Austin – It was the third day of SXSW when we headed over to the Cedar Courtyard to watch Filter Magazine‘s showcase of UK bands. Having been on a high alcohol, low sleep diet, most of the people at the Cedar Courtyard were tired and just barely waking up when Manchester’s The Whip took to the stage. With tired hipsters standing out in the Texas heat in the middle of the afternoon, it would seem like a daunting challenge for the band to sell their dance rock music to the crowd. However, from the opening beats of Lil Fee’s drums, it was pretty clear that the Whip was here to wake us the fuck up.
With a massive drum beat, larger synth sounds and Danny Saville’s snarling deliver, The Whip rounded the tired Rayban-wearing crowd up and turned the courtyard into one large messy dance pit. Highlights from the set included an extended version of the song ‘Divebomb’ – the second song of the setlist, which probably gave everyone in the crowd this mindset:
‘wow these guys are going to be awesome – who cares if its 90 degrees outside, the sun is burning a hole in my skin and I am on four hours sleep… I am f’n dancing!’
So basically, for the next 35 minutes, the crowd at the Whip was bouncing up and down, clapping, arms in the air, all while working on what was probably second wind adrenaline. Good times. The set ended off with their big hit – Trash. I quite like this song, but I had totally underestimated how good this song is live. If you listen to it, you can hear a slight build up coming – ‘I wanna…..I wanna…I wanna..I wanna BE TRASH!’ The buildup for this song at a live show is tense, the tempo increases, everyone can sense the chorus coming and when finally, when the ‘I wanna be trash’ part arrives, everyone is just dying to jump up and down. Simply, a good live song. For those who want to know, there are only two lines of lyrics to this song:
I wanna be trash
And I have the gun that try you for your gun
Great example of the KISS theory.
Great show for the band, I am sure the buzz was strong because their show the next day at Latitude drew quite a crowd. I also think Lil Fee has taken over from Meg White as my female drummer crush. She was crazy behind the drum set, and probably the driving force behind the crazy beats that the Whip has. Here she is.
The Whip plays The Kool Haus with Late of the Pier in Toronto at April 10. Highly recommended.