Whirr is a shoegaze band from the

San Francisco Bay Area The San Francisco Bay Area, often referred to as simply the Bay Area, is a populous region surrounding the San Francisco, San Pablo, and Suisun Bay estuaries in Northern California. The Bay Area is defined by the Association of Bay Area Go ...

. The group formed in 2010, originally as Whirl, but had to legally change its name after a woman performing acoustic covers of

Black Sabbath Black Sabbath were an English rock music, rock band formed in Birmingham in 1968 by guitarist Tony Iommi, drummer Bill Ward (musician), Bill Ward, bassist Geezer Butler and vocalist Ozzy Osbourne. They are often cited as pioneers of heavy met ...

songs trademarked the name and threatened a lawsuit. Whirr's shoegaze sound is often compared to My Bloody Valentine and

Slowdive Slowdive is a British rock band that formed in Reading, Berkshire, in 1989. The band consists of Rachel Goswell on vocals and guitar, Neil Halstead on vocals and guitar, Christian Savill on guitar, Nick Chaplin on bass and Simon Scott on d ...

. Founding guitarist

Nick Bassett Nick Bassett is an American musician, producer and composer from Modesto, California. He was the bassist of shoegaze band Nothing and is the lead guitarist of shoegaze band Whirr. He also played guitar in the original lineup of blackgaze band ...

also played in the band

Deafheaven Deafheaven is an American post-metal band formed in 2010. Originally based in San Francisco, the group began as a two-piece with singer George Clarke and guitarist Kerry McCoy, who recorded and self-released a demo album together. Following i ...

surrounding and including the release of their 2011 album ''

Roads to Judah ''Roads to Judah'' is the debut studio album by the American blackgaze band Deafheaven. The album was released by Deathwish Inc. on April 26, 2011. ''Roads to Judah'' was recorded in four days between December 2010 and January 2011. About The a ...

''.

History

Whirr self-released a demo cassette and the EP ''Distressor'' before signing to

Tee Pee Records Tee Pee Records is an American independent rock music record label in New York City, prominent for releasing music by Sleep, Witch, Graveyard, Earthless, High on Fire and the Brian Jonestown Massacre. It has housed many stoner rock bands. R ...

in 2011. The band released ''June'' that year, followed by their 2012 debut album, ''Pipe Dreams''. The latter was met with a generally positive reception from music critics. Whirr released the ''Around'' EP on July 9, 2013, and toured to support it that August with the band

Nothing Nothing, the complete absence of anything, has been a matter of philosophical debate since at least the 5th century BC. Early Greek philosophers argued that it was impossible for ''nothing'' to exist. The atomists allowed ''nothing'' but only i ...

. As a result of touring together, members of Nothing and Whirr formed a side project called Death of Lovers, and Whirr and Nothing released a

split EP A split album (or split) is a music album that includes tracks by two or more separate artists. There are also singles and EPs of the same variety, which are often called "split singles" and "split EPs" respectively. Split albums differ from " va ...

. Bassett then joined Nothing on bass and toured with them. Bassett also started a new

indie pop Indie pop (also typeset as indie-pop or indiepop) is a music genre and subculture that combines guitar pop with DIY ethic in opposition to the style and tone of mainstream pop music. It originated from British post-punk in the late 1970s and su ...

project with former Whirr vocalist Alexandra Morte called Camera Shy, while guitarist Joseph Bautista joined

Best Coast Best Coast is an American rock duo formed in Los Angeles, California in 2009. The band consists of songwriter, guitarist and vocalist Bethany Cosentino and guitarist and multi-instrumentalist Bobb Bruno. Cosentino, a former child actress, began ...

as a touring member. On September 23, 2014, Whirr released their second studio album, ''Sway'', on Graveface Records. On October 25, 2019, Time Well Recordings announced that Whirr would be releasing their third studio album, ''Feels Like You.'' It has been rumored to be their final record despite any confirmation of this by the band or recording studio. Initially intended as a vinyl only release, the album was made available through the band's website as a limited pressing of 650 copies which sold out within the first day. Following this, the album was leaked online and the band opted to do an official digital release made available on

Bandcamp Bandcamp is an American online audio distribution platform founded in 2007 by Oddpost co-founder Ethan Diamond and programmers Shawn Grunberger, Joe Holt and Neal Tucker, with headquarters in Oakland, California, US. On March 2, 2022, Bandcamp ...

Controversies

On October 19, 2015, a series of derogatory remarks towards the Washington-based hardcore punk band G.L.O.S.S. were posted on Whirr's

Twitter Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...

account, including one that read: " .L.O.S.S. isjust a bunch of boys running around in panties making shitty music". The transphobic nature of these tweets resulted in a backlash on social media; Graveface, who released the band's ''Sway'', and

Run for Cover Records Run for Cover Records is an American independent record label based in Boston, Massachusetts. Founded in 2004 by Jeff Casazza at the age of 17 with a $1,000 loan, the label functioned as a small one-person bedroom operation in Brighton, until Ca ...

, who released three of their EPs, severed ties with the band. Bassett admitted to posting the first tweet toward G.L.O.S.S. (which read: "Lol @ G.L.O.S.S."), in response to hearing a rumor that the band was only permitting certain types of people to attend their shows and buy their merchandise. According to Bassett, the remaining tweets were posted by a friend of the band and did not reflect the views of band members. Whirr posted a public apology to their Twitter account the following morning and claimed to have severed ties with the person responsible for the offensive tweets. Whirr's online social media presence has otherwise been notoriously inflammatory toward its own fans, an action that the band described in a 2014 interview as "weeding out the pussies".

Discography

Studio albums

* '' Pipe Dreams'' (2012, Tee Pee) * '' Sway'' (2014,

Graveface Graveface Records is an American independent record label from Savannah, Georgia, solely owned and operated by Ryan Graveface (who plays in the groups Black Moth Super Rainbow, Dreamend, the Marshmallow Ghosts and the Casket Girls). He has releas ...

) * ''Feels Like You'' (2019, self-released)

ep

* ''Demo'' (2010, self-released) * ''Distressor'' (2010, self-released) * ''Part Time Punks Sessions'' (2012, Run for Cover) * ''Around'' (2013, Graveface)

Singles

* ''June'' (2011, Tee Pee)

Split releases

* ''Whirr / Anne'' (split with Anne) (2012, Run for Cover) * "Color Change"/"Flat Lining" (split with Monster Movie) (2012, Graveface) * ''

Whirr / Nothing ''Whirr / Nothing'' is a split EP by the American shoegaze bands Whirr and Nothing, released on November 17, 2014 by Run for Cover. The EP was released digitally as well as in 12-inch vinyl format with an etched B-side packaged with a document ...

'' (split with Nothing) (2014, Run for Cover)

Compilation appearances

* "

Pennyroyal Tea "Pennyroyal Tea" is a song by the American rock band Nirvana, written by vocalist and guitarist Kurt Cobain. It is the ninth track on the band's third and final studio album, ''In Utero'', released in 1993. The song was due to be released as th ...

" (

Nirvana ( , , ; sa, निर्वाण} ''nirvāṇa'' ; Pali: ''nibbāna''; Prakrit: ''ṇivvāṇa''; literally, "blown out", as in an oil lampRichard Gombrich, ''Theravada Buddhism: A Social History from Ancient Benāres to Modern Colombo.' ...

cover) on ''

In Utero, in Tribute, in Entirety ''In Utero, in Tribute, in Entirety'' is a tribute album to Nirvana's 1993 third and final album, ''In Utero'', by various artists. The album was released through Robotic Empire on April 15, 2014, and an exclusive version was released for Record S ...

'' (2014,

Robotic Empire Robotic Empire is an American independent record label based out of Richmond, Virginia, specializing in hardcore punk, heavy metal, and alternative rock. Some of the most popular bands signed to the label over the years have been pg.99, City of C ...

) *"Color Change (Alternate)" on ''Mixed Singles Vol. 2'' (2014, Run for Cover)

References

External links

Whirr discography
on

Discogs Discogs (short for discographies) is a database of information about audio recordings, including commercial releases, promotional releases, and bootleg or off-label releases. While the site was originally created with a goal of becoming the ...

{{Authority control Musical groups from San Francisco Musical groups established in 2010 Musical quintets American post-rock groups Alternative rock groups from California 2010 establishments in California Shoegazing musical groups Run for Cover Records artists