## Jules de Martino
Katie and I were playing loads of gigs in Manchester in a band called dear Eskiimo. We’d got a deal wiht Mercury. They had committed to an album, but then suddenly changed all their top people and we got dumped. I remember thinking: “Bastards.” * No one would answer the phone to us. We felt invisible and rejected. That’s what the lyrics to That’s not My Name are all about: “They call me Stacey / They call me Her / They call me Jane / That’s not my name.”
We were trying to regroup and lick our wounds by throwing parties. We lived in islington Mill Studios in Salford, a rundown cotton mill where students would create their textile designs. We only had three songs – That’s Not My name, Shut Up and Let Me Go and Great DJ – so we’d perform on stage, DJ CDs badly and pump out music. I’d jump on the drums with a loop pedal, Katie would throw on my Strat, we’d art punk it out and it felt amazing.
Ther was a girl living at the mill who said: “I love what you’re doing. Can I put a record out?” She had this little label called Switchflicker, so we went halves on the £2,000 it cost to print 500 vinyl records of That’s Not My Name and Great DJ as a double A-side.She helped us get it into the Piccadilly Records shop in Manchester by putting it on the shelf illegally. She was also part of the lesbian club scene, who she started inviting to our parties saying: “They’ve got this great song, That’s Not My Name …” Our parties at the mill went from 20 friends to 40, 60, 80 …
One of the copies got to John Kennedy on XFM. I remember Mark Radcliffe saying “Strike a light!” when he played it on BBC Radio 6. We were also on Myspace, thinking “Someone from Australia just liked us” which seemed outrageous at the time.we were still doing our parties one Friday a month, but the mood had changed because they were increasingly full of industry people – labels and publishers who wanted to sign us – who didn’t have a laugh and cheer along. Three weeks later, we were at the Sanderson hotel in London, negotiating a deal with Sony.
Katie and I have always written together in our own bubble. We produce and write everything ourselves, in our home studi
The Ting Tings on the enduring Appeal of “That’s Not My Name” and Life as a Duo
The Ting Tings’ 2008 hit, “That’s Not My Name,” continues to resonate with audiences across generations, a phenomenon the band members themselves find remarkable. They describe a surprising demographic at their shows – “two-year-olds and grandmas were singing along” – and note the song’s unusual staying power.
“It went into the stratosphere, but has stayed in its own lane,” they explained in a recent interview. “It’s an evergreen song, like My Sharona. You can’t really tell what decade it’s from.”
The song’s enduring popularity is evidenced by its widespread use in media. It featured prominently in a Starbucks commercial and has appeared in numerous films. More recently, it experienced a resurgence in popularity thanks to TikTok, going viral approximately three years ago. This continued demand has even led to requests for the band to write similar songs for other artists, providing them with the creative freedom to continue pursuing their own musical vision.
The duo also revealed they have been a couple throughout their musical journey, a fact they kept private for some time. “We never talked about it at the time as we felt it was distracting. There weren’t manny duos around and we were quite private,” they said. They now have a nearly five-year-old daughter.
Balancing parenthood with a demanding touring schedule proved challenging. For the first few years of their daughter’s life, the band toured relentlessly, accepting opportunities to perform in locations around the globe. “We were flying three or four times a week…We literally toured the first album nonstop for four years,” they recalled. “Normally, you’d have somebody at home and have to put the brakes on at some point. But we kept saying, ‘Yes, we’ll tour South America!’ and ‘yes, we’ll go to Japan again’. It was all just so exciting.”
The Ting Tings’ new album, Home, is out now.