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Paris match brownstone cowboys digital story richie lee davis 23

From their latest single, Settle Down — to settling down with a record deal — The Paris Match on their latest (mis)adventures 

Photography by RICHIE LEE DAVIS. Words by NOA FISCHER. 

DOPAMINE BAND

Who is it all for? What is it all about? The tragic hero is no more. 

At least according to The Paris Match: a fiery quintet made up of tenacious characters with an addicting sound and presence. Two nights before I sat down with them properly, I caught the band live at Serpent à Plume, a room in Paris that the five of them treat like a second home. We are here for different reasons, but invariably our biggest anticipation is Fête de la Musique — for them, performing, which is where the culmination of their pulsating energy reaches its pinnacle, and for me, getting to watch bands like them and experience it for the first time — as the city turns into one long unlicensed street party once a year. 

Since then it’s been a self-titled EP — six tracks, anchored by the fan favourite Sweet Sorbet Lady, the one Oscar swears will never get cut from a setlist — a string of one-off singles they’ve released and quietly pulled back whenever they felt like it, and now a second album they’re in the thick of recording, the one that’s supposed to be the real test of whether a band can take a label’s money without losing the plot. They are five people who found each other through clown school, an Egyptology drawing class and, in one case, outside an Angus Steakhouse, and who have somehow arrived, several lineups later, at the stubborn creative independence they refuse to give up for anything or anyone; especially the likes of a recording label. They are adamant about staying true to themselves. Admittedly, after spending an hour in conversation with them, I wouldn’t want them to be anyone else either. By their own description, they’re not in the business of mixing business and pleasure — they’re in the business of pleasure.

We covered most of it: the looming record deal, the £56 invoice for a stolen apple, why they refuse, on principle, to ever open for anyone, and why Cameron Winter is refered ot as the voice of God in the studio. The conversation was governed by a Parisian mid-summer heatwave and dampened by several mojitos. The bartender put a finger in Rocco’s beer. Oscar yells at him in French. Jessie repeatedly tries to convince Nicc to try a cigarette or have a sip of booze. Sander lay pristine under an untamed head of a blonde, 70s variety haircut. I sit in the middle, back turned to Boulevard de Belleville, complaining I can’t smoke. 
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NOA FISCHER: The Paris Match! 

THE PARIS MATCH: In Paris! 

NF: I’ve heard that Paris Match, the magazine, finally discovered and interviewed you. How was that? 

PM: [Oscar]: Most of all, the relief of not being sued. We can hang on to our £100.

NF: Did you just shoot with them or just talk? 

PM: [Oscar]: We shot with them, too. I got into the Place de Vosges fountain, but I think the Paris Match and the Parisian municipal government have kudos. 

NF: I want to talk about the new single. Sander told me that when I saw you at your gig at Serpent a Plume on Thursday, you liked the song first, and then you didn’t like it. I was the other way around:  I didn’t like it, and then I liked it. I want you to walk me through the process from the beginning to the end of the song, and then what hearing it completed for the first time is like. How do you get ​“used” to it? 

PM: [Sander]: Oscar said that when he dies they should release every song apart from Settle Down. 

[Oscar]: It’s the ugly duckling. I mean, when we write a new song, which I write about once a

 month —

NF: So you are in charge of the lyrics? 

PM: [Oscar] Yeah, unfortunately. I should lie and say no. But when we are in recording sessions, we’re limited by time and money. It’s happened that we’ll record a new song, but then some older one which has… kimchied… fermented. It’ll sound better because it’s had time to develop. Other times, we’ll get too excited about the new stuff and jump at it. So Settle Down was one of those. I think it lacks the quality of some of our other ones. Now that we’re at the end of being unsigned, we can just put songs out and take them back and control our own repertoire. It’s the apex of creative freedom; it’s us flexing our muscles. 

[Jessie]: Though I have been asked why we’ve taken some of the songs off. 

[Rocco]: So I told them to fuck off. 

[Oscar]: We’ve been getting DMs from these yankees to put the music back on. But we make the music for ourselves. The opinion of the other, unless bad, really doesn’t matter. Not in a bravado way, but once the artist starts making work — I’m not going to say art — once a musician starts making music for other people, it’s over. 

[Rocco]: If it’s not good enough for us, it’s not good enough. 

NF: So what do you think is the hallmark of a song that will stand the test of time? 

PM: [Oscar]: Pop sentiment from the beginning.  Obviously, we’ve been called a 60s/​70s band, but we refute that completely. 

[Jessie]: Melody

[Oscar]: If the song is not cringe, it makes the cut. If the cringemeter is winceproof, it’s successful. But we’re hard on ourselves. I wouldn’t say that we’re eclectic, but we love music. For example, Sweet Sorbet Lady will never be taken off. 

[Sander]: Another criterion is whether or not you can show it to your mom and dad. 

[Oscar]: We make music for our parents. 
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NF: As you said, you’re not pop, but pop is a necessary component for the songs to remain relevant. I find that most pop music nowadays — let’s call it radio music rather than pop — is about how Tonight is the night, and we only have tonight. Does your music talk about yesterday, tonight, or tomorrow? Do you reminisce about the past, celebrate the present, or anticipate the future? 

PM: [Rocco]: Every night is the night.

[Oscar]: Our songs are usually about nothing. The Ramones used lyrics for the sound and the rhythm. It’s more primal. I feel writing lyrics, I don’t want to appear didactic. We’re a dopamine band. 

[Jessie]: That’s what it’s about — once you put it out there, the lyrics are not yours anymore. Whoever listens to them makes up the meaning. 

[Rocco]: Thomas, our manager, said that the soundtrack is the conversation. 

[Oscar]: When you drink more, our music sounds even better. 

[Rocco]: And then Thomas said that. 

[Oscar]: You said it to him! 

[Rocco]: He said it to me! 

[Nicc]: He said it to him! 

[Rocco]: He said that to me and then —

[Nicc]: —no he said it to him and —

[Oscar]: Anyway, I write songs because I believe they exist in the etho, they are already there, they don’t belong to you or come to you. You need to reach out and grab them from the divine. Use your guitar as. A butterfly net. When I write songs, they come out of nowhere. 

NF: I want to ask more about that process: when you are in the studio, who breaks first and who is there last? 

PM: [Rocco]: We just did a bunch of mushrooms. 

[Oscar]: We were really high during the recording of Settle Down. 

NF: What are you guys, Primal Scream? 

PM: [Oscar]: We’re like a bloated Priaml Scream —

[Rocco]: And then it’s that thing of waking up the next morning and being like, ​“Is that psychedelic interlude I put in the middle really good or?”

[Jessie]: You become confectuous about it. I think the best part of our last single was the last part, which we’ve now removed, which just came to us out of nowhere. 

[Oscar]: Cameron [Winter] likes to take responsibility for that. Jessie — tell them about the Cameron Winter misogyny incident. 

[Jessie]: We played the whole song live, and then it just clicked, and then we did a couple of takes, and I said to Oscar ​“I think we should do it a little bit faster”, and he said no no no, and then this voice of God comes in through the buzzer— because when you’re in the studio you have the headpones on they talk thought he speaker — and Cameron thought the intercom goes ​“Hey man, I think you should do it a little bit faster” and Oscar said ​”Okay Yeah Yeah Yeah you’re competely right” and as I sat there Oscar just slowly turned to me and mouthed I’m so sorry…
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NF: So who has the final say? You or the voice of God or someone else? 

PM: [Oscar] Sometimes I can be a little Hitler. But it’s less so that I have the final say and more so that we just trust each other so much musically that it just works. For example, I don’t think I’ve ever told Sander to change a note. Especially the bass recently. 

[Rocco]: We’ve been in the band for ages, and after a while, it just works. 

[Sander]: The more you play, the more you know what the others want, and it gets easier and easier. There’s no one person who can call the shots. We don’t have disagreements in that way. 

[Oscar]: We’ve been through 8 or 9 iterations of the band, and we’ve finally settled. On the way back from Columbia Records, we nicked their apple, and we got invoiced. £56!

NF: What!

PM: [Nicc]: £56!

[Jessie]: I didn’t even know that…

[Oscar]: And then on the way back, Sander, whom I love so much, but we got into a huge fight about a plastic bag and started fighting, and it almost got physical —

[Rocco]: They were pushing each other around on the platform. 

[Oscar]: And Rocco was — because the train stopped at the next stop and the doors opened and Sander and I looked up — and Rocco was just gone. 

[Rocco]: Yeah, I just got off and got on the next train. 

[Oscar]: And then the next day, we were holding hands and had to behave because we had other meetings. It’s good to laugh about moments like that, but they are becoming fewer and fewer. And with more and more money that we make — I’m talking separate hotel rooms — 

[Jessie]: Thank God. 

[Oscar]: I’ll say I’m 60⁄40 to blame for the arguments. But I get really antsy before a concert. 

NF: Oh, I’ve seen.

PM: [Jessie]: But this is a new thing. Because we don’t drink before shows anymore. 

[Rocco]: We have one beer before. 

[Oscar]: We used to get loaded before. Now we just do it after. I remember I used to look at Rocco on stage and just jaw swinging. We once had a massive fight over a chair on tour in Glasgow —

[Rocco]: What’s everyone drinking? 

[Oscar]: Can I have another beer, please? Actually, a mojito. 

 

(Story never finished because everyone ordered drinks, and we moved on) 

NF: Jessie, what’s it like being in a boy band? 

PM: [Jessie]: I’ve been in The Paris Match for exactly a year, and it’s the best relationship of my life. It’s exciting because they truly don’t give a fuck. I like being a drummer, and I like being in the back, and I love tagging along. 

[Oscar]: When Jessie speaks up, it’s scary. 

NF: Do you feel like you have to mother them?

PM: [Jessie]: Mainly Oscar. Last year we did Fête de la Musique, and it was like the third gig we’ve played, and it was this honeymoon period, getting to know everyone. But it’s not just the band that’s so good, but the other bands around us. We have such a good band friend group. I used to hate it so much — I would do so many gigs where you don’t even talk to whoever you’re supporting, and you just turn up, do the show and leave. There’s no friendship. But we’ve created — Oscar and Freddy and Roves and Tambourines — all created the scene together, and we’re doing it all together, and there’s true friendship. 

NF: So it’s fun mixing business and pleasure? 

PM: [Oscar]: We’re not in mixing business and pleasure, we’re in the business of pleasure. 

NF: I wanted to ask about the difference in mentality between opening for a band and headlining a show?

PM: [Oscar] We don’t open for bands. Ever. 

[Jessie]: I used to like opening because you can get drunk sooner. 

NF: So it’s all about the timing of intoxication with the shows. 

PM: [Jessie]: Oh yeah. The waiting in between is the worst. 

[Oscar]: People stick on labels like punk or noise just to be able to get drunk during a gig, but we have respect for people who buy tickets. We work for them for that hour that we’re playing, we’re at their mercy. Therefore, we have to put on a good show that’s not tarnished by drugs and alcohol. 

[Jessie]: And it’s paying off. 

[Oscar]: especially in Europe. Because in England, fuck the crowds. 

NF: I saw that you said that in another interview — that English crowds are thankless. 

PM: [Oscar]: It’s because having fun in England is illegal. 

NF: Oh, the intoxicating freedom of France. 

PM: [Sander]: They haven’t imported it from America yet. 

NF: Commercial and creative success seem to be oxymoronic. Do you think they can coexist? 

PM: [Jessie]: That’s our question at the moment. We want creative control —

[Sander]: The bigger the label you go to, the more they insist that you use a creative team, you know, a stylist—

[Oscar]: Everything is in-house. 

[Rocco]: If you have a stylist, you’re done. 

[Jessie]: It’s just natural, too. We happen to dress the same and like the same music, and it’s just so much more organic than being told what to do. 

[Sander]: On Thursday, we all showed up in stripes accidentally —

NF: That was an accident? 

PM: [Sander]: But then Rocco was not in stripes —

NF: So it’s not a uniform? 

PM: [Rocco]: No, we all just own the same clothes. 

[Jessie]: But now we look like a band and sound like a band, and we walk down the streets, and people take photos of us. 

[Nicc]: It’s not just the looks its our energy. 

[Oscar]: You can smell the insincerity on someone’s outfit. 

NF: How concerned are you with personal characterisation in the uniform for a band? 

PM: [Rocco]: We’re not. The most important thing is differentiating yourself from other bands. 

[Sander]: It’s like having the same surname, but you’re still your own name. Your own individual. 

[Oscar]: What did Marx say, bla bla bla, Sum of all Parts, bla bla bla

NF: Wouldn’t want to be part of any club that would have me as its member.

PM: [Jessie]: Groucho Marx! 
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NF: Attitude is such a big part of your presence. Do you think cockiness and arrogance are necessary for success as an artist, as a band? 

PM: [Jessie]: There’s this new thing people are doing where they don’t want to be on stage, they want ot be in the crowd. 

[Oscar] But it’s bullshit. If people are paying to see you, they need this idea of fantasy. You should be on stage. You’re paying for a show. We don’t buy into the whole, We should all be on the same level, or whatever. You’re fucked for a laugh if you think I’m paying £10 to go to a show to see some fucker standing on the floor. We ned to bring back the fantasy of rock and roll —

[Jessie]: Of watching a show. 

[Oscar]: We have a job. To make music. To make the people move and dance. It’s not about us, it’s about them. 

NF: They say too much time and money is the enemy of creativity. What do you think? 

PM: [Jessie]: We’ll see about that with the second album.

[Rocco]: You need a bit of both.

[Oscar]: It’s not who you know, it’s who you blow. 

NF: Your network is your networth. 

PM: [Oscar]: That’s what scares us with the new album. It takes so much time and money, and it really needs to work. We’re not like FakeMink, recording and releasing by the end of the week. 

NF: With that perfect pivot to my last question: what do you guys have lined up next? 

PM: [Oscar]: We’re going to be billionaires. 

[Rocco]: We’re going to completely sell out. 

[Oscar]: Look, it’s all coming together now, with the new album and record labels. 

[Oscar & Rocco]: But you can count on us to fuck it right up. 
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