Manchester duo, Ting Tings broke into the music scene in 2008 with their That’s Not My Name single, but in fact, there is a long history behind them.

You never felt short playing on stage as a two piece?

Katie White: We like the challenge. We realised that we kind of get bored when there are a lot of people on stage.

You’d been working together before starting Ting Tings, but when did you actually realise that you should work as a duo?

Jules De Martino: We realised that we had to carry on making music when everything went wrong. Ironically, it started when everything went wrong. We lost our record contract, we lost our equipment, we nearly lost all our friends at this moment. As we lost our jobs, we ended up working in a bar in Manchester and saw lots of new bands. And I think that was when we realised that we’d got each other and that we had to carry on. Then once we got through that depressing period we started writing music together.

How do you feel about your success?

Katie White: I feel good about it. I like that people have got to play our music. It’s satisfying after experiencing some kind of failure previously. You know, we almost gave it up. We felt that that was that, as if we were never going to be successful in music. Then, it makes it feel more like a dream to actually make it.

How did you choose the name, Ting Tings?

Katie White: I stole it from a girl I used to work with in a clothes shop when I was trying to make some money. She was called Ting Ting and she told me it was the name of an ancient instrument. We googled it and found out that it has a nice twinkling sound and we just liked the idea.

And you are starting to record your next album in October in Berlin…

Jules De Martino: Yes, we found an old jazz club and rented it.

Katie White: We’ve been there like five times. We saw quite a few cities in the last few years and Berlin was our favourites. You know there are places with beautiful islands and beaches but Berlin has got something about it that we feel is perfect for working on an album.

Have you been to Budapest before?

Jules De Martino: No. You know, it’s funny. A good friend of ours has been here several times before and he told me, ‘oh, Budapest is a beautiful city, you will love it’, but then we drove in at 6pm yesterday after flying in from Japan, we were quite jetlagged, we had no energy, so we went straight to bed and woke up at 5am.

Where are you going next?

Jules De Martino: We are flying out to Denmark tomorrow morning.

Can I just ask a personal question: are you an item as well?

Jules De Martino: God, no! I don’t think it would work. We are together 24/7 anyway. Being in a relationship is difficult enough.

Which is your favourite song from the first album?

Katie White: I love That’s Not My Name.

Jules De Martino: I love Great DJ and We Started Nothing…

Do you still think you’ve started nothing?

Katie White: Not intentionally, I mean we’re not trying to make it. I don’t feel like we are trying to sell ourselves. We’ve not done any TV-shows and I’ve turned down men’s magazines. 

Why?

Katie White (smiles): You know it’s easier to sell more records like that but that’s not how we want to do it. I think it’s about music and art.