In Conversation

04 December 2008 01:50 BST

The Whip: I used to be afraid of dancing

Not content with remixing the likes of Editors, Hadouken! and the Courteneers, Mancunian electro-rockers the Whip have shot to the top since forming in 2006, with debut album X Marks Destination providing an exhilarating look at what would happen if Joy Division and New Order had harboured a Moroder fetish.

inthenews.co.uk's Lewis Bazley speaks to Bruce Carter, Nathan Sudders and Danny Saville from the Whip after their triumphant Reading festival show.

How'd the show go?

B: Really good, it's great to play Reading 'cos I used to come here as a kid and rock out.

How do Reading and Leeds compare?

B: We did Creamfields in the middle, so that was the biggest difference, but there's a lot more pogoing at Reading and Leeds, whereas Creamfields was more… shapes.

You did Gatecrasher as well, so in coming to places like Reading and Leeds, is the main difference that the crowd aren't as… well, pilled up as they would be at the dance events?

B: (laughs) Basically, yeah!

N: It's more Vodka-Red Bull here, I reckon!

Do you get to spend much time at the shows?

B: Not really, we've just done seven gigs in nine days, we're going back to Manchester and then we've got Connect in Scotland next week.

Ooh, that's a big drive...

N: It's not too bad, I thought it was by Inverness but it's nearer Glasgow, so it's alright.

Talking of Glasgow - it's recently been named a musical capital but wouldn't Mancunians like yourselves think your city should get that honour?

B: Glasgow's got some good venues to play in, some historical venues like Barrowlands and King Tut's. Everyone talks about Glasgow shows being amazing gigs and the crowds being fantastic so, I can see why they'd say it.

But more bands come out of Manchester surely?

D: Yeah, there's a lot of love for music in Manchester.

B: Whatever kind of music it is that comes out of Manchester, it's got a certain mood to it, because it's an industrial town, it's quite gritty.

N: And rainy.

Would you be a different band if you came from say, Brighton?

B: Yeah, or Miami, definitely.

Were you guys too young for the Hacienda?

B: We've got a lot of mates who used to go down and tell us stories or make us mixtapes when we were young. One of our songs, Blackout, I sort of nicked it. One of our friends used to DJ there and he'd play this song Blackout and all the lights would go out, no security lights or anything, so we've sort of stolen that! (laughs)

You've been compared to Joy Division, especially on the song Sirens - did you mean to sound like Ian Curtis?

B: No, not at all, I just like their songs! When we play live, we try and have as much energy as possible, but I'd not really thought about Sirens like that.

D: You got taken to go and watch that film Control though, didn't you?

B: I did yeah, got a lot of popcorn, big drink, ice cream, the works.

It's not really a popcorn movie, is it?

B: Not really, no! (laughs)

So - you make dance music, but can you actually dance?

N: (enthusiastically) Yeah! I put the rest of them to shame, I've got some moves!

You'd win the dance off?

N: Easy.

B: I used to be afraid of dancing. They had this competition at school where they'd line up all the lads and try and dance, and people would get eliminated or go to the next round. And I just hated dancing so I did a sort of Travolta thing. And the teacher goes 'Right, you're in'. So I had to stand there with four other guys, the whole school watching, and I just froze.

A childhood trauma?

B: Oh, it was terrible! (laughs)

N: I'm thinking about doing dancing as a side project though. Something like a dance workout DVD.

B: The Trash Workout!

Lewis Bazley

Check out the video for Trash below:



November tour dates:

Wed 12th - Bristol Thekla
Thu 13th - Leeds Cockpit
Fri 14th - Glasgow Arches
Sat 15th - Newcastle Other Rooms
Tue 18th - Brighton Concorde II
Wed 19th - London Scala
Thu 20th - Oxford Academy II
Fri 21st - Manchester Academy II
Sat 22nd - Liverpool Chibuku