In the grungy basement of a famous Salford building called the Islington Mill (communal home/performance space to numerous artists, musicians, thespians and other creative types), a large but tightly compressed assortment of international music journalists and industry types are about to learn a thing or two about a Ting or two.
The wonderfully named Ting Tings – an indie/electronic duo comprised of Jules De Martino (33) and the beautiful Katie White (23) - are probably the most hotly tipped band to emerge from Manchester since Oasis.
Having released a couple of limited-edition singles on local label Switchflicker, and wowed audiences at Glastonbury (and, more recently, on Jool’s Holland’s Later), the band are Sony/BMG’s great white hope for 2008. Tonight’s showcase is to celebrate the launch of their first major label single ‘Great DJ’.
Playing close enough to touch the front row, they perform a short but sparky set of just six songs. Relying on effects pedals rather than backing tracks, a shaded De Marco pounds the skins with primal force, and the guitar-wielding White sings – or rather shouts – with real sass. Think punky electro-pop with a solid rock backbone. Or Gorillaz fronted by a young Debbie Harry.
It all culminates in the rather brilliant and funky grrl-power number ‘That’s Not My Name’, which sees White shouting, “Are you calling me darling?/Are you calling me bird?/That’s not my name!”
After the show, the duo are briefly introduced to the press. Sadly, there’s far too many journalists present for them to be able to speak to us all. Which is a real shame. They look like good types to have a beer and a laugh with.
Two days later, having spent a long day filming the video for forthcoming single, ‘That’s Not My Name’, the gorgeous White finally takes Hot Press’s call.
“Yeah, sorry we couldn’t do the interview the other night,” she apologises, “but it was really crazy. I couldn’t believe the amount of press people there. It were just mad.”
Although she’s been involved in music for almost a decade, this is White’s first taste of proper success. She began her musical career as a teenager in little-known girl band TKO (short for Total Knock Out). While they landed some support slots to acts like Five and Steps, TKO never signed a record deal.
De Martino also started out in an obscure teen band (Babakota) before graduating to become lead singer of mildly acclaimed indie rockers Mojo Pin. He first met White just before TKO split, and the pair went on to form Dear Eskimo. Although they quickly signed to Mercury, the label’s management style meant it wasn’t to last.
They formed The Ting Tings two years ago but, imbued with a distrust of the music industry following their Mercury experience, started out playing private shows in the Mill. They didn’t have to travel far. Although they’re not romantically involved, the pair also share an apartment upstairs in the building.
“Yeah, we live, work and record in the building,” she says. “But don’t say it’s a commune. ‘Commune’ makes it sound like we all smell! It’s just loads of artists working and watching gigs and whatnot. Johnny Marr got a space there recently and he’s been rehearsing. Initially I didn’t even know who he was! Now I’m going, ‘Oh my God, it’s Johnny Marr!!’”
Having been barely out of nappies at the time, White didn’t just miss out on the heyday of The Smiths, she also bypassed the whole Madchester raving scene.
“I don’t remember any of that,” she admits. “I totally missed it all because I was too young. Also, I grew up on a farm just outside Manchester, which was 15 or 20 minutes away. So it was too expensive to get cabs.
“So I didn’t even hear any good music growing up. My parents played a bit of Motown which was amazing, but for any sort of new music I had to rely on the local crappy radio station. They’d play stuff like the Spice Girls – or maybe a bit of Alicia’s Attic if they was feeling a bit daring.
“Two years ago, when we based ourselves at the Mill, I got to hear all this amazing new music. I was excited that there was bands like Tom Tom Club and stuff like that.”
Although some critics have compared The Ting Tings to a kind of reverse White Stripes, she rejects the comparison.
“Musically we don’t sound like them at all. I think people make the comparison because we’re a girl and a boy, but that’s about it. We’re more influenced by bands like Tom Tom Club and Talking Heads. We listened to Stop Making Sense non-stop when we were making our album.”
Having been messed around in the past, is she still cynical about the music industry?
“Well I don’t think I’ve been around the houses as much as you probably think. I was in a band with some school friends, but we weren’t ever really part of the music industry. With Dear Eskimo we got signed very quickly to Mercury after we played a showcase at In The City. Literally, a scout from Mercury saw us there and then signed us. Looking back, what happened with Dear Eskimo was a complete blessing in disguise, but at the time I was pretty pissed off.”
Is it true that Mercury’s marketing department asked "would you be willing to pose naked for FHM?"
“Well, not naked, but the first meeting we had with the marketing department they were basically... not that blunt, because they didn’t have the balls to say it, but basically they were saying in a roundabout way, ‘How much are you prepared to get your kit off for men’s mags?’ And I just thought, ‘Oh, you’ve got the wrong girl’, because there’s better looking girls who could do that ten times better than me. I’m just not that kind of girl. But I knew that we were with the wrong label when they said that.”
Thankfully, Tings are going a little better nowadays. ‘Great DJ’ has just been released and they’re about to jet off to the States to promote it.
“We’ve got over a million hits on our MySpace and a lot of them are from America, so we’re hoping there’ll be a decent buzz.”
Their debut album, We Started Nothing, will be released at the end of May. White maintains that it’s quite an angry record, despite its poppy sugarcoat.
“They’re actually very angry and frustrated songs, because we wrote them after the whole experience with our previous band. I reckon we were totally going for it at the time. ‘That’s Not My Name’ is probably the pinnacle of that frustration. It’s not just about somebody forgetting your name, it’s about feeling that you’re totally worthless and you’ve got nothing exciting about you and feeling like you don’t make any impact on people. I think most people feel like that at some point so it should be quite easy to identify with.”
The vocals are more shouted than sung...
“Yeah, it’s great fun to perform,” she laughs. “I wouldn’t say I’m a natural singer. But I think that’s what makes us sound different. I can sing quite well – I’ve got quite a sweet sort of toney voice, if I’m just singing something folky with an acoustic guitar. But every girl does that, you know, there’s nothing different about it and it’s quite boring. So I started shouting instead. It seems to work.”

The Ting Tings play The Village, Dublin as part of BudRising on April 12. ‘Great DJ’ is out now.