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FESTIVAL SPECIAL
The Ting Tings’ Katie White tells Lianne Steinberg about the band’s
amazing year and why they’ll always enjoy festival gigs
The last time The Big Issue In The North met The
Ting Tings’ Katie White and Jules De Martino, it was
at their spiritual and creative base in Salford’s
Islington Mill. It was the place where they had
cooked up their debut album, We Started Nothing,
via late night parties in the main room playing to a
group of close-knit friends. Just signed to a major
label, another door opened as a deal with Apple
was sealed for Shut Up And Let Me Go to appear
on a new iPod ad campaign. Things were
already starting to seem extraordinary but at
the time, they were yet to formally release
what became the anthem for 2008, single
That’s Not My Name.
Shuffle forward one year and The Ting
Tings are a household name – possibly the
UK’s biggest pop success story from a
non-manufactured stable. Drew
Barrymore turns up backstage at their
gigs, their music soundtracks almost
every TV trailer and they were up for
an Ivor Novello award.
But the moment White
(vocals/guitar) and De Martino’s
(vocals/drums) world turned on
its axis was at last year’s
Glastonbury festival when
their early evening
appearance on the John
Peel stage made history.
It became the highlight
of the weekend as the
area was flooded with
the biggest capacity
of fans in and
around the tent
that the stage had
ever seen.
“Glastonbury
had a huge
impact,” White
agrees. “We’d
played it the year before on the BBC Introducing stage
in front of about 70 people but to play it again to a
packed tent was just amazing really. We were just
shocked at the reaction we got. When I looked out
from backstage I was proper sh*tting it because we
weren’t expecting it,” she laughs.
The singer’s self-effacement and sense of
bewilderment haven’t waned with the duo’s
continued success. Yet Glastonbury seemed to
confirm them as the ones to watch, even if at the
time, it was too much to take in.
“I don’t know where we’d been the day before –
I think we must have just come back from the States –
and we literally got off the
plane, went to a service
station and we were
getting some food
and people were
whispering ‘Ting
Tings, Ting
Tings!’ And I
thought: ‘Woah,
that’s a bit weird,’ because everyone seemed quite
excitable around us. We arrived at Glastonbury
thinking we’d get 5,000 people maximum in the tent
and then it just grew to about 15,000 and it almost
wrecked the gig because I was so nervous. I felt as
though I just stood there, jaw open, just staring at this
sea of people.”
Sometimes a band can have all the right attributes a solid fanbase and a revered album - but to make it
all work in a festival environment,anywhere in the
world, where people are sometimes unfamiliar with
the songs or too drunk or tired to enjoy it, requires
something a little bit special. White is too modest to
point to anything other than good tunes and creating
an atmosphere.
“We are a pop band and at festivals people
generally want songs that they can sing along to. Last
year we played so many festivals all over the world it
was amazing but the UK festivals do have the best
line-ups. And it doesn’t really matter about the
weather because when you get too much sunshine,
everyone’s a bit too chilled and sometimes you don’t
want your audience to be chilled, you want them to
be fired up.”
After being on the road almost constantly for a year,
White and De Martino have just returned from the
Californian desert where they played one of the first
festivals of 2009 – Coachella – alongside British icons
Paul McCartney and Morrissey.
“It was gorgeous weather but we seemed to have so
many technical problems. Something wasn’t working
so we had to wait half an hour before we went on and
they weren’t even playing music for the crowd to
keep them occupied. It was exactly the same situation
as Glastonbury in that it was the biggest crowd that
that particular stage had ever seen. Apparently when
we were on stage there were some girls in the crowd
kicking off and fighting with each other, so clearly
people were a bit aggro. It was good but it did feel like
that’s what you have to go through at festivals. You
can only do your best when you get on stage.
“As usual we had to leave as soon as we’d played
so we missed Paul McCartney and I heard Morrissey
from about three stages away doing old Smiths songs
but we had to get on the tour bus.”
A lack of control over their schedule is something
that can concern White and after so much touring, her
mood is clearly coloured by their hectic touring.
“I’m really looking forward to this summer actually.
Hopefully, it will have all calmed down a bit and we
won’t have to do things every hour of every day.”
Before the band’s schedule went into overdrive,
White famously collapsed during the South By South
West festival in Texas due to the heat and exhaustion.
By comparison, this year has doubled the intensity
and alongside all the accolades and success, it seems
that the duo need a bit more balance in their lives.
“We’ve had a surreal year. I just don’t feel normal
anymore. Just the past few months I’ve felt a bit lost
in it – not necessarily in a bad way but I’ve not seen
my friends for ages or my family. I’ve not done
anything normal for such a long time that I’m getting
the urge to do normal things. We had a day off the
other day in America and I did my washing.
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FESTIVAL SPECIAL
Normally we don’t have time to do our washing but
I was just sat there in front of the machine in the hotel
and it gave me such pleasure. I never enjoyed doing
anything like that before,” she laughs.
The uptake of their album in America has been
impressive thanks to the runaway success of the iPod
advert with Shut Up And Let Me Go. They were
winners at last year’s MTV Video Music Awards in
Hollywood and an appearance in the latest Adidas
campaign alongside Katy Perry and David Beckham
hasn’t harmed their cool status. So when they hear
that Dolce & Gabbana featured That’s Not My Name
during their runway show at New York Fashion
Week, is it all a bit strange or do they comfortably slot
into that A-list world?
“We’re just not from that world of celebrity, we’re
complete fake outsiders,” she baulks. “We’re always
the ones sat in the corner talking to the sound
engineer while everyone else is networking and air
kissing but I think most so-called celebrities feel that
way too, they just don’t show it.”
Once their festival commitments are over in
September the pair will have to contemplate writing
their second album. Considering the size of the
venues they’re currently playing with only one
album’s worth of material to trade on, it’s no surprise
that there are some ideas already buzzing around for
new songs. However, they’re loath to road test them
on an unsuspecting audience.
“We didn’t want to half do something on the road
because there’s nothing inspiring about sitting on an
aeroplane. We did our first album quite quickly and
we do work quickly when we’re sat in a studio or gig
environment.” She pauses. “As long as we don’t feel
too numbed by it all. So we’re going to go to Berlin to
write the new album because we’ve got friends out
there.”
In some ways, their fame has now put certain
obstacles in their way when it comes to returning to
their original muse.
“I don’t think we could throw those parties at the
Mill again. I think if we invited people to our house
in Salford they’d rob us now because they’d think
we’d done all right for ourselves, so it feels a bit
weird to try and go back there,” she says.
These days pop acts seem to have a longer shelf life
than indie bands but White isn’t spending too much
time musing on their longevity.
What Katie said
“I heard Shut Up And Let Me Go on something with Noel Edmonds on
it and thought, what the f*ck?”
“I’m bored of English indie bands – there are too many and they’re
all too similar.”
“We played with Travis Barker and DJ AM at the MTV Video Music
Awards and they had that awful plane crash soon after. It completely
freaked me out because I’m slightly funny about flying. You know
when you get obsessed with something that’s really not healthy?
I started watching programmes about plane crashes and air accident
investigations.”
“There are only so many times you can say: ‘Hi, I’m Katie and I’m
Jules and we are The Ting Tings.’ How many interviews can they
show of us on YouTube saying the same thing? It was getting to be
a bit of a joke.”
“We’re complete fake
outsiders” – Katie White
and Jules De Martino stick
to impressing on stage
“We’re always
going to write
pop songs. It’s
not like we’re
trying to be
commercial –
we just like to
hear catchy
stuff when
we’re writing.”
“I think you just have to keep doing it until you
stop feeling creative and I still feel like I’ve got so
much to say. Even though this first album has gone
well it doesn’t feel like we should just put our feet up
and retire. I’m sure there is still time to for us to go up
our own arses and write a load of sh*t that no one
likes or something,” she jokes.
Although a brass section will appear alongside
them at their forthcoming festival dates, The Ting
Tings will always remain a two-piece and it’s that
fearlessly intimate dynamic that keeps them so
interesting.
“We’re always going to write pop songs, we just
like them. It’s not like we’re trying to be commercial –
we just like to hear catchy stuff when we’re writing.
Learning the guitar for the album was amazing
because you make all sorts of interesting mistakes
that give you new sounds and odd chords but you can
never really do that again once you can play well. I’m
not saying I’m great on guitar but just being able to get
on stage and play it has really given me confidence.”
White’s down to earth attitude towards music has
probably been the key in propelling their widespread
appeal. With no time for musical purists, their debut
album teems with defiance and confidence that’s
clearly going to shape their next project.
“I quite fancy learning the cello,” White says with
breezy enthusiasm. “I know there are people who
spend ten years in their bedroom perfecting guitar but
it’s quite liberating just being on stage and thinking:
‘I don’t know what I’m doing but at least I’m giving it
everything.’”
The Ting Tings play the Isle of Wight Festival, 12
June, Glastonbury, 26 June, T In The Park, 11 July,
Oxegen, 12 July, V Festival Staffordshire 23 August.
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