Whirlwind Ting Tings blows home
WE’VE all had memorable summers. Sly & The Family Stone spent theirs having hot fun, Cliff Richard took a holiday and Bananarama had a cruel one.
So what of Salford’s favourite export The Ting Tings? “It’s been absolutely insane,” says Katie White as she chats with CityLife about the band’s six-month journey on a major label-commissioned rocket to global stardom.
“We didn’t even have time to think about it. It’s been such a whirlwind. We’ve seen the world and played to thousands of people, and we’re tired all the time,” she smiles. “Which is a good thing, obviously!
“But it’s an absolute killer, you know. You feel like you’ve constantly got flu, but it’s just your body going, ‘What the hell are you doing? Slow down will you, you idiot’.”
Since re-releasing their early double-A side Great DJ in February, The Ting Tings have topped the chart twice, first with their breakthrough record That’s Not My Name and then with acclaimed debut album We Started Nothing back in May.
But they’ve also entered the world of the rich and famous, winning two major industry awards and treading countless red carpets.
It’s a million miles away from any of the dreams they dared to have when they started handing out free beer at their bijou parties at Islington Mill around 18 months ago.
But Katie and her bandmate, Jules De Martino, are clearly quite homesick.
They’ve been back in the UK for a few days when CityLife manages to pin them down, but they’ve had such strong yearnings to reunite with their roots that they’ve already been back to the Mill to rehearse.
They will, confirms Katie, record their second album there – if and when the time comes.
“It’d be really nice to sit on a beach in LA, but we’d get nothing done,” smiles Katie. “I’d just be swimming in the ocean every day!
“People ask us why we want to be back in Salford, what’s so inspirational about it, and I say, ‘The weather’. It keeps you indoors! There’s nothing to do but be creative.
Conscious decision
“We make a conscious decision not to write on the road. We want to write about our lives and it’s difficult to sing songs about being on the road when you’re back in the studio.
“We feel different at every moment. We want the songs to be written and recorded when we’re in that moment.”
Living the celebrity dream, says Katie in her reassuringly down-to-earth way, doesn’t really agree with them.
"Red carpets and VIP tents at festivals are our worst nightmare – we tend to avoid them as much as possible and hang out with our mates,” she confesses, without reticence.
“We sit at the back at awards shows talking amongst ourselves and people watching. Like Beevis and Butthead. Giggling amongst ourselves.
VMAs
“We had a funny moment at the VMAs (where the band beat Coldplay, Leona Lewis and Duffy to the Best UK Video gong earlier this month).
"We were walking down the red carpet trying to fold ourselves into ourselves because we were so embarrassed to be there.
“The first interviewer asked me if I was a big fan of Harry Potter and I said, ‘Not really’, the next asked me if I really like cartoons and I said, ‘Not really’. Then the third asked me what outfit I was wearing and I looked at myself and realised I had no idea.
“I told him I’d got my leggings from American Apparel and he was like, ‘Uwgh!’. I just wore what I had on because I liked it," she laughs.
“Because I’ve been in a band before, you realise that everybody is going to ******** you at these things.
"For us, it’s just about people liking our songs and our live shows. If you concentrate on that, the rest is just a gushy mess that you don’t notice.”
For Jules, life in front of the lens presents a whole bunch of different problems. “He wears dark glasses all the time because he gets these weird epileptic-like fits when we have shows or there’s lots of flash photography.
“On the red carpet there were all these cameras flashing all the time, so he started having this fit, which was pretty scary. So he doesn’t wear them for rock star reasons.”
Despite their rapid rise under the watchful eye of Columbia (part of music giant Sony), Katie and Jules remain entirely in control of their own destiny. They still hold all the creative cards – designing their own artwork and the concepts for their videos – and choosing what happens next.
And perhaps that’s because Katie has famously had her fingers burned twice – once with teen band TKO (Total Knock Out) and then with much lauded local outfit Dear Eskiimo – after both were messed around by the majors.
George Michael
And Jules, one time co-songwriter for George Michael and TKO, has an experienced head on his shoulders too.
Are The Ting Tings their third time lucky? “I don’t feel we’ve given anything to Sony,” says Katie “It’s hard work, we’d definitely have more time on our hands if we handed over that creative control.
“And yes, we could get some designer in that over thinks how to design the Ting Tings logo in 10 different ways. Or we could do it ourselves.”
Challenges are something that Katie isn’t scared of. Take, for instance, the band’s performance on the Vodafone Live Music Awards last week, where Katie and Jules collected the Xfm Live Breakthrough Act award.
“We’ve never played the full album live,” says Katie, setting the scene to the band’s latest experiment.
“Somehow we’ve got away with playing a 40 minute set and not playing everything we’ve written even though we’ve only got these 10 songs in the world.
“We’ve never played (new single) Be The One and we did it at the Vodafone awards and put a bass on it.
“I’ve never played bass in my life and so I practiced it for two days and had to go on stage in front of hundreds of people and play this instrument I’ve only played for two days.
“It’s so typical of our band,” she laughs. “I bet there’s bands that have sat in their bedrooms for 20 years who hate us for it.
“But when we started, I’d only just learnt how to play the guitar. I’m alright now; I’m pretty good after all these shows. But for me, it’s about how much you mean it; you don’t have to be that technical.”
Suck-it-and-see
Experimentation is what The Ting Tings are all about: from their suck-it-and-see live approach to their first full length album.
Listen to We Started Noting and there’s a cornucopia of styles to take in – from the Blondie-does-funky disco of Shut Up & Let Me Go to the strutting title track and retro, jump-rope sound of Impacilla Carpisung (closest modern reference point: Santogold).
On Thursday, they bring the whole record to Manchester (and, Katie says, plan to play it all). Any home crowd nerves?
“I’ve lost my hat,” she laughs about her trademark cap. “My hair is massive – our crew call me Pat Sharpe after one song because it goes so big.
“But I lost it so I don’t have anything to hide my big hair.”
Should CityLife be opening up the Katie White Cap Appeal? She chuckles: “Yeah, maybe. But it was only £4 from Asda. And I’m not sure I want to admit that just to get a new one!”
After these sold out dates, there’s already another tour slated, and then perhaps they’ll have Christmas off before headed to Australia.
Which begs some serious questions about album two. The band famously said the bleakness of their surroundings and past experiences were the reason they wanted to create a slice of Technicolor pop music.
Now sat comfortably on the proverbial Cloud Nine, how does Katie think success will affect their next record?
“Jules said flippantly in some interview once that there wouldn’t be a second album,” she says. “And there’s some truth in it – that maybe we’d mess around with what we’ve got to keep things interesting.
“But you’ve always got something new to moan about. Maybe we’ll write an album of really sad songs to depress ourselves,” she laughs.
“Anything could happen.”
The Ting Tings play Academy 1 on Thursday, October 2 and Friday October 3. Both shows are sold out. Tickets for the band’s 2009 Spring tour, including Manchester Apollo on February 26, are on sale now.
Published: Thu, 02 October, 2008
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