Failed UK acts Babakoto, Total Knock Out and Dear Eskiimo might never have exploded onto the pop charts, but were it not for the formative experiences of these forgotten pop failures, the world would be bereft of 2008’s most exciting emerging duo. After an earlier incarnation of their group was dumped by Mercury Records before releasing their debut, Jules De Martino and Katie White bunkered down in their Manchester digs to write a clutch of new songs simply as an emotional release. Freshly branded The Ting Tings, their demos unexpectedly created a groundswell of support and label attention.
“It’s been really natural for us and we just put some songs on MySpace and our friends told their friends,” Katie reflects while sitting in The Ting Tings’ studio eating chocolates. “We started getting a lot of press people contacting us and asking if they can interview us or play us on the radio, so it’s been really good. We went through this stage of literally having no money and unable to pay our rent to having an obscene amount of interest from all the labels and MySpace going crazy. I actually started to feel ill with nerves from the over-excitement. I had to calm myself down and laugh about it.
“Now we try not to read too much, so we’re not as aware of the excitement and hype as other people, I guess. We don’t want to get big heads or be offended, so we just stick to what we’re doing. We try to avoid reading any press, otherwise your brain will just go to mush and influence you. You have to try and avoid it all.”
Katie admits that having bear-like US producer Rick Rubin offering his support last year after hearing an early single was one of the first indicators that the world was ready to listen.
“Rick’s email said that he really liked the stuff and offered to do anything he could to help,” Katie states of the genial head of Columbia Records. “He came out to our show in LA and he was lovely. He was a really nice guy and was totally chilled. He was probably the most normal person we spoke to in the whole of LA and completely had his feet on the ground.”
Now signed to Columbia’s parent company Sony/BMG for the release of their debut, We Started Nothing, the success of the band in a short space of time has been phenomenal. An iPod commercial in the US, a number one single in the UK and snowballing radio play in Australia reflect the hotbed of ideas at play on the album. It’s a long way from Katie’s formative years growing up in the countryside.
“It was a half farm and we had horses and sheep, but it wasn’t like a proper dairy farm or anything. It was about 20 minutes outside of Manchester. I had my little pony that I grew up riding all summer, so it was a nice way to grow up but it was so boring. I’m just so happy to not see sheep poo ever again at the moment. As I get older I might realise my heart’s in the countryside, but I’m loving the city. I would like to get a horse again though – they’re lovely animals.”
After outgrowing her pony, Katie formed girl group Total Knock Out with two school friends and performed on bills with artists such as Steps, Five and Atomic Kitten.
“It sounds like we went on a world tour with Atomic Kitten but no, it was only one show and we didn’t get to meet them.”
Hooking up with Jules for ill-fated band Dear Eskiimo and the ensuing streamlined The Ting Tings, Katie began learning guitar in 2007.
“I like the fact that I can’t play the guitar properly. I’ve only been playing for a year so it’s physically impossible for me to be amazing on it. I think it just works. Some people only know three chords but play brilliantly.”
Despite the hype surrounding them, The Ting Tings are the first to downplay their musical proficiency or expectations. Even the title of their album quell impending idolatry.
“We liked it because it’s a bit cryptic and we stuck it in as our title. We don’t see ourselves as part of a scene and we don’t sound like a typical Manchester band. We’ve produced the album ourselves and we’re really happy with it. The order of the songs on the album – give or take a song or two – is how we wrote them over the last six months.”
With the 24-year-old singer still learning guitar and Jules busy on the drum kit triggering loops, The Ting Tings’ shambolic yet brilliant live show is still evolving. Don’t expect a gaggle of session musicians surrounding the pair on impending global tours though.
“Myself and Jules are quite tenacious about keeping Ting Tings as a duo. We like to experiment and use loop pedals a lot, so there’s loads of ways we can do it. We have been asked if we’re going to bring in session musicians, but we can’t think of anything worse than bringing in four people and paying them to pretend that they like your music. That just feels weird, because we created it. On stage we’re not using a backing track, we’re using loops that give us real freedom, so you can stop and start them whenever you want and it gives you real freedom. We’ve got so much to do with our feet that we get it wrong every night, but even when it goes wrong and we’re down to just a guitar and drums it still sounds good anyway.”
We Started Nothing is out now through Sony/BMG.