Separation of Daft Punk, the most famous anonymous in the world

To meet Daft Punk was to dive into the unknown.

How were the two enigmatic musicians going to be, at the time of an interview (without headphones), an exercise that is described as "promotional" when the group rarely had things to sell.

The first time was in 2007 for the release of his live album, a record witness to a staggering world tour, which will remain the last since the announcement of the separation of the duo on Monday, February 22.

At the time, the two musicians had finally shown themselves in public in their character of robots at the top of a gigantic pyramid which was enthroned on stage.

A megalomaniac concept?

Quite the opposite, according to those concerned.

“We are not in the cult of personality.

On the contrary, we have developed characters, an image, and people come to celebrate this project which is not

us

24 hours a day. It's a bit like Darth Vader in

Star Wars.

: the character is more important than the actor who plays him.

We would be in total megalomania if, on stage, we were with our faces uncovered.

There, it is not us, but the robots ”, answered Thomas Bangalter and Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo, the most famous anonymous people in the world.

Music louder than its authors.

Legacy of a club culture where the head of the DJ was not that important.

Daft Punk very quickly defended this idea after a few appearances with his face uncovered, before hiding behind masks, blurry images and finally robot helmets.

The two French people quickly worked on both sound and image, taking care of each clip, saving each appearance, each speaking.

Silence after power, that of albums that revolutionized electronic music and put the French touch into orbit, this French touch, a cultural exception facing Anglo-Saxons who believed they had invented everything in the music department.

What they wanted, when they wanted

It was without counting on these two Parisians who did not come out of nowhere: Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo, on one side, heir to a large Portuguese family, Thomas Bangalter, on the other, child of the ball , son of Daniel Vangarde, disco producer in the 1970s who had worked with Ottawan, Sheila and even the Creole Company.

Before starting in his first group Darlin ', where there were also future members of Phoenix, the young musician knew, thanks to his father, all the cogs of the music industry.

Even to the point of catching on the fly a review of the prestigious English weekly Melody Maker who qualified a song of these high school friends as "daft, punky, trash", or "idiot, lost, dirty", to make it the name of his future duo "Daft Punk", or "idiot punk".

A family experience that allowed the tandem to be very quickly independent to create its own production company Daft Art to keep control over everything: songs, clips, images and also the pace of work.

The two Parisians did what they wanted when they wanted.

No need to try to find out what they were up to.

At the turn of a few exchanges in Parisian concerts which he attended as a simple spectator, Thomas Bangalter was content to answer the question "you are preparing things at the moment", a laconic: "yes".

For whom, for when?

Scarcity also built the Daft Punk myth.

In 2020, a sheet with a list of songs that could look like a contract with the name of the group and those of John Cale of the Velvet Underground or Brian Wilson of the Beach Boys had panicked the web for a few days, as the first sign of a return.

Without follow-up.

A few days ago, rumors announced the reformation of the tandem for the performance at the Super Bowl of The Weeknd, which the French had signed in duo "Starboy" and "I Feel It Coming".

An exemplary career, absolute discretion

Remains an exemplary career, with three master records "Homework", "Discovery", and "Random Access Memories", eternal hits such as "Da Funk", "Around the world", "One more time" and "Get Lucky", and some more devious albums like "Human after all", "Tron: Legacy" or the film "Electroma" which an extract is used this Monday to seal the separation of the group.

In 28 years, the duo has managed to combine popular success and experimental projects, global notoriety and absolute discretion.

During our last meeting in 2013, for the release of “Random Access Memories”, Thomas Bangalter returned to this cleverly maintained mystery behind robots: “At the start, it was almost a misunderstanding for some who saw only one marketing gimmick, rather than a concern for anonymity.

Today, many accept these characters.

And when someone recognizes our faces in the street and wants to take a picture, we exchange, we discuss, but we say no.

Maybe without Daft Punk now they'll say 'yes'.