The Whip are busy little buggers. They have just got back from a European tour and this month they start their UK dates. Throw in a couple of major festivals this summer to boot, and you begin to see how popular this Manchester band is. Kayley Pearce managed to hold vocalist Bruce Carter down long enough to have a chat.
G’day Bruce!
Hello!
It has been none-stop for you guys recently, and this summer you are playing some major festivals such as Gatecrasher and Creamfields. Do you prefer gigs like these to smaller venues?
We love all kinds of gigs, and it’s nice to play different ones. It’s cool playing smaller stuff where people are in your face or on the stage, and we like playing late on in clubs between DJ sets too. Festivals are special though. We had a fun summer last year and this one should be even better. We have gigs every weekend at festivals over the summer, so we can’t wait to just get stuck in.
What would make this year even better than the last?
This year we need sun! Last summer we played Glastonbury, doing a main gig in the dance tent. But then later on we decided to play a one-off in some little tent in the middle of the night.
All the staff had stopped taking people around the festival in vans by that time, so we had to carry all our stuff ourselves through the mud. My amp still has crusty mud on it!
You’ve toured all over the world and have just got back from playing cities like Paris and Milan. What has been the band’s most memorable gig?
Last July we played at Fuji Rock Festival in Japan, and it is such an amazing place to visit as a band. It’s basically a great music festival, plus it’s in the mountains!
We met loads of wicked new friends and it was just mental to be up there with the likes of The Chemical Brothers and The Beastie Boys. It was crazy at that time, traveling so far away to see people who knew our songs.
What are you looking forward to the most in the future? Anything you would like to tick off your ambition list?
Just to be able to keep doing what we’re doing now is sweet. We’re going to Australia in the summer to do a festival called We Love Sounds, which should be fun. Oh, and I would love to play with daft punk!
What are your musical influences? Who are you listening to at the moment, any bands you are tipping to be big?
We really like The Bloody Beetroots, they did a couple of remixes for us and they are really coming up at the moment.
The Crookers are mint too, they did a nice remix of our single Trash and we’re doing a song together for their album. D.I.M are wicked as well. We listen to loads of different stuff though, it's the best way to be.
The Whip are playing dates all over the country in May and June
Kayley Pearce