He knew people in Manchester, so he came up to visit and we did some writing together. Then eventually he moved to Manchester, and we started to write again and formed a band called Dear Eskimo. It went completely wrong, and after that we wrote a couple of songs thinking nobody would work with us ever again because the stuff we'd done before hadn't worked out. But we gave it a new name, the Ting Tings, and just carried on from there.

TAC - Why the Ting Tings?

KW - I used to work with a girl called Ting Ting. It means an old bandstand in Mandarin Chinese, and it also means the sound of innovation and an open mind. At first we were quite blasé because we thought we'd just be naming our band to play to our friends at parties, so we didn't spend hours and hours deliberating over the name. I like it, though. I'm quite happy with it.

TAC - Which one person would you most like to work with?

KW- Can I have two? David Byrne and Tina Weymouth from Talking Heads and Tom Tom Club. Her European label got in touch a couple of days ago, actually, asking if we wanted to do anything with her. That would be amazing if it comes about, because she's been a big influence on us.

TAC - What did you want to be when you were growing up?

KW - I always knew I wanted to do music. I remember making some of my school friends be in a girl band me when I was about fourteen. You know, with MTV and listening to the radio, girl bands and boy bands were kind of stuffed down your throat. And I used to do dancing as a child. Not professionally, though. I just enjoyed music, and I started writing when I was in my teens. I've always been involved with music – I never gave myself any other get-out clause. It's not like I have a training in accountancy on the back burner [laughs]. Jules is the same. He was in a band with his friends when he was fifteen, writing and playing drums and stuff.