Great music is often the result of brave decisions.
Bruce Carter and Danny Saville, twin songwriters at the heart of Manchester nu-dance four-piece The Whip, had, what they call, their Rocky moment three years ago. Having spent 12 months in some of Britain’s finest studios, the pair – as one half of could-have-been-massives Nylon Pylon – had become fat on rich food and sunburnt on roof terraces. Their music meanwhile, under a procession of different producers and label interference, had grown just as flabby and overbaked. They sat down, listened, and realised, with horror, they hated what they’d made.
They spent nearly a year in that subterranean den leaving only for pizza and sleep
“So we split up,” says 29-year-old Bruce, all cannabis drawl. “We refused to compromise and the only way to escape the label was split.” Brave decision. In true Rocky style the pair “went back to bootcamp.” Their punchbags were guitars, their mountain hideout a Salford pub cellar. They spent nearly a year in that subterranean den leaving only for pizza and sleep. Not even the rumour the place was haunted – staff refused to go down there – could stop them.
“There were no fucking ghosts,” laughs Bruce. “Stuff kept coming off the walls but it weren’t poltergeists, it was because the place was falling apart.” What about the strange wailing haunting parts of the album? “That was a male cabaret rehearsing upstairs.” Ah.
Having rebirthed their lives in the dark, the pair decided to record there too. Hiring two old friends, they stuck the songs to tape pretty much live in just a few weeks. Not even the breakdown of the rhythm section’s relationship could stop them. Just days after Nathan Shudds (bass) and Lil Fee (drums) were recruited, the pair announced their six years as a couple were over.
“Awkward,” says Bruce. “They came to their first rehearsal and told us and we just couldn’t see it working but it’s been fine, no dramas, they’ve acted like brother and sister ever since, it’s a bit weird actually.”
The as yet unnamed album, on the other hand will make perfect sense. A mash of euphoric beats and glass cutting rhythms, these tapes won’t be thrown away.
They’ve got the eye of the tiger and The Whip are here to fight the good fight.
