Illustration: Nick Deacon

Not since Pugwal’s Summer have I seen such a rapid road to stardom, but The Ting Tings have managed to set a new land speed record. Fused caught up with one half of team Ting to talk random disco’s, fledgling hiccups, getting a little bit international, oh, and having their minds blown…

In little over a year the duo have gone from a living room band entertaining their friends to one of the most hotly tipped bands of 2008 with a number one album, and it’s easy to see why. It’s a girl, it’s a guy, it’s a hefty drumbeat – it’s everything you need.

Named after the sound of inspiration – ‘Ting!’ – their name could not be more apt.  After years of oh-so-close-you-could-taste-it near misses they finally seem to have got that special equation that can’t be quantified.  Katie spent some of her adolescence in pop trio TKO (Total Knock Out) supporting acts such as 5ive, Steps and Atomic Kitten and in 2001 Jules started writing songs for them. They later went on to form a new band, Dear Eskimo, who signed to a major label before falling apart in January last year.

“We were left in a bit of a dilemma after the end of the last band,” says Jules. “We had no intention of starting a new band, we just started writing and then when we had three songs we managed to blag onto a tour.  Katie decided that she should learn the guitar and was still learning by the point we were playing the Birmingham Barfly. We got through the first song and a voice came from the back of the venue saying ‘Katie, turn your amp on’.  It was so funny we’d gone through a whole song without the guitar. We’ve come a long way since.”

Indeed, they have.  In the last year they’ve played Glastonbury, South-by-South West and the NME New Music Tour. “We missed the Dublin NME show cos we had to do a BBC Introducing thing, but we made up for it after the Manchester gig.  We threw an aftershow party at The Mill, where we’re based, and me and Katie DJ’d.  We had something like 1500 vinyls left from when we’d bought a load to package our first single so we just used them.  It was all random stuff like ‘Respectable’ by Mel and Kim, so at first everyone was like ‘What the fuck are The Ting Tings on?’  But we just kept playing all these mad songs and it ended up going on til five in the morning with everyone drunk and singing along.  It was really good.”

The single, ‘That’s Not My Name’, which was released the first time round last year, was individually hand packaged by the band by reversing the sleeves of old vinyl. “It’s amazing to think that this time last year we had everything to do.  It’s been totally different to any band we’ve been in before and when we started The Ting Tings it was just more out of something to do and having fun. We all make that mistake, of trying to wear the right clothes and whatever, but with this band we were learning to be something rather than just trying to be something.”

Now for the stupidest question I think I’ve ever asked: “Erm…so has anything blown your mind over the last year?” (I am cringing while writing this). “Has. Anything. Blown. My. Mind?”  Repeats Jules.  I start giggling. “Hmmm, has anything blown my mind? Well. I’ve just got through telling you about touring with NME, going to Glastonbury, releasing an album, going to America and only starting less than a year ago…so erm, no, nothing has ‘blown my mind,’” he answers between fits of laughter.

Wiping a tear of laughter/embarrassment from my eye, I decide that this is the apt moment to end the interview – there’s no recovery after such stupidity.

‘We Started Nothing’ is out now.
Words: Cassie-Philomena Smyth
Illustration: Nick Deakin