That's Their Name - The Ting Tings

With just two members Jules admits that there are positives and negatives to having just one bandmate.  “With just the two of us, you get on the starting blocks (before shows) and it’s the first one to the finishing line, the energy is there and that’s the great thing about two people.  The hard bit is you can’t rely on anyone else and you have to lean on them.” 

The Ting Tings exude a sense of realism in their attitude to the music business, likely forged into them by the trials of the past.  They have emerged in their new guise as an ultra-catchy pair of pop fiends with previous single ‘Great DJ’ testament to this.  They admit that with their upcoming album born out of frustration they will need some new inspiration for the next one.  “Maybe on our next album it’ll be written in hotel rooms and be called something hotels,” Jules jokes.

With festival season nearly upon us it was only right that Gigwise try and tease out some of their festival dates, but far from keeping their cards to their chest, Jules and Katie admit that playing as many as possible is the plan. “We’ve got plans to play all the festivals this year, our manager is closing deals now,” explains Jules before Katie takes over “We’re confirmed for most of them but we don’t want to say until they announce them, I think we’d get in trouble!”  It would seem that Glastonbury will be among them considering the success they had last year on the BBC introducing stage.

When asked whether indie or pop are his preference when making music, Jules is frank.  “There is no conscious decision about direction.  We write stuff that makes us feel good.”  A few listens to ‘Great DJ’ and upcoming single ‘That’s Not My Name’ will likely have you feeling good too. Katie and Jules place great emphasis on pure catchy pop and with plenty of copies of ‘Great DJ’ flying off the shelves back in March the public clearly enjoy it. 

It is left to Katie to sum up what they’ve learnt from their previous attempts at fame. “Listen to yourself and don’t take opinions off anybody, even if their opinions are right or wrong, you’ve got to feel 100% comfortable with what you’re doing.” 

It seems that the Ting Tings are now at that stage and ready for lift-off. Forget the FHM modelling offers, ex-girl bands and that Eskiimo project, this pair are in it for the music, not the image.