Whip up a storm

The Whip

THE Whip are back, but initially for two nights only in late November.

The self-proclaimed electronic dance rockers - Uppermill's Bruce Carter, Nathan Sudders and Fiona Daniel - enjoyed bags of success for seven years after initially forming in 2006 following the demise of ex-Oldham favourites Nylon Pylon.

Despite numerous single releases and two critically-acclaimed albums - 2008's 'X Marks Destination' and 2011's 'Wired Together' - the band faded from the limelight somewhat in 2013 with each member turning their attention to new projects, including family lives.

The Whip are soon to be back, though, having been booked to play two sell-out gigs at Manchester's Night and Day Cafe on Friday and Saturday, November 25 and 26.

Carter said: "People have asked us to do gigs and we've just said 'no', but Night and Day was the venue that we're very grateful to.

"We played a lot of gigs there in the early days and that helped get some really good responses in Manchester.

"It helped us get recognised and picked up by labels and journalists.

"They said they were having a bit of 25th anniversary celebration and would we want to play?

"We just said, 'you know what, yes'.

"It'll be great, we'll get a load of our old mates down and it'll be a good laugh. I can't wait now."

Carter, who revealed The Whip sound was once described to him as 'Jean Michel-Jarre gone mental', clearly lapped up the band's run of success over the aforementioned seven-year period, but he is also currently enjoying the quieter family life at home in Uppermill with his wife and two young children.

"We had a really fun time touring both the albums," added frontman Carter.

"It was great to be able to see a bit of the world with the band.

"We played the Fuji Rock in Japan, that was a great gig, and then we went to America and appeared on the Jimmy Kimmel show. That was really fun.

"We've been quite chuffed with all our work.

"Our song 'Trash' gets played quite a lot still, and we always end our gigs with that one.

"That's like saving the best for last I guess. It has been a really good song for us. It opened a lot of doors when we were trying to get ourselves going."

Carter added: "These last three years, life has got in the way for all of us really. We've all been understanding with one another, though.

"Basically we'd been touring for seven years non-stop - in fact one year we did something like 180 gigs.

"We just needed a bit of a break, a bit of a rest, and maybe just the chance to do other things in life.

"We've never said the band will have to split up - everyone has just been respectful of each other, needing a bit of time away.

"We've had a jam and rehearsed recently, though there hasn't been that pressure to get things moving again.

"It just feels nice to be able to look back and think about all those nice memories."

At present there are no plans for any further gigs after the Night and Day double-header, but some thoughts have already turned towards the tenth anniversary of The Whip's first album release in early 2018.