Now, there's a Ting

In today's Daily Telegraph, a loving appreciation of the Ting Tings, and a full disclosure on Kate White's career to date:

"I was into ballroom dancing until I was 16," says White, when I meet them before a gig in Camden. "After that, I convinced two schoolfriends to be in a girl band with me."

They were called TKO, short for Total Knock Out, and once supported Atomic Kitten. After the split, she formed a more guitar-based pop band called Dear Eskimo, with one of their (male) songwriters, Jules De Martino.

"We had a deal at Mercury," White remembers, "but the two bosses who signed us got the boot after four months, and we never got our record out. Nobody wanted to work with us. We were like damaged goods."

Which explains both the punk and the pop in their pop-punk hybrid.

The venerable Telegraph even links to them doing the mighty That's Not My Name at Glastonbury: