There’s a shadow looming over the Manchester’s grey dusk; a polka-dotted, Aviator sporting, Technicolor tasselled duo set to ignite the world of pop in 2008: The Ting Tings.
Whilst the city’s other bright new hopes The Courteeners are dispelling lad rock ’tude like a lit cigarette butt to the retina and singing about keys of Charlie, this band took said gusto and force-fed it into a high-wired rocket set to ‘Fun’. Yet Katie and Jules’ sound is about as far removed from the city’s past musical exports as is imaginable.
It is all a bit mind-blowing!
“I grew up with whatever was on the radio,” states Katie. “I was a complete pop-head and didn’t really get to hear much about amazing bands. Only in the last couple of years have I started to find and fall in love with bands like Talking Heads, Tom Tom Club, Bjork, etc.”
Anyone enamoured with the fact that two people can often make far more noise than five should be mighty impressed with this art-loving duo. Like ’90s bubblegum poppers Shampoo stuffing a neon firecracker into Debbie Harry’s hot-pants, their radio-firebombing songs scream ‘single’ like Anne Widdecombe at a speed dating dinner and should see them propelled to the upper echelons of Daytime Radio.
Though things haven’t always been so smooth. “Well, we had no money, and some spare pink-card lying around, so we got a bit inventive and it turned out really well,” adds Katie when asked about their ace gaffer-tape covered debut single ‘Fruit Machine’.
So when not encouraging audience members to scrawl DIY cover art for their future single releases, they can also be found tearing up unusual venues across Europe and inevitably, the world. “It is all a bit mind-blowing!” muses Katie on their newfound success. Forget the city’s persistent rainfall, with The Ting Tings around, the street parties will always be fun.
