Maurice G. Dantec

Maurice Georges Dantec (French: [dɑ̃tɛk]; 13 June 1959 – 25 June 2016) was a French-born Canadian science fiction writer and musician. Dantec was born in Grenoble, France, the son of a journalist and a seamstress. He grew up primarily in Ivry-sur-Seine near Paris. While still in high school he met Jean-Bernard Pouy, future author of noir novels such as Le Poulpe, who inspired Dantec to take an interest in noir fiction. In the late 1970s, after graduating from college, Dantec put together a band called "État d'urgence" ("State of Emergency") one of the first French punk acts. In 1977 the band changed its name to "Artefact", but kept the punk ideology. Artefact is a concept-band, influenced by Suicide, Devo, Kraftwerk, Talking Heads and Public Image Limited. Dantec invented the concept of "Hard-Muzak" to define the sound of his band, as a mix of Industrial music and disco making the band the French equivalent of No-Wave bands from New York, and English ones from the post-punk. He pursued a career in Artefact (until the band's breakup in 1981) while working as a copywriter in the advertising industry.