By M&C News Mar 5, 2008, 15:16 GMT
Recently signed to Columbia Records, The Ting Tings, lauded by the NME in the UK as "The most exciting new band in the country," will bring the duo's cutting edge electro-indie-pop sounds to the states with two performances at this year's South By Southwest (SSSW) music festival including the KCRW showcase on Wednesday, March 12 and a concert at Stub's on Friday, March 14.
The Ting Tings will bookend their SXSW performances with a coast-to-coast mini-tour of select US art house and alternative music.
Hailing from Salford, Manchester, England, The Ting Tings are: Jules De Martino (drums, vocals) and Katie White (vocals, guitar, bass drum). The band formed in 2006 when Jules and Katie began performing their infectious lo-fi DIY high-spirited sounds at private parties at the Islington Mill, a disused cotton mill where the band lives with lots of other artists (painters, photographers, underground filmmakers, etc).
For the duo's recent limited edition UK single, "Great DJ," a Single of the Week in the NME, The Ting Tings recycled old 7" singles, inverted the covers and relabeled the sleeves with the band's name and song title using colored duct tape.
Previous limited edition Ting Tings single campaigns have included a four city tour where the band invited the audience to decorate 100 blank 7" sleeves at each show. The lot decorated at each show were sold at the following gig.
A pop art video for "Great DJ" may be seen at the group's myspace page (www.myspace.com/thetingtings). Calvin Harris and 7th Heaven have created remixes of "Great DJ." "Great DJ" will be available as a limited edition 7" single, a limited edition CD and as a digital download on March 3.
The Ting Tings' performed a stunning rendition of the group's second single, "That's Not My Name" December 14, 2007 on "Later with Jules Holland." A new video for the song is slated to be lensed by legendary London director Sophie Muller (Beyoncé, Dixie Chicks, Shakira, Radiohead, Coldplay, Björk, Eurythmics, Annie Lennox).
Taking a cue from the fashion-oriented Ting Tings (Katie designs and creates her own clothes), both Betsey Johnson and Dolce & Gabbana featured "That's Not My Name" during their runway shows during New York Fashion Week.
"We Started Nothing" is scheduled for a US physical release on June 3 on RED/Columbia Records. The album will be available digitally on May 19 (coinciding with its UK street date).
Tour dates include:
3/9/08 Seattle, WA Vera Project3/11/08 Echo Park, CA Reo Center Studio3/12/08 Austin, TX KCRW Showcase3/14/08 Austin, TX Stub's3/18/08 Boston, MA Great Scott3/20/08 Chicago, IL AV-aerie3/21/08 Brooklyn, NY Le Royale
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