The Whip 'X Marks Destination' album

The Haçienda is now a cozy apartment complex. No, really—the party people-approved club that put the mad in "Madchester" and the acid in acid house was recently converted into a string of Peter Hook-endorsed flats. (The legendary bassist owns the club's name.)

Between that bewildering news bite and the bitter breakup of New Order, one has to wonder: Who the hell is making important music in Manchester these days? Well, The Whip, for starters. Just ask the Parisians who run Kitsuné Records—a taste-making label/lifestyle company that dropped The Whip's "Divebomb" 12-inch in 2007. Or anyone who's been swept up in the band's limb-loosening gigs over the past year, including a festival-conquering Glastonbury appearance and buzz-stirring shows at CMJ and SXSW.

Sure enough, Mixmag has already linked The Whip to their Mancunian ancestors, calling them "the best example of dance and rock since Happy Mondays." And the NME, well, they've declared the band "the best thing to happen to dance music since James Murphy's delusions of time-travel." While such comparisons are clear starting points for understanding how their songwriting has evolved, The Whip is much more than a rock band that just discovered synths or New Order for the iPod generation.

"We've been doing dance music for a long time," says vocalist/guitarist Bruce Carter, "And while we love the beats and the energy of it, we're also obsessed with Fleetwood Mac's RUMORS. Every part has its place in a record like that, you know?"

Indeed. That's why Carter and The Whip's primary synth/slinger/co-songwriter, Danny Saville, were determined to make their debut album (X MARKS DESTINATION) such a winding collection of 180's. Take "Trash," the group's debut single in the states. While it started as a "story about not wanting to meet people's expectations," Saville and Carter eventually remixed it entirely "to make it more punchy." And by punchy, Carter means looped lyrics and hypnotic hooks, washed down with chug-a-lug chords and the well-oiled rhythm section of drummer Fiona Daniel and bassist Nathan Sudders. With that dynamic duo providing The Whip's heartbeat, and Carter and Daniel coloring in all the lines, the quartet also tackles prickly power ballads with the frayed electronics and nerves of "Save My Soul" and "Sirens," robot rock that brings to mind scuffed leather on "Blackout," midnight drives on "Frustration," and dance floor detonators complete with laser-guided melodies and glimpses of guitar with "Sister Siam" and "Fire."

If all of this seems a little too effortless, that's probably because Carter and Saville met at Manchester's Oldham College and formed Nylon Pylon in 2001. To give you an idea of how prescient that quartet was, the throbbing peak-hour techno and wiry riffs of The Whip's "Sister Siam" was originally a Nylon Pylon concoction. At the time of its original DIY pressing, The Whip's songwriting half were regulars at Manchester's wildly popular Club Suicide party. According to Saville, it was a "word-of-mouth thing in this rundown pub called Charlie's … it wasn't about mixing records or beat-matching; it was just about playing good records." Or as Mark, one of the event's promoters, once told City Life, "It's a night for Manchester's gutter punks, modern mavericks, and electronic freaks; just a bunch of people who are sick and tired of the usual, processed pap."

Record execs searching for their own "processed pap" alternative turned to taste-making nights like Club Suicide as well, signing a slew of “Next Big Things” in the process. London Records snagged Nylon Pylon just two years after the band formed, dropping them in a studio with the producer of the Happy Mondays’ PILLS 'N' THRILLS AND BELLYACHES (Steve Osborne, who's also worked with U2, New Order and Elbow) and Dave McCracken, a proven programmer/producer for Depeche Mode, Ian Brown and Kylie Minogue. Unfortunately the too-many-cooks situation left Nylon Pylon's raw home recordings more polished than the high-end cases in a jewelry shop.

"Someone brought [Radio 4's] DANCE TO THE UNDERGROUND [EP] in after we finished the album and we were like, 'That's how our demo sounded!'" says Carter. "The A&R guy from Warner Brothers just said, 'Well, that sounds expensive.' Everyone was so fried by the end of that we broke up."

Well, everyone but Carter and Saville, an inseparable pair that didn't let industry politics (Nylon Pylon's long player never got a proper release) derail their pursuit of pitch-perfect dance tunes. Instead, they simply returned to their roots—a productive cycle of day jobs and nightly rehearsals in the two years (2003-2004) leading up to The Whip's official formation.

"We felt at home down there in the dark," says Carter, "grinding out the songs in this pub cellar as skanky, crumbling walls fell on top of our laptops."

The Whip was initially conceived as a duo, but the complexity of their songs demanded a full band in a live setting. Daniel and Sudders joined in 2005 to help out with shows, but the newly-minted foursome "became a gang" quite quickly. Between Sudders' classical training and years in the critically-acclaimed band My Computer, and Daniel' own experience bashing out live beats in Earl and Performance, it's easy to see why The Whip's chemistry is so combustible. Not your everyday dance act, they're a living, breathing band that "always puts the rhythm first" according to Saville.

X MARKS DESTINATION was produced by Jim Abiss, best known for his work with Björk, Arctic Monkeys and Kasabian. “The album was 90-percent done before we spent a month with Jim," explains Carter. "He was lent a fresh set of ideas and pushed us to make certain bits better, though. Like we wanted to make the end of 'Blackout' a techno wig-out, but he pushed us to go all psychedelic with it."

All of these mixed messages about psychedelic rock melting into red-blooded electronic music and vice versa leaves one simple question: Aren't you worried about losing us amid all these left-turns?

"When we started Nylon Pylon, audiences would be in to it, but people were also like 'what the fuck is that?'" says Carter. "Although we loved the music, we weren't campy or electro enough to fit in with 'electroclash.' That's fine, though. I like being at the edge of a scene, where you have more freedom. After all, a good pop song never needs to fit its shoes properly to stand on its own two feet."

While that may be true, a good pop band needs a decent pair of boots and, well, The Whip's were meant for walking all over what it means to be from Manchester these days. So get in line fellow Mancunians and post-Happy Mondays projects. The line starts here.

press quotes
“The Whip are ready-made for dance parties, evoking Daft Punk, LCD Soundsystem and — on their best number, “Trash” — a bit of Stone Roses” RollingStone.com [Five Bands To Watch From SXSW 2008]

“The strength of "Trash", a killer single..... can wreck a room.” SPIN.COM

"News of The Whip's album getting a U.S. release date…thrilled those of us who've been playing tracks like "Divebomb" and "Trash" for the last couple years." XLR8R

“If the White Stripes are the new Led Zeppelin, The Whip is the new New Order.” Wired.com

“Best Thing to happen to dance music. Mutilatingly brilliant.” NME

"A band that puts out beautiful music… they whip out the infectious dance-rock like it ain't no thing, channelling all kinds of gritty and dirty in "Trash." CMJ

“A riot of electronic throbs, jackhammer beats, squealing guitars and strident vocals, “Trash” is the equal of anything concocted by their dance-rock contemporaries. It encapsulates a band with a visceral to thrill, especially live.” The Times (UK)

“[The Whip] are the most authentically rave outfit I've heard out of this whole pseudo-movement. They anchor their spiky bleeps and strobing synths with a surprisingly strong rhythm section, consistently pulling the groove forward … Best song: “Blackout." Pitchfork

"The Whip's “Divebomb” is one of the best tracks of the year." The Guardian (UK)

“The Whip raced through an energetic set of pumping dance-rock. Singer/guitarist Bruce Carter managed to sing his heart out.” BigShotMag.com

"Their post-Happy Mondays, post-Joy Division blendissimo of dark new wave and looped live techno.” TheFader.com

"If DJs really were rock stars they'd be Manchester rave-rockers The Whip, whose Happy Mondays at lightspeed shtick is a celebration of sonic squidges (“Divebomb”), taut techno drops (“Trash”) and satisfied smiles all around" NME

“Juddering robo-disco from Manchester.” Time Out New York

“Finally a band perfecting that uneasy dance/rock hybrid. This band is way ahead of the pack and follow no one. X Marks a national treasure.” Clash Magazine

“Supremely well-crafted balancing act between dance and indie.” DJ Magazine

"The best example of dance and rock since Happy Mondays." Mixmag

“The Whip are surely an album away from being full blown chart crossover monsters.” Base Magazine

“The Whip… has everything from Krafwerk minimalism to Daft Punk disco and raging metal techno.” Uncut Magazine

“From promising locals to the coolest unsigned band on the globe within eight months.” Artrocker Magazine

“Fatboy slim is already a fan. Surely more will follow him.” Guardian (UK)

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The Whip - X Marks Destination