Thomas Bangalter is “relieved” over Daft Punk split
Thomas Bangalter, one half of the former electronic duo Daft Punk along with Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo, has revealed he was “relieved” with how they split.
Daft Punk, who released their last album Random Access Memories in 2013, officially split up in 2021 after years of silence. Earlier this year, Bangalter announced himself as a solo artist with his debut full-length release Mythologies.
Looking back on their decision to split with BBC 6 Music, Bangalter commented: “The question I ask more myself is why we did end it rather than how it could last for so long. It’s a lot like a story or mini saga – sometimes there’s a TV show that has a special place in people’s hearts and it keeps that place, and it runs for one, two, three, four, five, sometimes 10 seasons.”
He added: “There’s a moment where it ends and I think it’s actually interesting to have this opportunity to start, have the middle and to end it… [I was] relieved and happy to look back and say: ‘OK, we didn’t mess it up too much.’”
Elsewhere in the same radio interview, Bangalter touched on the reasoning behind their famous masks that concealed the duo’s identity. “You have an idea when you’re like 25, [but] you don’t say ‘You know what? We’re going to dress up like robots until the day we die,” he began.
Bangalter continued: “I really remember thinking – it would be fun to just have some special effects guys from Hollywood do these personas – robotic personas like if they were part of the cantina scene in Star Wars or something like that. It was a weird idea and neither me nor Guy-Man ever imagined it would end up taking such proportions.”
Listen to ‘One More Time’ below.
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