Bloody brilliant – band of The Crawl for this reviewer.
Lets just cut to the chase.
The Whip were outstanding. You want to know how outstanding? Their first gig was so impressive that this reviewer caught them on the second night of the Crawl as well, making sure some other people tagged along as well. They were equally impressed.
That's all you really need to know.
Of course, we try and use a minimum word count on these reviews, so we may as well expand and extol on their virtues.
Opener 'Trash' features a repeated chorus that Kasabian would kill for but with more humility about them. There are samples and loops augmenting the bands individual performances but drummer Lil Fee, immediately stands out. Not because shes a woman, rather because she is fantastic, combining ferocious power with impeccable timing. If a band wants to make grooves and rhythms they need to get their foundations sorted and The Whip have no failings on that score.
When thinking of an electro-acts influences, its good to tick the most exciting boxes and again, The Whip deliver.
The third track of the set starts in such a cold keyboard monotonous tone that the robotic hands of Kraftwerk have clearly played around here. Not content to settle for that, the band again pushes on, creating a more insistent floor filler but the bleeps remained to the delight of all.
Midway through the set, one track had so much crunching guitars and pounding drums the only conclusion was that if Daft Punk's 'Robot Rock' was played by a live act, this would be it. (Cue some pedant informing us of which band Daft Punk sampled for that track...it was Breakwater.)
With the set closer touching on that Joy Division / new Order electronic melody, there was so much to reference and enjoy.
Even at times when you think lead singers Danny Saville's delivery has all the swagger of a Liam Gallagher karaoke entrant but when he bellows "Its cold outside" on 'Frustration', there are signs of fragility and emotion which more than validates his performance. It wasn't cold outside though, it was rather mild, so perhaps he could be considered a liar. Then again, better a liar than a bad singer.
On the second night, the set order changed and a mini-stage invasion occurred (featuring one fan who, unfortunately for them, looked like helium-voiced poptart Mika) but both sets contained so many highlights that both were winners.