The Ting Tings

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The Ting Tings

The Ting Tings are an English alternative band, consisting of two members: Jules De Martino (drums, guitar, vocals) and Katie White (vocals, guitar, bass drum). They were originally from Leigh, Greater Manchester. They formed in 2006 while based at Castle Irwell, Salford. They have released 3 singles on their current label Columbia Records including the single "That's Not My Name" which charted straight at Number 1 in the UK Singles Chart on 18 May 2008.[1] The album We Started Nothing was released on 19 May 2008 and also charted at Number 1 in the UK.[2]

Early years

Katie White grew up in Leigh, Greater Manchester. She first appeared as a teenager in girl group TKO - short for Technical Knock Out.[3] The band consisted of Katie and two friends, Joanne Leeton and Emma Lally.[3] TKO supported acts like Steps and Five but never signed a record deal [4], and only released one internet-only single. London born Jules De Martino started out in a band called Babakoto[5], and released a single called "Just To Get By" in 1987. After Babakoto split up, De Martino was a singer in an indie rock group Mojo Pin [5]. Mojo Pin released two singles, "You" in 1995 and "My Imagination" in 1996.

De Martino met White whilst she was in TKO just before they split. A few months later the pair bumped into each other and after De Martino relocated to Manchester, went on to form the Portishead inspired trio Dear Eskiimo who were signed to Mercury Records - but "creative differences" and the management style of the record label caused them to split.[6][7]

This earlier experience left White and De Martino with a distrust of the music industry, so with that common interest they formed The Ting Tings. The name comes from a Chinese colleague of White's at a boutique, who told her the name sounds like the pronunciation of "an old bandstand[6]" in Mandarin. There are many Chinese characters pronounced "Ting", the most common one is 听, which means "to listen". If the band's name was transliterated one way in the Japanese katakana alphabet, it would be like a slang word for penis , leading some to believe that has helped their success in that country.[8] The band started out playing private parties at Islington Mill, Salford.[9] The Mill gigs ended up as some of the most sought after tickets on the Manchester party scene - with various A&R reps and record producers, such as Rick Rubin asking for tickets.[7]

Formation and exposure

Performing at ULU London, 16 April 2008

Their first double-A side single "That's Not My Name/Great DJ" was released on local label Switchflicker, and together with their second single "Fruit Machine", they were on heavy rotation in British radio (amongst others BBC 6 Music, played regularly by many DJs including a session for Marc Riley who was first to have them in session on 6 Music and first to play their record on the station). "Fruit Machine" was a limited-edition, 500-only seven-inch single on Legendre Starkie Records, which was only available at the group's gigs at Islington Mill in Salford, Electrowerkz in Islington, Berlin in Germany and at Glasslands in Brooklyn, New York City.[10] They had a notable performance at Glastonbury Festival 2007, and after an October 2007 tour of universities in the UK with Reverend and the Makers, signed for Columbia Records,[11]. On 14 December 2007 they appeared on Later with Jools Holland. In May 2008 the band credited BBC Introducing for giving them their 'life changing' break after BBC Radio Manchester's Introducing show spotted the band and put them forward for inclusion in the Glastonbury running order.

In January 2008 they were voted third in the annual BBC 6 Music poll of industry experts Sound of 2008, for acts to emerge in the coming year.[4] In February 2008 they were the opening slot act on the 2008 Shockwaves NME Awards Tour, performing with The Cribs, Joe Lean And The Jing Jang Jong and Does It Offend You, Yeah?.[12] In conjunction with the NME and HMV the band contributed a demo version of "Great DJ" to a limited, 5000 copies only 10" vinyl release of all the artists on the NME Awards Tour.

The first single released on Columbia was "Great DJ", which received considerable airplay on new music stations BBC Radio 1 and Xfm in the UK; and hyped by magazines such as the NME. The band performed a live set on the In New Music We Trust stage at Radio 1's Big Weekend in Maidstone, Kent, which was made available by the BBC's online video player application iPlayer. The single "Shut Up and Let Me Go" appeared in an iPod commercial in late April 2008, peaking at #55 on the Billboard Hot 100[10]. The band's debut album, We Started Nothing, was released on 19 May 2008. It was, however, leaked onto the internet on 13 May 2008. Shortly after the release of the album, the band released a statement on the social network service MySpace which explained to fans that their single "That's Not My Name" had reached number 1 in the UK Singles Charts, the statement went on to encourage fans to purchase legal copies of the single in order to keep it at the top position for the official Sunday Chart release on 18 May. The band went on to secure Number 1 in the UK singles chart on 18 May.

The Ting Tings performed at the iTunes Live London Festival in the KOKO nightclub on 9 July 2008, and the performance was released as a downloadable EP in the iTunes store under the title iTunes Live: London Festival ‘08.

Their singles "Shut Up and Let Me Go" and "We Started Nothing" were featured in the Gossip Girl series, while the song "Be the One" was featured in One Tree Hill.

The Ting Tings were one of four performers who play small interludes consisting of remixes of past hits throughout the 2008 MTV Video Music Awards. They played a section from "Shut Up and Let Me Go" with former Blink 182 drummer Travis Barker and DJ AM.

The Ting Tings won Best UK Video at the 2008 MTV Video Music Awards for their single "Shut Up and Let Me Go". Other artists who were nominated in the same category included, Coldplay, Duffy, Leona Lewis and Estelle.

Discography

Main article: The Ting Tings discography

Awards and nominations


Television appearances

References

  1. ^ "THE TING TINGS TOP U.K. ALBUM CHART". Retrieved 2008-06-10.
  2. ^ "World Album Charts". aCharts.us. Retrieved 10 June 2008.
  3. ^ a b Trio's K-O spells the end for TKO This Is Lancashire - 31 December 2001
  4. ^ a b Sound of 2008: The Ting Tings BBC 6 Music - 2 January 2008
  5. ^ a b Morrison, Alan (18 May 2008). "The arts the next big thing the next big ting barely a year after+". The Sunday Herald. Retrieved 2008-08-10.
  6. ^ a b "Ting Tings - History". The Ting Tings. Retrieved 2008-06-29.
  7. ^ a b Ting Tings - the hottest party in town Manchester Evening News - 8 June 2007
  8. ^ "Just Doing Their Ting". Retrieved 2008-07-10.
  9. ^ [1] Islington Mill website
  10. ^ a b The Ting Tings release new single... NME - 28 September 2007 Cite error: The named reference "NME2007" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page).
  11. ^ Liquid Room, Edinburgh, Wed 17 Oct The List (Issue 590) - 15 November 200
  12. ^ Shockwaves NME Awards Tour 2008

External links

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