THE MUSIC HYPE MACHINE IS IN overdrive these days, foisting ten eager new bands a week on an unsuspecting public. The quality of many of these outfits is questionable, but just occasionally, the hype machine gets it dead right.
Such is the case with Mancunian twosome The Ting Tings. For the last few months there has been a real buzz around the duo of Katie White (vocals and guitar) and Jules De Martino (drums and vocals). An incendiary gig at Glastonbury last year seemed t
o spark things off. Since then there have been rave reviews, a fantastic turn on the NME tour and an explosive appearance on television's Later With Jools Holland.
Most recently, the pair's first proper single, Great DJ, has taken over the airwaves, becoming the most downloaded indie track in the country so far this year. As we catch up with De Martino and White they're in the middle of a whirlwind promotional visit to the US, where things are hotting up just as much as over here.
Having visited the West Coast, then the annual music industry bunfight of the South By Southwest festival in Austin, Texas – where they played three gigs a day for four days – it's now New York, and a rare chance to reflect on a dizzying six months.
"We're exhausted, but it's going really well in the States," says De Martino. "A lot of radio stations are playing our records, clubs too, and people are recognising us in the street, which is weird. They are really responding to the music, which is superb."
It's no real surprise that people are responding positively to The Ting Tings' music. The pair are not the most sophisticated act on the planet, but have tapped into something primal in their rhythms and something incessantly catchy in their melodies. At times they seem like an electro-pop version of The White Stripes, except they're way cooler than Jack and Meg. Great DJ is a brainworm of a pop record, burrowing its way into your mind for weeks, while their appearance on Later With Jools Holland, playing a visceral romp called That's Not My Name, proved they can rock out with the best of them.
De Martino reckons the reason people are latching on to their sound is the unforced and natural way their music came about. Having both been in failed studio-based indie-pop outfit Dear Eskiimo a couple of years ago, Jules and Katie took the frustrations of that situation into a rehearsal room and went nuts, without a thought about the commercial viability of what they were doing.
"We had no intention of starting another band after Dear Eskiimo," De Martino says. "Our label fell apart around us and we were left with nothing. Katie wanted to get back to basics and just make some music. I'd been playing guitar, and I went back on the drums and created some loops, and Katie picked up a guitar for the first time.
She was hitting a D chord I'd taught her for four hours, and it developed from there. That frustration from Dear Eskiimo came flying out of us in our little rehearsal space, and something clicked straight away."
Before they knew where they were, their manager had booked them on a support tour for a visiting American band, despite the fact that they'd only just started to write and record.
"We had three songs and Katie didn't know how to play guitar, really," laughs De Martino. "At our first gig, we finished the first song and Katie asked if the audience could hear her guitar. The soundman told her to turn her amp on – she didn't even know how to do that."
The pair are still based in the same Salford warehouse they started in, a space they share with artists, designers, sculptors, bands and DJs. De Martino claims the informal creative spirit of the place has been instrumental in shaping The Ting Tings' refreshing attitude. The pair have now signed a deal with major label Columbia, but recorded the whole album themselves, and insist on doing as much as possible of their own artwork and promotion.
"We signed when we were halfway through making the record," says De Martino. "Columbia saw it was working well, the way we were doing things, so they didn't want to change it. Besides, in our contract we have total creative control, so they can't do anything about it."
That album, We Started Nothing, is slated for a May release, and De Martino hopes it can go some way not only to defining who The Ting Tings are, but redefining the old pigeonholes of music.
"The media and record industry always want to categorise – you're an indie band, a pop band, a rock band – but with today's technology, people recording at home can blur those barriers. I think it's about time we just had music, and if our album can close that gap, so people can actually enjoy it as a pop album that also rocks, then great."
Given the spontaneous way in which The Ting Tings came about, doesn't De Martino worry about what happens next – the infamous second album syndrome? He already has a plan.
"For the next record, we'll split The Ting Tings, change our name and form a new band," he laughs. "Pretend The Ting Tings never happened, and get a new injection of energy into the creative process."
• The Ting Tings play King Tut's, Glasgow, on 13 April. We Started Nothing will be released in May.
The full article contains 929 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
