Daft Punk Talks Coachella and Kanye West in Unpublished Interview

An unpublished 2007 interview with Daft Punk has resurfaced following the official announcement of the French duo’s split. The conversation details how a surprising Coachella offer helped to launch the two into the EDM-sphere and their relationship with Kanye West.

In the interview, Daft Punk revealed how their 2005 album Human After All was considered a large flop due to unfavorable reviews and barely selling 10% of the copies they sold of their 2001 album, Discovery. It was not until they received a six-figure offer to perform at Coachella, that they realized their ambition for the concert stage.

Thomas Bangalter said, “The interesting thing was that Coachella was a big offer financially, and that triggered the ability to bring the show to the next level. We were ready to play again — we’ve never done anything for the money or tried to take economic advantage.” Following their performance at Coachella, the duo saw their show attendance spike by the thousands and no longer had to worry about any downfall. The audience they gained at Coachella helped launch the start of their tour.

When asked about how the duo felt about Kanye West’s sample of “Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger”, the French duo mentioned that they had actually sampled “Harder, Better” seven years prior to West. Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo recalls their encounter with West saying, “When we met him, he was a fan as much as we are fans of his work. It was like if we had collaborated him in the studio. He was happy to see that we liked it so much. It’s not a collaboration in the studio, but the vibe of the music we do separately connected in what he did with the song. It’s really great.”

Prior to the spilled, Daft Punk remained relatively dormant since their 2013 album, Random Access Memories. Their last high-profile releases were arguably the two songs the duo recorded for The Weeknd‘s 2016 Starboy album.

Elsewhere in music, Jaden Smith released new music video for “Photograph”.