Thomas Bangalter explains the real reason for Daft Punk’s split

Thomas Bangalter, one of two founding members of Daft Punk, has spoken on the real reason for the duo’s split in 2021.

He chatted to the BBC in a recent interview, explaining that he and Daft Punk’s second member Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo had worn out the robot characters.

“Daft Punk was a project that blurred the line between reality and fiction with these robot characters,” he explained. “It was a very important point for me and Guy-Man[uel] to not spoil the narrative while it was happening.”

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He added: “Now the story has ended, it felt interesting to reveal part of the creative process that is very much human-based and not algorithmic of any sort.”

Bangalter also told the BBC that he wanted the relationship between humanity and technology to be “absolute”, and was worried about the real-life rise in artificial intelligence.

"It was an exploration, I would say, starting with the machines and going away from them. I love technology as a tool [but] I'm somehow terrified of the nature of the relationship between the machines and ourselves."

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He said that the decision to throw away the helmets was a way for the pair to distance themselves from the technology, and are now keen to reveal the real-world goings on behind the scenes, which Bangalter says he wouldn’t have done had it not been for the pair’s split.

"My concerns about the rise of artificial intelligence go beyond its use in music creation," he explained. “I almost consider the character of the robots like a Marina Abramović performance art installation that lasted for 20 years," he says.

“As much as I love this character, the last thing I would want to be, in the world we live in, in 2023, is a robot.”

[Via BBC]

Gemma Ross is Mixmag's Editorial Assistant, follow her on Twitter