Interviews with Richard Kingsmill

It was January 1998, and only one half of Daft Punk had made it to Australia for their first visit. Reportedly struck with a fear of flying, Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo never made it on the plane. Left carrying the record cases for their first DJ’ing appearances here was his secondary school friend and the other half of Daft Punk, Thomas Bangalter. The duo’s debut album Homework had been out for exactly a year. Excitement had built steadily everywhere across the previous 12 months, thanks to the album’s standout singles ‘Da Funk’ and ‘Around The World’, the innovative videos that accompanied both tracks, and for their live shows that Europe and the United States had enjoyed across the majority of 1997. In Daft Punk’s first triple j interview (they only ever did three with us), Richard Kingsmill speaks to Bangalter to find out their thoughts on dance music at the time, why he thought their album was succeeding, and how anonymity was what they craved then and forever.