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 son, Tara-Jay.
Thomas Bangalter began playing the piano at the ages of five and six.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. As expressed by Bangalter, "I never had any intention to do
what my father was doing."
Bangalter met Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo while attending 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.[6][7] 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. 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.
At 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.
Bangalter as one half of Daft Punk
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 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. In 2002, Bangalter
fathered a son, Tara-Jay with actress Élodie Bouchez.
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.
Between September 13 and November 9 of 2004, Daft Punk produced and mixed tracks
for their album Human After All. Shortly afterward, Bangalter moved from his
home to Los Angeles, California. The move is attributable to Bouchez's career
in Hollywood and Bangalter's own interests in filmmaking.
Salut Thomas, on t'aime vraiment beaucoup !!! We are french brothers We live in the beautiful Spain We play electronic music We use computers, machines and voices We know how to play drums and guitar We don't sing very well We are not Djs but producers/remixers
We have a "Serious DJ Hobby" available on our space !
From Holland, Audiophox up & up month after month with more than 10 tracks during this year... Soon we will have a remix from FEDERICO EPIS, to this great talent from Holland.
So we hope have your feedback about this young talent ! By the way you can get this release in beatport by clicking here: www. beatport. com/ follow mix records