While one artist has direct connections to white nationalism, others' songs make light of the 2019 Christchurch Mosque attack and other mass murders by right-wing extremists.
Dan Collen and the Canadian Anti-Hate Network
Left: Gezebelle Gaburgably performing at Virginfest on September 11, 2021. Right: A recent performance in Miami, Florida. Retrieved from Neato Burrito Production’s Youtube channel and Gisele Gurney’s Instagram, respectively.
WARNING: This story discusses suicide and sexual violence.
UPDATE: Since the publication of this article both Lee's Palace and Brasserie Beaubien have confirmed that the shows are cancelled.
American musicians from a genre steeped in the ultra-misogynistic incel movement and with connections to white supremacy are planning shows in two major Canadian cities.
Playing what has come to be known as “incelcore,” the genre blends elements of punk, electronic, and alt-rock into lo-fi tracks that draw heavily on internet culture, symbolism and terminology. Not all artists and fans self-identify as members of the "involuntary celibate" movement, but rather embrace the same themes of self-hate, hopelessness, and overt misogyny.
Incel is short for “involuntary celibate,” a self-descriptive term for people involved in a hyper-misogynistic movement that originated on online message boards. Violent attacks have been committed in the name of the incel movement, including the 2018 Toronto van attack in which Alek Minassian killed 11 people in the name of an “incel rebellion.”
The two stop tour is headlined by Gisele Gurney, who performs under the name Gezebelle Gaburgably, and features musical acts Brynn Michen and Zen Michelin. They are playing at the Brasserie Beaubien in Montreal on November 11 and the upstairs of Lee's Palace on November 16.
Tour posters for concerts at the Brasserie Beaubien in Montreal and Lee’s Palace in Toronto featuring Incelcore musicians.Retrieved from Gisele Gurney’s Instagram account and Lee’s Palace’s website, respectively.
Incelcore is a musical and online subculture steeped in the imagery, attitudes, and irony of internet image boards. Gisele Gurney has been a genre staple since 2020. Like many artists considered by fans to be under the umbrella of “incelcore” music, Gurney’s lyrics espouse extreme misogyny and take inspiration from mass shootings.
Gurney’s “Christ Church Bible Study Club'' portrays an upbeat, melancholic point of view of the Christchurch Mosque shootings: “I check behind the corners, Then I happily proceed. I provide all my tendencies with everything they need.” The song begins with news clippings from the wake of shootings. Gurney’s song “Death by Dodgeball,” which Brynn Miche recorded a cover of, appears to describe a school shooting from the perspective of the shooter: “I've been waiting for this for a long time, hahaha. You'll remember me now just like I remember you, and how you'll haunt me forever. Now your mom will remember my last name, hahaha. Uh oh spaghetti-o. Die whore.”
References to mass shooters are a common subject within Incelcore. The man credited as the genre’s founder Alan S. Kim, who performs as Negative XP, previously went under the name “School Shooter.”
Gurney’s lyrics in the song “I Don’t Speak to Whores” initially degrade a woman for being sexually active and eventually for claiming she was raped, with Gurney singing “Why don't you beg him to fuck you harder, The days of crying rape haven't made you smarter.” Another song asserts that “Every thot and slut just needs to cope.” Some lyrics encourage subjects to kill themselves, with one repeatedly telling a subject to “Get fucked by the .45ACP” (a common bullet cartridge for handguns). The artist “Brynn Miche”, who is scheduled to open for Gurney’s November 11 Montreal concert, repeatedly references suicide in her music in songs like “I'm Sorry That I Blew My Brains Out Across The Room.”
Incel talking points like lamenting the sexually active also feature prominently in her music. “Break free from the cycle of genetic determination. It only matters when you're deciding a mate for procreation” sings Gurney in “Stop Worshipping [sic] Attractive People.” Likewise, Brynn Miche incorporates internet slang typically used on incels internet forums and anonymous image board sites like 4Chan. Brynn Miche’s EP “Cyberfoid” (“foid” is a slur for women used by incels) includes a song insulting a “Stacy,” an insulting term for a conventionally attractive woman. She also refers to herself as “black pilled” – a descriptor for someone with intense feelings of apathy and hopelessness about the future.
In an interview in 2021, Brynn Miche said she considered herself both an incel and a “femcel” (female incel) and said that she records “incelcore” music.
Gurney has been embedded in the American Incelcore musical scene for years, enjoying a dedicated following as one of the most well-known artists in the subgenre. Gezebelle Gaburgably’s social media includes photographs of Gurney posing with incelcore personalities including Alan Kim and Athena Raven Rapp.
Brynn Miche, who is performing at the Nov. 11 concert at Brasserie Beaubien, is connected to American white nationalist Nick Fuentes’ Groyper movement — a network of content creators and their fans associated with a variety of far-right figures who support Fuentes. Her romantic partner “Jimbo Zoomer” — who previously used the handle JimboZoomer88 (88 is a common placeholder for HH, or Heil Hitler) — is a popular streamer on Fuentes’ streaming platform Cozy TV.
Jimbo Zoomer’s social media is especially rife with antisemitic content, including claims that Jews “rule the world,” a question for his audience if the film Oppenheimer is “Jew worshipping propaganda,” and a joke celebrating a future in which Groypers will have “the Jews irradicated [sic].” His personal social media depicts photographs of him with Brynn Miche and Fuentes, in one case in the same post.
Left: Brynn Miche and streamer “Jimbo Zoomer.” Right: Jimbo Zoomer and Nicke Fuentes. Retrieved from Brynn Miche’s and Jimbo Zoomer’s Instagram accounts, respectively.
Gurney referred to Brynn Miche as an “Awesome friend” alongside a photograph of the two of them in which Miche is wearing a Burzum t-shirt. Burzum is a one-man band created by Norwegian white supremacist Varg Vikernes, whose merchandise is not uncommon among incelcore fans. The photograph was also used as the artwork for a song release.
Brynn Miche and Gisele Gurney. Retrieved from Gisele Gurney’s Instagram account.
Both the Toronto and Montreal concerts advertise Canadian electronic musician Zen Michelin, signed to the Toronto-based record label Lootbag Records, as an opening act. In the past, Zen Michelin has created music with both Gezebelle Gaburgably and Gjallarhornit — Gurney’s alleged former partner and a popular incelcore musician who also performed at a small incelcore festival in Atlanta, Georgia.
When reached for comment, Eric James of Sofiacide, an opening act for the Toronto concert, said he did not look into the music of other artists before accepting an offer to open and that “in our city/scene it has been clearly established that I am an advocate of love and respect to all.”
He thanked the Canadian Anti-Hate Network for informing him of Gurney’s music, but said that “the show will go on.”
Following this correspondence, Sofiacide continued to promote the concert on social media.
Gisele Gurney, Brynn Miche and Weatherboy have been contacted with a request for comment. If a response is received we will update accordingly.
As is the case with other genres of hate-inspired music, ultra-misogynist incelcore music is known primarily by online listeners and not live performances. Few incelcore concerts, namely the 2021 “Virginfest” concert festival in Atlanta, Georgia and a cancelled concert in Vegas in 2022, have been planned in the past few years. Atlanta’s Virginfest featured prominent far-right musician and internet personality Alan Kim’s musical project “Negative XP” as a headlining act and Gisele Gurney as an opener. Kim, whose content is seeped in shock value and ironic, sometimes deadpan attempts at humour, helped pioneer the subgenre. Gezebelle Gaburgably and Brynn Miche both released covers of Kim’s music. Zen Micheline contributed to a song on one of Kim’s records.
As a far-right movement that is seeped in shock value and targeted towards youth, the incelcore music scene often overlaps with remnants of the alt-right, including “Groyper” culture and Nick Fuentes’ America First group. Alan Kim’s School Shooter alias has a streaming account on Fuentes’ website Cozy TV, which Fuentes billed as an “anti-gay, anti-woman, anti-Black, antisemitic” streaming site.
The appearance of explicitly white supremacist themes are common in incelcore music. School Shooter’s album and EP artwork prominently display Nazi imagery, including the skull emblem of the Nazi SS’ “Totenkopf” Division, Nazi Germany’s Iron Cross, and the logo of the SS.
Gurney’s songs reference far-right internet culture, including referring to herself or a romantic partner as a “self-medicated nazi.”
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