Dogpatch Press

Whoah. Look what came up by following a random link to what looked like regular music. The followers are all furries. Is this a performer who plays furry cons? Advertises to furries? Just vibes with things they like? Is he one himself?

Subculture bubbles up unexpectedly and can make you wonder where it comes from. Fandoms intersect and have many gateways. If there is “furry music”, the first question is what defines it? Music isn’t exactly made by animals, it isn’t visual, and it’s an ineffable experience to even write about. “Furry” isn’t really a music genre, but it matters enough to fandom that it’s worth treating it like one for a deeper look. A loose working definition can help get things started.

Furry music…

Overlaps with fandom. Music has culture and context – you wouldn’t go to a punk dive bar and expect opera music, right? The overlap could include stuff that goes with gaming, stuff like nerd rap (with suspiciously familiar references) or most strongly, stuff played at cons (often EDM/rave flavor). It can involve catering to furry audiences, promoting furry shows, and accompanying visual themes. It’s a tiny niche but it brings lots of love for con mainstays like Fox Amoore, Pepper Coyote, or Matthew Ebel.

It’s made with furries: It may or may not reveal furriness. It can be hidden Easter Egg style or lesser known to fandom, like Mick Collins (better known in the music profession for his bands like the Dirtbombs). It’s also worth mentioning musicians who simply throw fursuiters (or faux-furries) in music videos for quirky appeal – there’s too many to count, and they undeniably have photogenic power that makes it work.

Shares a general theme: Like science fiction, cartoons, or nature. It doesn’t have to have anything to do with fandom and may not be made by furries. (Example: Pink Floyd’s Animals album, or werewolf songs).

For examples, it can be hard to know where to start, but Rate Your Music has a curated list of furry musicians. Wikifur has a category for musicians. Here’s a music video list (updated to 2016.) Zoofonix is a new furry musician interview podcast. And there’s a page on Furaffinity for Furry Musicians. To learn more, you don’t need more music talent than a cave man banging rocks together – ask musicians themselves.

That led to Q&A’s with:

• Matthew Ebel and Microdile
• Pepper Coyote and ABSRDST
• Tenkitsune and ZERØ
• EdgeDestroys (Runetooth) and Bandit Raccoon
• Fox Amoore and Bob Drake

Click through for answers (some will post in the next few days) and rock on.

Prepare for evil…