| Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo | |
|---|---|
De Homem-Christo performing in 2007 as one half of Daft Punk |
|
| Background information | |
| Birth name | Guillaume Emmanuel de Homem-Christo |
| Also known as | Guy-Man |
| Born | February 8, 1974 |
| Origin | Paris, France |
| Genres | French house, house |
| Instruments | Guitar, synthesizer, keyboards, drums, drum machine |
| Years active | 1992–present |
| Labels | Crydamoure |
| Associated acts | Darlin' Daft Punk Le Knight Club Crydajam |
Guillaume Emmanuel "Guy-Manuel" de Homem-Christo; (born February 8, 1974)[1] is a founding member of the French house music duo Daft Punk, along with Thomas Bangalter. He has also produced several works from his record label Crydamoure with label co-owner Éric Chedeville. He and Chedeville formed the musical duo Le Knight Club. Aside from music production, de Homem-Christo has also worked as a film director.
Contents |
Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo was born in Paris, France. He stated in a video interview that he was given a toy guitar and keyboard at around 7 years of age. An electric guitar was eventually offered to him at age 14. He also expressed that he usually uses a guitar when writing music.[2]
He met Thomas Bangalter when they were in school together 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."[3] The two and Laurent Brancowitz eventually joined to form an indie rock trio called Darlin', in which de Homem-Christo performed 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."[3] A negative review referred to the act as "a bunch of daft punk", which inspired Bangalter and de Homem-Christo's new name.[4] The two soon became interested in electronic dance music after going to a club in 1992. De Homem-Christo is credited for designing the Daft Punk logo in the liner notes of Homework.
Regarding Daft Punk's creative process and working with Bangalter, de Homem-Christo commented that "He's much more of the tech guy than I am. We did everything together. But I have more distance." He added, "I'm more critical of everything we do. We're two halves of one solid combination. There's balance there — completeness between us, yeah."[5]
De Homem-Christo is also a co-founder of the group Le Knight Club, along with Éric Chedeville from Pumpking Records. They are the founders of the record label Crydamoure, named after a variation of the French phrase "cri d'amour" or "cry of love" in English. Crydamoure also published work by de Homem-Christo's brother Paul de Homem-Christo, under the name Play Paul. In regards to Crydamoure, he stated:
| “ | Myself and Thomas have the same tastes in music. When I make records for Crydamoure it's a different style than what may end up as Daft Punk music. I know what Thomas likes, and he knows what I like. Crydamoure is not so production oriented, even if it's not too far from Daft Punk. The Daft Punk material is more orchestrated and slightly different. I may be working on a sample for Crydamoure, and maybe no one else can hear the difference, but we know. It's very precise.[6] | ” |
He produced Sébastien Tellier's 2008 album titled Sexuality.[7] In 2010, de Homem-Christo co-produced Kavinsky's Nightcall EP with SebastiAn.[8]
Both he and Thomas Bangalter have expressed that they have very little or no interest in being celebrities. Although the duo rarely grants interviews, de Homem-Christo is cited as being the less talkative and more introverted one. In regards to working and collaborating with other artists, he sees it as a matter of timing and creativity, rather than fame and opportunity. He once stated in an interview:
| “ | Well that depends on what we want to do at the time. It depends. I don’t know. Yeah, exactly. There are all these considerations you’re talking about. But yes, it just depends on the moment you’re asked. If you feel it and if you feel something creatively interesting then it’s possible. For everything that we’re asked to do, if we have a creative answer and think we might bring something to a project then we can do it. But if we don’t have any ideas or don’t think we can push the envelope by creating with anybody... Well, if you take Sébastien Tellier for example it is one of the few collaborations where I had the idea that I could do something and bring something to it. But it’s all about the moment and the situation. When it feels right to us, when we feel it we do it, and when we have the time. There’s so many factors.[9] | ” |
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||