Whirr Dropped from Run for Cover Records over Transphobic G.L.O.S.S. Tweets

The San Francisco shoegaze band Whirr have always been known for their vitriolic social media presence, but their controversy-baiting tweets went too far when someone made a bunch of transphobic posts about the Olympia hardcore band G.L.O.S.S. last night (October 19). As a result, Whirr have been dropped by Run for Cover Records.

G.L.O.S.S., whose name stands for "Girls Living Outside of Society's Shit," released one of the year's strongest EPs with their brash, blistering hardcore demo. The diverse group includes a transgender singer in Sadie Switchblade, something that someone from Whirr's camp opted to make fun of on Twitter.

It all started with Whirr tweeting "Lol @ G.L.O.S.S." When someone accused them of misogyny, they added, "misogyny is hating women. g.l.o.s.s. Is just a bunch of boys running around in panties making shitty music." They went on to make jokes about trans youth who have attempted suicide and compared G.L.O.S.S. to Buffalo Bill from Silence of the Lambs.

Naturally, the tasteless jokes were blasted by members of the independent music community, including Waxahatchee, Crying and Chumped.

Acting swiftly, Run for Cover announced that it would no longer be working with Whirr:

We as individuals and as a label are accepting of all people and require the same from the bands and people we work with...

— Run For Cover (@rfcrecords) October 20, 2015

We will not be working with Whirr from this point on and do not support that behavior in anyway. We will post a full statement tomorrow.

— Run For Cover (@rfcrecords) October 20, 2015

G.L.O.S.S. is awesome and crucially important and we need more bands like them.

— Run For Cover (@rfcrecords) October 20, 2015

G.L.O.S.S. singer Sadie Switchblade also opted to start a Twitter account to defend her band, and she absolutely crushed Whirr in a series of tweets:

@free_whirl I just made a Twitter solely to fuck w/u 💁 #thisisthesingerofgloss #willactuallyeaturliverwithfavabeans

— SadieSwitchblade (@trannyterrorist) October 20, 2015

@free_whirl r u just sad u missed the boat on punk and play music for people with Macklemore hair who blog about bacon-infused bloodymarys?

— SadieSwitchblade (@trannyterrorist) October 20, 2015

 

@free_whirl Kawakami will be resurrected to personally disgrace you and remove the Disclose shirt from your corpse #poseonthepunknomore

— SadieSwitchblade (@trannyterrorist) October 20, 2015

@free_whirl your band is nothing but background music for Pitchfork-reading GoogleGlass enthusiasts and NPR liberals

— SadieSwitchblade (@trannyterrorist) October 20, 2015

@free_whirl when ur listening to Mumford&Sons in the Sprinter van on the way to SXSW pour out a craft beer for me plz

— SadieSwitchblade (@trannyterrorist) October 20, 2015

Though hardly a household name, Whirr have deep roots in the current indie music community. The band was founded by former Deafheaven member Nick Bassett, who also plays in the band Nothing (with whom Whirr released a split on Run for Cover). In addition, their guitarist Joseph Bautista is a live member of Best Coast.

Attempting to do some damage control, Bassett tweeted out an apology of sorts, where he explained that Whirr's Twitter account was supposedly run by a friend of the band who has since been "dealt with." Read the apology here, then mosh to G.L.O.S.S. at your desk by hitting play below.





UPDATE (10/20, 12 p.m.): Graveface Records, who released Whirr's latest LP, have also suggested that they'll no longer work with the band:
 

Graveface supports positive action and equality. We have zero interest in working w/ hateful people. Donate here: https://t.co/IP8KBjZ4H0

— Graveface Records (@graveface_recs) October 20, 2015

UPDATE (10/20, 5 p.m.): Pitchfork reports that despite the band's apology, Run For Cover Records will still no longer be working with them. They're also donating $3,000 to a non-profit in support of equal rights for LGBTQ.