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Thomas Bangalter
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Thomas Bangalter (born 3 January 1975) is a French electronic musician and founding member (along with Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo) 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 and Roxan.
as Bangalter began playing the piano at the age of six.
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Encyclopedia
Thomas Bangalter (born 3 January 1975) is a French electronic musician and founding member (along with Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo) 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 and Roxan.
Biography
Thomas Bangalter began playing the piano at the age of six. Bangalter stated in a 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. As expressed by Bangalter, "I never had any intention to do what my father was doing."
Professional life
Bangalter met Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo while attending the Lycée Carnot school in 1987. 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." 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." A negative review referred to the act as "a bunch of daft punk", which inspired Bangalter and de Homem-Christo's new name.
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. 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."
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." 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. 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.
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. 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.
During 1998, Bangalter and de Homem-Christo collaborated with Romanthony in what would become the first of the Discovery sessions. 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. 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.
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.
Personal life
In 2002, Bangalter fathered a son, Tara-Jay with actress Élodie Bouchez. 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. On 2 June 2008 Bouchez gave birth to Bangalter's second son, Roxan.
In regards to drug usage, he said:
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:
In the same interview, he was also asked a question if stardom can be avoided, while making successful music.
Selected discography
Albums
EPs and singles
External links
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