Thomas Bangalter

Thomas Bangalter
Thomas Bangalter as one-half of Daft Punk
Background information
Born	January 3, 1975 (1975-01-03) (age 34)
Origin	Paris, France
Genres	House
Instruments	Guitar, synthesizer, keyboards
Years active	1992-present
Labels	Roulé
Associated acts	Darlin' Daft Punk Stardust Together

Thomas Bangalter (born January 3, 1975)^[1] is a French electronic musician best known as a member of the French house music duo Daft Punk. He has also produced music for the band Stardust, as a member of the band Together, and for the film Irréversible. His music is sometimes known as French house.

Thomas Bangalter owns a music label called Roulé. Outside of music production, his credits include film director and cinematographer. Bangalter resides in Beverly Hills, California, with his wife, French actress Élodie Bouchez, and his two sons, Tara-Jay^[2][3] and Roxan.^[4]

Biography

Thomas Bangalter began playing the piano at the age of six.^[5] Bangalter stated in a video interview that his parents were strict in keeping up his practice, for which he later thanked them. His father, Daniel Vangarde was a famous songwriter and producer for such performers as the Gibson Brothers, Ottawan, and Sheila B. Devotion.^[6] As expressed by Bangalter, "I never had any intention to do what my father was doing."^[2]

Professional life

Bangalter met Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo while attending the Lycée Carnot school in 1987.^[1] It was there that they discovered their mutual fascination of films and music of the 1960s and 70s, "very basic cult teenager things, from Easy Rider to the Velvet Underground."^[7] They and Laurent Brancowitz eventually joined to form an indie rock trio called Darlin', in which Bangalter performed bass guitar. Bangalter felt that "It was still maybe more a teenage thing at that time. It's like, you know, everybody wants to be in a band."^[7] A negative review referred to the act as "a bunch of daft punk", which inspired Bangalter and de Homem-Christo's new name.^[8]

Shortly before reaching the age of 18, Daft Punk grew interested in electronic music, which led Brancowitz to leave the group in pursuit of efforts with fellow Parisian band Phoenix.^[7][8] In 1993 Bangalter presented a demo of Daft Punk material to Stuart Macmillan of Slam that led to their first single "The New Wave". Daniel Vangarde provided valuable advice for the duo. "He helped us by presenting to us what the situation was with the record industry and how it worked. Knowing that, we made certain choices in order to achieve what we wanted."^[9]

Vangarde was thanked for his efforts in the liner notes of Homework. The title of the album is partially attributed to the fact that Homework was recorded in Bangalter's bedroom. As he remarked, "I had to move the bed into another room to make space for the gear."^[6] In the years following the 1997 release, Bangalter focused on his own record label, Roulé ("rolled" in French). The label released singles by Romanthony, Roy Davis Jr., and Bangalter's own solo material, among others. The majority of Bangalter's solo work was published on a series of vinyl-only EPs titled Trax on da Rocks on his label. The series consists of volume one, released in 1995 and volume two, released in 1998. The songs "Outrun", "Extra Dry" and "Turbo" from the EPs later appeared in the video game Midnight Club II. The track "On da Rocks" was featured in a "Da Funk" behind-the-scenes video included with D.A.F.T.: A Story About Dogs, Androids, Firemen and Tomatoes. Bangalter collaborated with Alan Braxe and Benjamin Diamond and in 1998 released the club hit "Music Sounds Better with You". Just as for Homework, the single was recorded in Bangalter's home studio.^[10][6]

Around the same time of "Music Sounds Better with You", Bangalter co-produced Bob Sinclar's second single titled "Gym Tonic". The song used samples from a Jane Fonda workout tape. Fonda later refused permission for clearance of the sample.^[11] A band named Spacedust released a single titled "Gym and Tonic" that recreated elements of "Gym Tonic" and "Music Sounds Better with You". Their song became a number one single in the United Kingdom.^[12]

During 1998, Bangalter and de Homem-Christo collaborated with Romanthony in what would become the first of the Discovery sessions.^[1] One of tracks produced, "One More Time" became Daft Punk's most successful single in 2000. Bangalter also performed on a Yamaha Cs-60 synthesizer on the track "Embuscade" in Phoenix's debut album United, which was released the same year.^[13] He also teamed up with DJ Falcon under the name Together to release their eponymous 2000 single.

Bangalter produced the score to the film Irréversible, released in 2002. A soundtrack album of the same name was later released featuring Bangalter's tracks as well as the works by Gustav Mahler, Étienne Daho and Beethoven used in the film. North American pressings of the album feature only the Bangalter tracks. Three of the tracks from the Trax on da Rocks EPs were released on the album: "Outrun", "Ventura" and "Extra Dry". 2002 also saw the release of the Bangalter produced track "113 Fout La Merde" for French hip hop group 113. Bangalter can be seen dancing in the music video, wearing his daft punk helmet.

Together released the single "So Much Love to Give" in 2003. The Eric Prydz track "Call on Me" was initially thought to be a follow-up to the Together release due to the similarity between the two songs and DJ Falcon's use of "Call on Me" in DJ sets.^[14]

Bangalter was the sound effects director for the 2009 film Enter the Void, his second work with filmmaker Gaspar Noé following Irréversible.^[15]

Personal life

In 2002, Bangalter fathered a son, Tara-Jay with actress Élodie Bouchez.^[3] In late 2004, Bangalter moved to his current home in Beverly Hills, California. The move is attributable to Bouchez's career in Hollywood and Bangalter's own interests in filmmaking.^[2][3] On 2 June 2008 Bouchez gave birth to Bangalter's second son, Roxan.^[4]

In regards to drug usage, he said:

Personally I don't like ecstasy. It makes me lose any sense of critical judgement, it makes me like every track I hear. All the music we've done, I think people can enjoy it and really go crazy even if they're not on any drugs. Maybe that's why it's successful and has crossed over.

Both he and Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo expressed that they have very little or no interest in being celebrities. Although the duo rarely grants interviews, Bangalter is cited as being the more talkative and opinionated one. When asked a question in regards to fame and popularity, he responded:

We don't believe in the star system. We want the focus to be on the music. If we have to create an image, it must be an artificial image. That combination hides our physicality and also shows our view of the star system. It is not a compromise.^[16]

We're trying to separate the private side and the public side. It's just that we're a little bit embarrassed by the whole thing. We don't want to play this star system thing. We don't want to get recognised in the streets. Yes. Everyone has accepted us using masks in photos so far, which makes us happy. Maybe sometimes people are a little bit disappointed but that's the only way we want to do it. We think the music is the most personal thing we can give. The rest is just about people taking themselves seriously, which is all very boring sometimes.^[7]

In the same interview, he was also asked a question if stardom can be avoided, while making successful music.

Yes. I think people understand what we are doing. I know many people who maybe like the way we are handling things. People understand that you don't need to be on the covers of magazines with your face to make good music. Painters or other artists, you don't know them but you know what they are doing. We are very happy that the concept in itself is becoming famous. In France, you speak of Daft Punk and I'm sure millions of people have heard it, but less than a few thousand people know our face - which is the thing we're into. We control it, but it's not us physically, our persons. We don't want to run into people who are the same age as us, shaking our hand and saying, 'Can I have your autograph?' because we think we're exactly like them. Even girls, they can fall in love with your music, but not with you. You don't always have to compromise yourself to be successful. The playing with masks is just to make it funnier. Pictures can be boring. We don't want all the rock n' roll poses and attitudes - they are completely stupid and ridiculous today."^[7]

It was reported that Bangalter had quit DJing in clubs due to developing tinnitus in 2002, saying "I’ve given up because I want to protect my ears". Orde Meikle of Slam later stated that Bangalter had sufficiently recovered from the condition, stating that "he had a bit of a scare and thought he’d damaged his ear and had to take obviously reasonably drastic steps to see how bad the damage was."^[17]

Selected discography

Albums

• Irréversible (2002)

EPs and singles

• "Trax on da Rocks" (1995)
• "Spinal Scratch" (1996)
• "Trax on da Rocks Vol. 2" (1998)
• "Outrage" (2003)

References

External links

• Thomas Bangalter at Discogs
• Daft Punk at Discogs
• Stardust at Discogs
• Together at Discogs