Chain Whip
Discorder Magazine
Nov-Dec, 2021
words by Tate Kaufman // illustrations by Francis Billie Cullen // photos by JJ Mazzucotelli
Chain Whip may find you through an IV drip – an isolation ward hospital bed. Eyes affixed to an episode of Deadly Class as neon in the rain creeps down the Astoria Hotel marquee...
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hain Whip may find you in the sound and vision of a red-lit room, with a slam-dance whirl and the tune of “Kids of the Black Hole” by The Adolescents. And looking closer, in the background of the shot, you might notice that the guitarist on screen looks an awful lot like your attending nurse, Joel. The members of Chain Whip seem to have a compulsion for storytelling. An almost journalistic impulse, that if there’s someone to witness, to feel, to hear, and to recount — that purpose can be found. Through this myth-making process, there’s a clear adherence to the maxim, “never let the truth get in the way of a good story.” Huddled together in a diner booth at Zawa on Commercial, Joel finishes his tale of career escapades, the motion of his hands shimmering and obscured through the yellowy-brown translucence of a pitcher. “I saw the light go on for his room, he buzzed, and he had just a still of me on the screen, with eyeliner on and shit,” Joel says, “I was a pretty cool nurse for that night.” “But then after that,” Josh interjects, “the guy died.” Laughter erupts. Chain Whip may find you, as it found me, at Punk the Vote, an event held during the 2019 federal election campaign
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by Joe Keithley, iconic vocalist of D.O.A. and Burnaby City Councillor for the Green Party. At the time, the band had just released their debut LP 14 Lashes, a heavy, searing take on classic 80’s hardcore, and I remember being wowed by the sheer energy of their performance — an energy the band members seem to be propelled by in their daily lives. In fact, members Joel and Patrick had remained on stage from the previous set, which was with their band Corner Boys. Brett Thompson (Bass), Joel Butler (Guitar), Josh Nickel (Vocals), and Patrick McEachnie (Drums) recorded Christmas Demo, their first project, during Christmas in 2017, and since that point have released one LP, two EPs, and another demo. Chain Whip started as a Halloween cover band called Haunted Danger House, with another member Braden Decorby. “I [wore] a varsity jacket, patchy stuff, I looked real dumb” says Brett of his Teen Wolf costume.
Once the band started writing original material, Braden was replaced by Joel and now serves as the recording engineer for the band. “I watched some videos [of the band] and was like, this really does not suck” explains Joel. “And Braden had the opposite opinion… so now we pay Braden to listen to us.” Josh says. Songwriting duty is shared between Brett, Joel, and Josh. “One of my favorite parts of being in this band is when Josh brings a song in... He’ll take Joel’s guitar, play it, and give it back to Joel, and Joel just goes ‘I can’t do that.” Patrick says. “That’s because Josh will be like ‘I want to show you this riff, and the first thing he’ll do is solo for thirty seconds… he’ll widdly-wah for a solid thirty seconds.” Joel counters. Josh chimes in, “We’re at a point right now where I think we’re gonna drop the
“ Chain Whip ”
Chain Whip name, and it’s gonna be Josh Nickel and the Chain Whip.” “Okay this is odd.” Says Brett. Josh looks at his bandmates, as they giggle, and then back to me “Put that on the fucking cover man.” Joel explains that he is pedal-averse, preferring to employ just a guitar and an amp when performing. For this reason “Code White” the closing track of debut LP 14 Lashes, has only been played live on one occasion. “It was at our LP release show. There’s a solo part in that song that’s just a vacuum cleaner and some broken glass, and just, a weird effects pedal thing. So live, I’m like, I don’t know what the fuck I’m going to do. No one wants to hear me just make horrible noises with the guitar — although they came to the show, so maybe they don’t mind. Not knowing what to do, I just passed my guitar to Serotonin Steve who was right there.” Josh steps in with his own take: “I saw
