General Mumble announces mini EP release, talks about Chicken Fetish

Horse-News likes interviewing people. General Mumble is a person, who makes music and has a thing for chicken costumes. In this we learn about his music, his fetish, and the future. Check it out below.

HN: So, Mumble. General Mumble. Do I call you that, or?...

General Mumble: You can call me whatever you like but I suppose Mumble is best for this yes

HN: Righto, then. So first, I want to say that it's pretty interesting how much music you release so fast.

General Mumble: "Interesting", eh? Well, like, from the start of making it I've always loved the idea of having a pretty extensive library so it's great to have achieved that.

HN: Extensive and varied. You have, what, eight names that your music is released under?

General Mumble: I'll go check that. It'd be pretty embarrassing if I got that wrong... Yeah eight.

HN: And your most recent release, just last week, is under the Ariah alias. What do you wanna tell me about that?

General Mumble: There's a fair amount to tell about it! I guess the first thing would be that I'm super proud of how I managed to make exactly the product I was hoping for, if that makes sense.

HN: Always nice when something comes together just as intended. But more about the alias and the album itself? It doesn't sound like anything you've really ever released before.

General Mumble: You're right, it doesn't. Though, interestingly the Alias itself was created as a way to kick back to the style of music I used to make. The first album I released, "Unrealectric", was kinda laid back and spacey, and that was under the name General Mumble. I felt like my music under the General Mumble name had progressed a lot since then, I'd learned a lot, and that original style kinda drifted away from my productions. Everything shifted to being a lot more dancey, sometimes harder hitting, etc. So I wanted to, as I said, try going back to that style with my new found knowledge (Unrealectric is almost four years old now). Ariah and the new album, "Voyager", are greatly inspired by the world and music from the 1998 PC game "Unreal", and so was "Unrealectric". So I went with the whole idea of having Ariah as a character from that universe, and really getting myself immersed in it.

HN: Very... interesting. I'm sure that after four years, it only makes since that you'd get good at something, especially with the volume of "practice" you've had, so to speak. But the last part of your statement there, that it's about the Unreal PC games. That's certainly not horse related in any way, shape, or form, is it?

General Mumble: Nope. It's a pretty far cry from horse

HN: Would you say that the bulk of your subscriber base are bronies? Or, whatever you wish to call the them. Us. w/e

General Mumble: Yeah most definitely. I'm most known for my pony music, and it's really the only internet community i've actively been a part of, so it'd make sense that that's the case.

HN: A quick glance at your youtube channel's most popular stuff does prove that, yeah. How does it make you feel when something like Voyager's "Two Suns" gets a few thousand views to four hundred thousand views on "She's a Pony"?

General Mumble: Well, I have mixed feelings about it. One part of me says it's disappointing that there's an amount of people who just won't listen to my work unless it's pony, and another part of me is way grateful that lots of people listen to my music in the first place. I mean, a few thousand isn't a whole lot of views, but I remember back to when I was first making music, trying to get it off the ground... I'd be really happy with anything over 50 views. So to know that anything I release these days, pony or not, is gonna get thousands, still means a whole lot, even if a lot of the pony songs have had substantially more. I'd rather be grateful than spoiled by those high-views songs, you dig? A lot of sharing is involved when it comes to community-based songs. If someone likes a pony song, they can share it in the pony community, and it'll likely get shared again and again. It'll also likely feature on sites like Equestria Daily, which'll give it a big burst of views. Whereas when I release non-pony things, there's really not many places people can go to share it. There's the Unreal community I guess, which is nowhere near as active as the horse community that's for sure, but generally speaking, my non-pony work doesn't really have anywhere to be advertised and spread around. So I do get why the views are a lot lower.

HN: That's all very true: does it make you feel discouraged to make non-horse music? Or... more does it make you feel pressured to make horse music?

General Mumble: It used to make me feel a little discouraged, definitely. But I've grown to sort of, well, not be discouraged. Knowing that people are genuinely excited to hear what I do next, regardless of theme, is fantastic in every way. When I've released songs under other names, and people compliment me about how they love the style, or that they're really excited for an album, it makes me happier than you can imagine. As for feeling pressured about making horse music, that's an "I used to" affair too. There was a point when people would comment on my non-pony work with things like "good, but not pony" or "where is the pony music" or "i'm a huge penis", but that's basically gone now. So the pressure to make pony music is almost gone. There's still some, but that's not caused by the need to make something that'll likely be more popular, it's more that I miss having pony inspiration and feel like it would be nice to get some more material out there.

HN: I see, I see. Comments like "good, but not pony" have driven some artists to, shall we say, leave the fandom. I won't mention any names but I'm sure that a few come to your mind. Did you ever consider abandoning it, and do you think you ever will?

General Mumble: I've never considered abandoning it, because to me, it doesn't seem like a binary thing. If I drift away from enjoying the content or community, so be it, it'll happen over time if and when it does. I don't like the childish attitude of "leaving the fandom" one bit. It reminds me of when children throw their toys out of the crib in the heat of anger when their mother yells at them. Any large group of people is going to contain a percentage of ingnorant, ill-informed, inconsiderate, and completely insufferable twats. Bronies are no exception to this, but it's good to remember that no large community is an exception to this. I can deal with those kinds of things. I can toss them aside and ignore them, I can laugh at them if they're particularly bad, or sometimes, if I'm in the mood, I'll try to be friendly and explain how that kind of comment makes the artist feel in a constructive manner.

HN: Well said and well behaved. Shall we move on to something lighter now, perhaps?

General Mumble: Absolutely!

HN: Neato! So, what was the spark that ignited the urge to make music for you?

General Mumble: Well, I'd played around with eJay (a basic loop-centric music making program, mostly for beginners) back when I was pretty young, for fun with a friend, so making music has been somewhat of a thing for me for some time. I started a band with that friend and some others in the early 2000s, and that lasted until 2006-7 or so. And then the General Mumble project came along when that same friend of mine introduced me to Fl Studio, and we learned the basics together and slapped together some music (we actually came up with the name General Mumble together, and for some short time, the project was a 2-man project, but university came along and I just carried the project on by myself, which he's totally cool with). The main reason I really wanted to continue it beyond just doodling stuff with a friend was actually to do with Unreal again. I really dig the music in that game, I love it to bits, and wish there was more music that sounded like it. So I figured I could make it a goal of mine to create more, or at least take some inspiration from it and work with that. Short time after, Unrealectric was finished and I patted myself on the back for creating an entirely solo project that actually sounded decent considering I'd not long been doing this sort of thing for very long.

HN: And 4 years later, you're still going.

HN: You say you were in a band, so I have to ask, who are your inspirations? Your favorite musicians?

General Mumble: Back when I was in a band, in my teen years, I was a bit of a metalhead. I used to love all sorts of heavy music, I think simply because it was heavy sometimes, though my taste in metal these days is a lot more picky. I'm a big fan of In Flames (there's a bit of a divide in the In Flames fanbase between those who like their "new" and "old" stuff. I like both, but much prefer the new), for their tasteful use of typical metal elements (the screaming isn't overdone, and vocals vary a lot), and I really dig the peppering of synthesisers and electronic elements here and there. I like Metallica for the most part, too. I'm not such a fan as I used to be, which is mainly down to not enjoying their more recent material (I didn't like Death Magnetic too much. It was a bit of a tiring album (and not in the good way) for me). I dig pretty much everything before it though... yes, even St. Anger, in fact especially St. Anger. I love that album to bits despite the huge hatred for it. I can't say I've taken much musical inspiration from Metallica though. System of a Down are a band I've loved for a long time, though I didn't enjoy the two later albums as much. I love their first though. It's rough, raw, and beautiful. System of a Down have influenced some of my music, particularly more recent tracks under the Daemien alias. HIM are probably my favourite band (that can't really be considered metal, stricly speaking, but whatever, they have guitars), and have inspired a lot of my music, particularly the music that will appear on "Synesthesia". The most recent addition as far as rock music inspiration goes is The Mars Volta. These guys have had a huge impact on my music, inspiring tracks that are more off-the-wall and progressive. They've taught me that being carefree and very different with music can be absolutely fantastic, sometimes. As far as electronic music goes, Ren Queenston (Renard, Lapfox Trax, etc.) has had the biggest impact on my music. And many that know their music will probably notice this in mine. Ren is where the idea of separating music into aliases first came about for me. Well, it was actually my dad saying "if they do it, and you make a lot of different music, you should try doing it too!". So I did that and it's been the best thing ever. Alexander Brandon, the composer for the majority of the Unreal soundtrack is another big inspiration because of, well, creating what can be considered some of my favourite music ever, the music that inspired me to start making electronic music seriously in the first place, as I mentioned before. And last but not least, sci. A musician I met through the pony community who has taught me a whole whole lot about many many things, and creates some very very different music that I can very often only categorise as "sci" music. I liked that I could tell his music is his music, while always being interesting and unique, and that's inspiring.

HN: Well got dang. It sounds like you're a very inspired little artist, eh?

HN: Anyway, we're narrowing it down.

General Mumble: Yeah I got carried away with that one...

HN: It's all fine. All Fine

General Mumble: ..............................

HN: So, beyond yourself but yourself included, what do you think the future is for horse music? You mentioned how it was a binary thing, slowly growing away from the fandom. You haven't made a lot of horse-related stuff; do you foresee others following suit? Thoughts.

General Mumble: Well, it's eventually going to slow down and stop for everyone if it hasn't already. It's obvious that a lot of those who made it before are getting or have gotten tired of it, but there's always new artists coming along, and that's fantastic! I do feel like not many of the newer artists are respected by the older artists though, and that's a huge shame. Regardless, I think it's fantastic that new music is still being created, but the realistic truth is that horses is just a fanbase, and eventually, in however long it takes, it will become less and less active. As far as myself and horse music goes, I do have a mini EP release in the backburner actually, which I've kept kinda quiet and plan to release "when it's done", and I really enjoyed making my second Halloween pony EP last year, so that'll probably happen again (and maybe again). I'll make pony music whenever I feel like it, even if it happens less. I'm not gonna just declare one day that I've stopped. I might even pump out a pony track or twenty when I'm sixty-five for the hell of it. I don't feel like many people follow this mindset though, and unfortunately, far too often see people just be like "nope, no more horses i'm done", and that's it. It's a shame, really.

HN: In the backburner, hm? An exclusive tease, right here on Horse-News? As for the rest of your statement, it's a sad truth, but Hasbro's promised us like 5 more years of this ride. Hopefully the quality stays high. Or gets higher, depending on your stance

General Mumble: You heard it first WORLD EXPLSUSEIVE

General Mumble: Hopefully so! I'm actually loving season four right now.

HN: A few episodes behind, personally, but a few that I've seen this season have been very, very good.

HN: Now's the part where I'd say we're done, but I've got one more question because everyone's just dying to know.

General Mumble: shoot

HN: You. Chickens. Why?

General Mumble: It started with that halloween episode. I think I made a few jokes with friends about Pinkie's chicken outfit and things escalated into me supposedly fetishising them. So it became a thing that I had this fetish for chickens and then eventually, I developed a bit of a kink for chicken-style-dresses, chicken mannerisms (partner suggestively clucking or something). Also have you seen those things? Their vaginas and buttholes are THE SAME THING

HN: Horse-News: Quality reading material.

HN: Well, Mumble, thank you very much for your time!

HN: I hope you find a chicken that makes you real happy some day.

General Mumble: My pleasure! and thanks for the well wishes