MAN ON MAN FETISH SINCE 1975
DRUMMER's first issue came out in July 1975, making it the second oldest gay publication worldwide, as well as the oldest active gay BDSM and Fetish publication in existence.
From the very beginning, it's broken new ground and pushed boundaries. Equal parts cultural legacy and sexual liberator, DRUMMER showed men who they could be and that, as kinky people, they weren't alone. It created opportunities through its classifieds for men to meet one another wherever they lived, in an era before smartphones and the Internet. To this day it provides an outlet for every kind of sexual fetish between men. It shows its readers that kink's only limit is imagination.
As a gay cultural force DRUMMER is unique. Many now-celebrated authors and photographers began their careers in its pages. It was an outlet for erotic works from some of the greatest gay creatives of all time like Mapplethorpe, Rex and Aaron Travis (Steven Saylor). It continues to play the same roles today, with Editor-in-Chief Darkqwolf intentionally prioritizing the work of creatives in their early careers.
Today, DRUMMER's legacy as a fetish magazine geared towards guys who play with other guys remains unchanged via the art, literature, history and personal stories found in M/M fetish culture.
It continues to build on that legacy by going beyond simply being an 'American leather magazine' to one that covers fetish globally. It strives towards intentional and not tokenized representation.
The goal always is to reflect the men of today who not just read it, but more importantly who we want to read it. DRUMMER isn't just for one man. It's for any and every man, regardless of what you were born with or what you look like or where you live. If that's who you are and what gets your motor racing, you're DRUMMER.
Half a century ago, a magazine was born in the underground, raw, unapologetic, and unlike anything that had come before. DRUMMER didn't just document leather culture. It created it. It connected men across continents, gave voice to desires that had no other platform, and built a community that endures to this day.
DRUMMER's first issue arrived in June 1975, making it the second-oldest gay publication in the world. What began as a single magazine born from leather culture became something far larger, a movement, a community, a mirror held up to the desires and identities of men who refused to be invisible.
Equal parts cultural legacy and sexual liberator, DRUMMER has broken new ground and pushed boundaries from the very beginning. In its early years, it showed men who they could be and proved that they weren't alone. It created connections through its classifieds, a radical act of community-building in an era before smartphones and the internet made finding one another easy. Those small-type columns were lifelines, and they changed lives.
To this day, DRUMMER provides an outlet for every kind of sexual fetish between men. Above all, it champions tolerance and acceptance, the bedrock principles that have carried the publication through five decades and into the future.
DRUMMER gave voice, space, and platform to some of the greatest gay creatives of all time. Mapplethorpe's unflinching lens. Rex's iconic illustrations. Steven Saylor's literary fire, written under the pen name Aaron Travis. These artists found in DRUMMER a publisher willing to take risks that no one else would, and the culture is richer for it.
The tradition continues today under the leadership of Editor-in-Chief Darkqwolf, who carries forward the publication's commitment to elevating emerging voices and ensuring that the next generation of fetish creatives has a stage worthy of their work.