need to do this.’ You’re listening to the people that you think are really good, that you respect, and you're just like, ‘I need to feel that way about myself.’ Now, I don’t really know what the end focus is. I just know to get there, and n***as better not get in the way otherwise it’s gonna be real bloody.

They Left Me With a Gun is out now.