Q&A: Meet The Paper Cutouts
WRITTEN BY LAUREN CHENETTE
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Photo by Brianna Rojas
Formed out of creative curiosity during the pandemic, The Paper Cutouts began as a bedroom project between brothers George and Drew Castillo. What started as experimenting with songwriting and production quickly evolved into something more intentional, and a space where both of their musical strengths meshed together. Their first EP, April Fool, was a DIY labor of love that captured their early sound: raw, reflective, and full of heart.
Over time, the duo has sharpened their process and sound, balancing Drew’s production and instrumentation with George’s mixing and vocal direction. Together, they’ve crafted a catalog that spans shimmering indie pop and introspectiveness, always marked with a sense of emotional honesty. Releases such as "Freakshow" and "Never Picking Up Again" have not only expanded their listening base but also signaled a confident shift in their artistic direction. Now with a five-piece live lineup, their shows have grown into full-bodied performances that bring their songs to life.
Influenced by the likes of Wallows, The 1975, The Strokes, and Royel Otis, The Paper Cutouts channel the spirit of modern indie music while carving out a sound uniquely their own. Their music feels both nostalgic and new, the project of two artists who grew up creating together and continue to evolve side by side. As they prepare to release their next batch of songs, the duo shows no signs of slowing down, promising a new chapter that builds on everything they’ve released so far.
LIFE ON JUPITER: For our readers who may not be familiar with your music, how did you come together as The Paper Cutouts?
GEORGE: I started getting into music back in sixth grade, picked up guitar in eighth, and in that general time, I started songwriting a bunch, and he (Drew) started getting interested in it and writing his own music-
DREW: It was during COVID when we were both sort of locked in the house together, and it was sort of just like we were making music at the same time, why not just do it together? I had picked up a pirated version of FL Studio, and was just making music all the time, and I had a few things I had shown him and told him that he was a better singer, and that he should sing on this.
GEORGE: And that ended up being April Fool, that was the first EP we ever put out.
How do you divide creative roles (such as lyrics, instrumentation, production, etc…) between the two of you?
DREW: As of now, I’ve been doing the lyrics and instrumentation and production, but then we’ll take all of those stems and move it over to his computer, and George will do a lot of the mixing, mastering, and vocal work.
GEORGE: And even if I’m not singing on the track, I think that one thing I’ve picked up is vocal direction, and sort of hear how Drew sings something and try and give some general directions on where to take those vocals.
Are there any particular songs of yours that you felt were turning points for you as artists?
DREW: I think every release has been sort of different for us, and never really doing the same thing twice yet. "Freakshow" was the first thing we sort of wrote while also thinking about playing it live, which slightly changed how we went about creating it.
GEORGE: Yeah, “Never Picking Up Again” definitely feels like the start of a new chapter for us, and we can actually see the clear direction we want to go in.
Are there any artists, songs, or sounds that inspired you while creating your next release?
GEORGE: I’ve been listening to a lot of The Strokes lately, which I know was sort of a formative band for a lot of artists, but I had never really pulled from them that much until recently. But we’re also really big Wallows people, so they’ve also always been an inspiration. And The 1975 recently too, there’s this one guitar part in “Never Picking Up Again” that sounds sort of 1975-esque, the way it kind of shimmers.
DREW: Yeah definitely Wallows, and also recently Royel Otis too for songwriting. The way they layer the guitar parts from the single note lines is really cool and I’ve been into that lately.
Do you have a message or feeling that you hope listeners walk away with after hearing your music?
DREW: I think I just love if anyone connected with it. Because that’s why I feel like I really started getting into writing was because I had these feelings and emotions and I needed to find an outlet for this. And so I had a ukulele and a dream and was writing down anything, and since then I’ve gotten better at it, but it’s just hoping that someone connects with it and puts a sound into what they’re already feeling.
GEORGE: I think the reason why I got into music in the first place was I just enjoyed the fact that I could listen to something, and even without knowing the person singing, they were saying the things that I was feeling, and writing in a way that made me feel like I was understood. And to be able to do that for others is just amazing.
After this next release, if you could choose one new challenge or direction for yourselves as artists, what would it be?
DREW: I think we’re ready for an album. I think that we’re at a point where, as long as we continue on this track, we’ll be ready for an album. Because we already have so many songs and so many things and cool ideas. I think that a proper 10 or so track release would be really fun.
GEORGE: I think for me as far as challenging ourselves as artists is consistency. I think it’s pretty difficult to balance work, and before I finished school, and just the craziness of life itself, but just finding time to be able to record, release, and be able to do what we enjoy in the first place.
Do you have a favorite live show you’ve done?
GEORGE: There’s been a few that have been really fun!
DREW: Yeah these past few have been really fun! Our first show until last September, we just played as a duo on stage, and doing a drum machine and I was bass and he was guitar, and that worked for a while. But we thought about it, and thought it would be fun to do an expanded lineup for live stuff, so recently we’ve had a five person lineup for live shows. And those have been really amazing because a lot of these songs that we’re playing to everyone I wrote when I was like seventeen and it’s just amazing to see it go from that little baby version back then to this full-fledged thing now. So yeah, our last few recent shows have definitely been my favorite.
GEORGE: I think if I had to pick one I would say Rock the Rails, which was the first time we pulled out the whole lineup. And it gained way more traction than I was expecting, but it was fun to play in front of that sort of crowd for the event.
DREW: Yeah, it was midday, and it was a community event because they were opening a new line for the metro station out here.
GEORGE: I just had a lot of fun with that specifically because it was a big crowd and this shiny new thing of the full lineup, and it felt like change, but a good change.