The Whip

A couple of years ago, when I first heard The Whip; I immediately, and rather rashly, made direct comparisons to fellow Mancunians, New Order. It's plain to see the comparisons; the Peter Hook-like basslines; the way that they both blend guitars and synthesizers to create a rather unique sound; and, of course, their accents.

But that was only after my first listen to their debut single; 'Trash', released in 2006 on ultra-cool French Label, Kitsune. Two years later, after catching the band at this year's Leeds Festival; my opinion of them has changed greatly. Not that I'm suggesting that sounding like New Order is a bad thing; but we all like a little diversity in our music.

Tonight sees the band take to the smallest and most dark venue in Newcastle; The Other Rooms. The size of the venue provides an almost unbearable, intimate surrounding (one slip on the dancefloor and you've got a good chance of landing into an amp); but it's more than suitable for tonight's performance.

With strobe lighting and equipment taking up the majority of the stage; movement from the band is kept to a minimum, but not from the audience. Right from the off when the band kicks into singles 'Divebomb and 'Frustration', it's clear that the band mean business. They're clearly really enjoying themselves in the process, with the bass player fighting off grinning like an insane clown all night. It's clear to me that the band takes great delight in their audiences dancing to their tracks; and with their catalogue including tracks such as 'Sister Siam' and 'Blackout'; both of which are designed both for indie clubs, and for house music clubs; it's hard not to even, at the very least, break into a slight shuffle. But nobody's settling for that tonight; they're dancing like its 1988 all over again.

The band takes the opportunity tonight to road-test a couple of new tracks; which are warmly received, for the band's follow-up to their Top-40 debut album, 'X Marks Destination'. To evidently fill out their set; they even included a couple of their own remixes of 'Anyway You Choose To Give It' by The Black Ghosts, and 'Strawberries' by Asobi Seksu. But the biggest response of the night comes for the band's closing song, and debut single 'Trash'; as the singer shouts out the lyrics "I wanna be trash"; we all know what he's going on about, we've all been there, and so we all sing along.

I was greatly impressed by The Whip when I saw them in the summer; tonight they raised their level once more. They clearly suit being inside a small venue opposed to being in the middle of a field in West Yorkshire; where they can really make the most of their lighting effects. The band will never shrug off those New Order comparisons by the doubters; but those that see the differences, see that the band offer so much more than New Order did on their last album. The Whip are carrying on from when New Order lost the plot.

Setlist:
Divebomb
Frustration
Fire
Blackout
Untitled – New Track
Sirens
Anyway You Choose To Give It
Save My Soul
Strawberries
Untitled – New Track
Muzzle # 1
Sister Siam
Trash

FUTURE GIGS

sorry, we currently have no gigs listed for this act.