Nothing like a completely unsolicited and violent Twitter attack on a beloved West Coast band to get you dropped from your label. Yet, the “friend” in charge of Whirr’s Twitter this weekend pushed on, slinging transphobic comment out by the dozen, and aiming them at Olympia, WA’s hardcore punk band, G.L.O.S.S.
But if a band is made up of really angry trans girls and literally call themselves Girls Living Outside of Society’s Shit… you better not fux with them. Because frontwoman Sadie Switchblade WILL start a Twitter solely to go in on your transmysogynist behavior and make really great Silence of the Lambs references. As exemplified:
@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 your band is nothing but background music for Pitchfork-reading GoogleGlass enthusiasts and NPR liberals — SadieSwitchblade (@trannyterrorist) October 20, 2015
And you better believe the queer and allies punk community will COME FOR YOU. As exemplified:
Honestly its fucked up that people have been supporting Whirr prior to this violence, they’ve ALWAYS been fucked up. — ADULT MOM (@adultmomband) October 20, 2015
yeah @free_whirl are transphobic af / supporters of this band should check themselves / GET WITH THE NOW — waxahatchee (@k_crutchfield) October 20, 2015
.@rfcrecords you should definitely drop Whirr — Allison Crutchfield (@aqcrutchfield) October 20, 2015
Consequently, Run for Cover put as much distance as they could between their label and the steaming shitheap of transmisogyny that is Whirr, and dropped ’em. Here’s a little snippet of what got the bay-area band booted:
It wasn’t long before the string of remarks downward-spiraled into other really offensive comments about trans* people in general. Whirr’s comments have since been deleted, and after getting dropped, Nick Bassett released an official apology.
— Whirr (@free_whirl) October 20, 2015
But fuck that.
Whirr’s most recent album, however, was released on Graveface Records, who have yet to drop them. Instead, they made a vague statement about how they believe in “positive action and equality,” and linked us to some donation site.
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
Once again a record label finds themselves able to over-look hateful and violent comments at the expense of a trans* folks’ well-being. But like clockwork, those in support of G.L.O.S.S. and of the trans* community fired back, unabashedly and unapologetically. And the moral to the story? Don’t piss off trans girls.