Somewhere, off in a strange parallel universe, the Arctic Monkeys went to college, Pete Doherty is an outreach worker and Bruce Carter and Danny Saville are hugely famous already. In that realm, Nylon Pylon, the turn-of-the-century Manc electro-rock four-piece that were tipped as messiahs by anyone who went near them, didn’t get chewed up and spat out of the record label machine, they weren’t about two years ahead of their time, their album didn’t get shelved and they didn’t disband quietly, a few months later.
But then, certain DJs in cooler circles in this realm still play their teutonic club anthem ‘Foot In Mouth’ to this day, and in that realm we wouldn’t have The Whip.
So instead, our story begins a few years before that, at college in Oldham. The first thing that Bruce Carter said to Danny ‘King Boosh’ Saville was “I LOVE YOU,” having seen him out and about looking cool, and because he was drunk, Danny turned out to love him back, realising that they both shared an appreciation of “music that makes you want to move your feet but start, look and listen at the same time.” They decided, there and then, to make beautiful music together.
The music they would make, they decided, would be informed by their love of past and future artists like Felix Da Housecat, Ficherspooner, Interpol, New Order, Justice, Erol Alkan, David Bowie, Talking Heads, ESG, Kraftwerk, The Beach Boys, Devo and Vitalic. As well as films like Blue Velvet and Twin Peaks.
When Nylon Pylon disbanded, they kept the dream alive with two splinter groups. There was never any question of Bruce and Danny not continuing to work together. “It felt really fresh and we're not bitter in any way, just totally determined to make it work somehow, someday and this time it feels good. It's good having learnt from mistakes or just experiences we've had.”
It was in the sleazy surroundings of the basement of a Pub in Salford that they rewired their half of the Pylon essence – Bruce’s tunes and Danny’s beats, into the sleek, sexy and svelte tones of The Whip, the same artificial buzz rooted this time in a new, organic soul. "The name seemed right because it’s a positive word to us with a twist of dirt," says Bruce. Indeed, if Nylon Pylon were day-glo beat pioneers, The Whip work best under cover of night. "The first gig was such a release," says Bruce. "I was so pumped up having not done a gig for 18 months, longest time since I started at 15. We’d waited so long because we wanted the songs to be good enough to come out ready to go, it was so frustrating that it took so long but I'm glad we waited; the response has been good because we developed in the shadows. It was so good to actually play the songs live and actually exist again, we don't want to stop things now we feel so strong".
For their next trick, The Whip are putting roots back in the clubs, with their single Trash. They’re going to play more gigs. They’re going to play more house parties. They’re going to put out more records. They’re going to try out some even more ridiculous haircuts. And sooner or later, they’re going to be hugely famous in this dimension. “We aspire to show people how to have a good time while doing something that makes their ears pick up to something new. Pop music can be much more than it is at the moment, we want to help make pop music as creative, exciting and original as it used to be and have a party doing it...
"We want," concludes Bruce, "to make people dance with their eyes open".
Buy Trash on 12" online now - CLICK HERE
The Whip summer shows:
June 8th High Voltage, Manchester, single launch show
June 12th 93 Feet East, London - CANCELLED
June 16th Evol @ Korova, Liverpool
June 30th Barfly, London
July 15th High Voltage, Manchester
Aug 10th Abandon Party @ Revolution, Coventry
Aug 19th The George, London
Aug 27th Rogue Indie @ Extasis, Ibiza
Aug 31st Night n Day, Manchester
Visit The Whip's website
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