Wednesday 10/10/07 The Whip @ Astoria, London

Rising like an electronic phoenix from first band Nylon Pylon’s fire, comes the cracking The Whip. Opening for Hadouken! and their 2000 screaming ‘til brain damaged teenage fans is no small task, but The Whip rocked them into a frenzy, and blew second supports Late of the Pier out of the proverbial water. No trickery here, no silver foil capes, no dalek masks, and absolutely no glow sticks, just banging bass heavy electro. More influenced by hardcore electro bands like The Rapture and Fischerspooner, than nu-rave scenesters Klaxons and tonights headliners Hadouken!, these ex Nylon Pylonites, sure learnt their craft well and are certain to last longer than tomorrows neon hangover.
 
Beginning proceedings with soon to be released single 'Sister Siam', The Whip start as they mean to go on. Fist pumping, head nodding, guitar electro, with a heavy dose of synths and the ever present Apple Mac, to get the rampage of teenage neon kicks bouncing right through the night (well until curfew anyways). And from tune one they never let up. Frontman Bruce Carter stands tall with sweaty towel draped round his shoulders, taking all the glowsticks in, and artfully dodging the airborne ones, pumping the air in robotic fashion, before launching the towel into the crowd, and making a young girls hormonal dreams come true. Other song interruptions come in the form of Carter forcing drummer Lil Phee, to prance around the stage on her delicate tip toes, mortally embarrassing the otherwise cool as **** percussionist.
 
But alas, these asides don’t last long, and we’re right back into Manchester’s underdogs doing what they do best. Racing through an all too short set of recent singles 'Divebomb', 'Muzzle No 1', and finishing on absolute stormer and not so much crowd pleaser as crowd pleasurer, 'Trash', The Whip set the stage for a blinding neon lights night. More used to recording in the haunted cellar of a Manchurian pub,the band demand obvious New Order comparisons but it is underrated electro gods The Faint that they honour so well. No one trick pony’s here, just pure unadulterated carnage.