Daft Punk Is Staying At My House, My House

DAFT PUNK IS STAYING AT MY HOUSE, MY HOUSE (320kbs-m4a/64mb/28mins)
BBC Radio 4 broadcast: 25th May 2021

It was 1994, and legendary techno duo Slam were booked to play an event in Disneyland Paris. "We had a couple of days to kill, and a friend got in touch to say he knew these two young French musicians who wanted to give us music they'd made."

The "young French musicians" Thomas Bangalter and Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo were still in their teens at that point, and Daft Punk was under a year old. Stuart McMillan distinctly remembers hearing their 4-track demo for the first time; "We were blown away!"

Composed of Orde Meikle and Stuart McMillan, Slam launched independent electronic record label Soma in 1991. It had a very DIY ethos. Along with manager Dave Clarke, they'd overseen a number of influential releases. It was Slam's own track ‘Positive Education' that piqued Thomas and Guy-Manuel's interest. They recognised Slam as kindred spirits, and Soma as the label they wanted to launch Daft Punk, and that's when things went really wild.

This is the story of Daft Punk's earliest beginnings on Glasgow's techno scene.

Narration written by Kirstin Innes
Narrated by Kate Dickie
Mixed by Alison Rhynas
Produced by Victoria McArthur