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February 13th Source: Manchester Evening News THEY'VE been tipped for the top by every music expert, they've scored a major record deal and their new single is being played round the clock on Radio 1. But Salford indie-pop band The Ting Tings are determined not to "sell out", even though they're heading for the big time. So much so, they've even persuaded their record label, Columbia, not to release their first single, Great DJ, into the charts! The arty duo - blonde singer Katie White and Jules De Martino - instead have handcrafted every sleeve of a limited edition run of the song, which will not be eligible for a chart position, despite the huge interest and airplay. Katie tells me: "The record company took a bit of convincing, but they're alright about it now. We just felt it would be too much of a massive jump to do this big shiny single release when we really like the concept idea of making limited singles. We wanted to keep a bit of what we are about." But I fear the guys won't be able to stave off commercial success for long - with their second single, That's Not My Name, scheduled for a full release in May followed by their eagerly-awaited debut album. Katie says: "We've literally not got a day off until the end of the year. In the last few weeks the song keeps coming on the radio, and it's just such a weird feeling to keep hearing it like that, it's hard to explain." The phenomenal success of The Ting Tings is being heralded as part of a new wave of Manchester music - alongside the likes of The Courteeners and Twisted Wheel. And Katie says all the buzz around new Manc bands can only be a good thing for the city's musicians. She says: "It's hard to break through in the music industry, so it's great to see so many Manchester bands doing well at the moment - it's good for all of us that people are talking about the city's music scene. "But we don't sound like a traditional `Manchester band', we're a real pop band and I think it's really good that we're doing something different." The duo are currently on the NME tour alongside The Cribs and Does It Offend You Yeah? And when the music gang hit Manchester, Katie and Jules invited them all back to their infamous Islington Mill party pad to show them some Manc hospitality. Katie laughs: "After the Manchester gig we invited everyone back to ours at Islington Mill and everyone was dancing to Ghostbusters and Abba. "We were left with all these bizarre old records after we bought a load of old vinyl singles so that we could recycle them for the cover of our Great DJ single.
"We decided to play them all at the party and everyone was hovering around the DJ table all night checking them out. We think we're going to keep them all now for future Ting Tings DJ sets."
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