Formed in 2010, Whirl was a rather popular San Francisco-born Shoegaze band. They were pretty well-known in the punk community and would establish a fanbase of devoted fans. Whirl’s online presence was the cause of their unfortunate demise.
What the hell is shoegaze?
It’s a sub-genre of punk and alternative music that was pretty prominent with bands like Catherine Wheel, Lush, and My Bloody Valentine in the late 80s and mid 90s. To sum it up in short, it’s a genre of music focused on the guitar and distorting it, making it sound fuzzy to accompany lyrics and vocal patterns you might hear from bands like The Cranberries.
But aren’t they called Whirr?
Yes. They were founded under the name Whirl, but a Black Sabbath cover band trademarked the name and threatened Whirr with a lawsuit if they didn’t change their name. Born from Nick Basset, a former undergound punk rocker, Whirr tried to keep their punk attitude while rebranding themselves.
Six different members, varying in gender and ethnicity came together to make Whirr. As their popularity spread as critics from Pitchfork gave Whirr’s most popular album, Pipe Dreams, a 7.5/10.
What’s so special about them?
Whirr performs with a lot of passion in their music. It’s not hard to see. Songs like “Ease” and their cover of Nirvana’s “Pennyroyal Tea” are fully of brilliant riffs and vocal tracks that mesh perfectly with the fuzzy instrumental accompaniment. I’ve been a fan of Whirr since right after their big breakup in 2015 (which I’ll elaborate on). My Instagram handle is directly inspired by them (“Free Whirl Forever,” their sort-of adopted saying). The guitar in almost any Whirr song sounds dreamlike—one of their most-compared traits with Shoegaze legends My Bloody Valentine.
A lot of their songs are about heartbreak or feeling disappointed or depressed. I like songs like that. Songs to listen to while I’m depressed or just feeling down to help me cope or whatever. Emotion aside, Whirr’s music is perfect to relax and unwind to.
Whirr’s downfall
As I mentioned earlier, Whirr was bred in the spirit of punk. Their attitude to critics, reviewers, and their own fans reflected their punk spirit. Very frequently they would get in arguments with people commenting their music “sucked.” Although I am a die-hard fan of Whirr, I will admit some things they said during their online presence did go a little too far. Of course in the era of early-to-mid 2010s, humor was a lot edgier and a lot less-refined than it is now, so Whirr did not catch as much backlash and I doubt they would’ve posted much if they did. Nick Basset, the founder and lead band member of Whirr had a very dry sense of humor, so often he would make offensive comments in a jesting way that would not land for some, and several of these jokes ended up costing Whirr everything.
Another, more hardcore punk band called G.L.O.S.S. was a target of Whirr’s usual antagonizing antics. However, on their Twitter, I would say they got carried away. On their twitter right now (@free_whirl) is an apology for the comments that many saw as transphobic. Whirr claimed that the Twitter account wasn’t run by any of the band members, but instead their merchandising director the night of Whirr’s tirade against the LGBT+ community.
It’s hard to say whether this apology is true or not, but regardless, I’d like to think they just got carried away with their own act. Trying to keep up the facade of being hyper-punk, they said some insensitive things they likely should’ve never tweeted.
Regardless of the fault, Whirr’s record label pulled out, essentially killing the band forever in 2015.
Feels Like You
In 2019, I received news that a new Whirr album had been released. I figured it was a hoax since they’ve been inactive on all social media since the one night. Sure enough, the band had gotten together and released Feels Like You, a new album almost completely without warning. Nearly a thousand vinyls were published with its release, and they all sold out the same day.
Whirr never said anything about the release other than on their bandcamp, where they said they had no plan of releasing it digitally, but it was leaked, so they might as well have.
The only post about it is in a now-deleted comment saying that all proceeds of the album go to various LGBT+ charities.
https://whirrband.bandcamp.com/album/feels-like-you
A Royale With Cheese 
Although I’m not into this style of music (I was a fan of The Clash and The Ramones is about as far as I go with punk), I think this is your strongest music post to date. I come away with a real understanding of what this band was about, how they got into trouble, and how they dealt with it. I don’t need to like a style of music to understand it, and I think this post does well at helping the reader understand.
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I agree with Professor Hanson. You did a great job of introducing Shoegaze and how you interpret their music as well as style. Thank you for sharing this band with me, Alex!
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