The Siren Song of Zoo Culture
It was just a regular old school day for me. Having to pay attention to what the teachers were saying in front of the class, trying to follow as they talked about complicated mathematical formulas, important historical dates, or grammatical rules of the English language, which could just as well have been the incoherent noises of creatures from another planet back then. All the while trying to ignore the mean whispers of my classmates to each other, not loud enough that the teachers would be able to pick up the words spoken, but just so loud that I would be able to hear what was being said.
Stories of how pungent my body odor supposedly was, that I had a sickness that they called “Super-AIDS,” which they would contract if they ever touched me, only being able to cure themselves from it if they touched another student with my ick, passing the disease on to them, and other tall tales.
I was that weird kid in every class who never really spoke all that much. I wore mostly black for most of my teen years and most commonly I wore shirts with images of werewolves or dogs on them, which everyone seemed to regard as odd and unusual. But that imagery was simply comforting for my newly awakened therian self. I suffered from severe allergies back then, which is probably where the talk about me being disgusting came from, my nose ever running and me making use of tissues on the regular.
And my classmates had just recently gotten wind of the fact that I was gay, after I kind of flirted with a classmate that I had a crush on and he told everyone about it. Hence the reference to AIDS. I already knew that I was Zoosexual too back then, but at that time I had no name for my feelings towards non-humans and, due to the lack of contact with canines, it really didn’t have a great impact on my life. My everyday life at school was filled with being pushed around, being called homophobic names and told that I was disgusting, and my backpack being emptied into the trash bin.
I got bullied constantly, and hated every new day right as it dawned, from fear of having to see my tormentors over and over again. I was diagnosed with depression and went to psychotherapy for 3 years, which I barely felt any better from at the end of it.
But there was one thing that would always relieve some of that terrible sadness and emptiness I was feeling. Something that helped me not to feel like that stinking, gay loser the other kids always told me that I was.
When I was around 13, I saw a report about Furries on the news, which sparked an interest into the subculture, which led to me watching the anime Summer Wars that features a lean and rather attractive anthropomorphic Hare, which at the end of that chain, led to me watching an animated music video on YouTube, featuring the hare character and two songs from the Punk band Rise Against. If I remember correctly, it was “Heaven Knows” and “Prayer of the Refugee.” From the moment that the heavy guitars started screaming into my ears through my headphones and the tight drums kept banging on in that hypnotic beat that just pulled me along with it, something changed.
As Tim McIlrath screamed in my head, there was no room in there for me to feel worthless and wrong anymore. He, together with the fast-paced music that accompanied him, turned my sadness to righteous anger, and a feeling of being powerful, master of my own emotions and destiny, that I had never known before that moment. I was saved. And even though I barely understood what he was singing about back then, the raw sound of the music was enough.
My depression didn’t go away from this moment on, neither did my bullies stop making a personalized hell out of my entire time in school. But now I had a tool to counter the bad feelings, to fight the bad with something that was so good, that it could organize the discord in my head and quench the darkness with its light.
I immediately started looking for more music that would give me this magical feeling that I so craved. That’s how I discovered bands like Bad Religion, Descendents, Leftöver Crack, Bambix, NOFX and many others. Bands that none of my classmates had ever even heard of, only listening to music that their parents would play on their home stereo or that they had heard on the radio. It was something that I had all for myself, something that nobody could spoil for me. From now on, every time I put on my headphones I was transported to another dimension. One with fast, driving beats, rumbling basses and a whole ocean of distorted guitars, where I could just lay back and float, without fear of being drowned.
Today I have a job, a human boyfriend, and a canine girlfriend who love me dearly. I moved as far away from the place I grew up in as I possibly could, while still staying in the same country. My depression is not cured and I doubt it ever really will be. But I am far better now. Life is good. It got better. Just like Rise Against was singing about in songs like “Heaven Knows” or “September’s Children.”
And my boyfriend and I are writing and recording our own music these days! Mainly focusing on the experiences of Zoosexuals like ourselves and their partners. In fact, we put out our first full length record two months ago. My idea behind starting to write zoo songs was inspired by that feeling and confidence I had when I discovered punk rock in my teens.
I thought to myself, “Hey, what if zoos could have a similar experience with discovering music they are passionate about for the first time, but with lyrics that are specifically tailored to them, their longings and stories of first love? How rad would it have been, if little closeted zoo Konny would have had one band out of all those that they loved so dearly that encouraged them to see their sexuality regarding non-humans as completely normal, or even a thing of beauty?”
In hindsight, I think that would have been a message that I really needed to hear, even if I didn’t know it yet at the time.
I want our music to be a similar light in the dark to other people who feel like I do. To feel known and understood and to encourage them to be their best selves. Not only to not hate themselves, but to find pride in being who they are and to push for positive change in their lives and the lives of all animals who are forced to live under the dominion of men.
I also believe that music can be a powerful tool for community building and to get people to be active. Every counter cultural movement in the past century has had their own music, written and performed with them in mind. For example, there was Tom Robinson Band as early as the 70s, singing about Gay Rights among many other left wing and social topics. They were a huge deal for a while in England and were played on the radio quite often.
Just imagine being a gay teen back then, in a time when sexual acts between two men were only decriminalized for a decade and discrimination against gay people was still very normalized. And then you get to rock out and dance with a bunch of other queer people in front of a big stage, on which a famous band sang about how you are perfectly fine the way you are and that actually everyone else was wrong about you instead? What could have been more awesome than that? There is a sub-genre within Punk Rock called Riot Grrrl, with bands like Bikini Kill or GRLwood, that focuses on feminist issues within a scene that can still often be quite macho and dominated by men. These days there are similar experiences for transgender people too, acts like Sophie, 100 Gecs, Tubbe and many others.
A vibrant zoo music scene wouldn’t just be something to find comfort in and talk about among zoos either, there is also a component of how it would be perceived from the outside. I think the majority of humans who are opposed to our movement and the idea of getting it on with critters of various species are of the opinion that we are all devious, morally bankrupt sex fiends, who only use their partners as living sex toys. But what kind of ever-horny thrill-seeking loser in their mom’s basement would take time out of their life to write beautiful love songs? Would that one-dimensional caricature of a zoo really sit down at their desk, to compose melody after melody, various complex chord progressions and poetic lyrics, meant to melt one’s heart? Zoo music doesn’t really fit into that stereotype they are trying to build for us, does it?
Music is incredibly good at conveying one’s feeling to another person. More so than any other form of artistic medium, I’d say. Songs, or entire albums by zoo artists, are something you can show your friends and families who might be skeptical about our relationships to our partners. “This is who we truly are, not that image of us the media tries to portray most of the time!” Music is a way for us to have our voices heard, and our love for animals felt. You can’t underestimate how powerful of a tool for zoo-acceptance it could potentially be!
What I am trying to get at is, I think there is a need for us to develop a thriving Zoosexual music scene. Just like we need to develop art scenes of all kinds, but this is an article about zoo music you are reading right now. I’d love to be able to go out with friends and listen to an artist or an entire ensemble of musicians on a stage in a dingy, cozy club, or together with a huge crowd in a stadium some day! I am confident that this day will come eventually, though it may still be a long, rocky road until then.
But hey, you can help make the journey just a little bit shorter!
Do you have an interest in music and writing songs? Why not just try it out sometime and show what you have created to the community? Everyone can make their own SoundCloud or Bandcamp account, free of charge. There is a section for zooey musicians on the Zooey Dot Pub Discord server, that you could upload your creations to. Have no experience composing, or even playing an instrument? Doesn’t matter, you can just learn as you go and develop your skills over time! That is how every great musician ever started out.
Making music isn’t magic, and it isn’t out of your reach either. It’s never too late to start learning something new, you only need to be willing to work on it.
In my humble opinion, picking up a guitar and learning a couple of chords and simple songs is a good recipe to get started. Or, if learning an instrument sounds too tedious to you, there is always the option to download a DAW (Digital Audio Workstation), like FL Studio or Ableton, and to just program some synth lines and beats into it.
That’s how I started out as well!
You can even find them for free, if you know where to look. ;)
Be Zoo, do crime!
I really want to encourage you (the reader) to try your paw at expressing yourself through song-writing, we really need a lot more musicians than we currently have putting out amazing songs about animal-love.
I’m looking forward to hearing what you might create!
Article written by Konny (December 2024)
Find them on Bluesky at https://bsky.app/profile/konnybcollie.bsky.social
Konny, together with their boyfriend Cookie Cat, form the band Shiv. You can find their zooey music at https://shiv950.bandcamp.com/album/lieder-ber-liebe
Questions, comments or concerns? Check out our Discord server! discord.gg/EfVTPh45RE
