Wrock On - Kat

My experience with wizard rock is similar to my entire HP experience. I heard about it through my forays online, and I remember turning up my nose at the idea of it all. I mean, I loved HP, but the notion of people who'd probably never picked up an instrument before writing music about the series and singing it to crowds of screaming preteens was a bit much for me.

But one summer I was basically stuck in my apartment with nothing to do. At the time, mugglenet had just started its wrock section. I checked it out briefly along with the wrock encyclopedia online. I stumbled upon the Moaning Myrtles on youtube and listened to “Prefects are Hot”. I was dying with laughter by the second verse. Then I discovered, through the related videos on youtube, the Ministry of Magic and listened to “Ascendio”. I remember tearing up, but it was nothing compared to when I found “Godric's Hollow” by Romilda Vane and the Chocolate Cauldrons!

Needless to say I was hooked. I can't say that I'm a die-hard wrock fan, and I've probably never heard of a large number of bands. I do try to listen to a wide variety of them, but I am picky about which I actually download because I'm picky about music in general. My favorite bands include:

Oliver Boyd and the Remembralls

The Butterbeer Experience

Swish and Flick

The Moaning Myrtles

The Ministry of Magic

Draco and the Malfoys

I also have some music from The Whomping Willows, Tonks and the Aurors, Tom Riddle and Friends, Marked as His Equal, Romilda Vane and the Chocolate Cauldrons, The Parselmouths, Riddle TM, House of Black, and The Hermione Crookshanks Experience.

It would be very difficult to narrow down my favorite wizard rock song, but the most played on my itunes are “You Can't Speak Snake” (The Moaning Myrtles), “Cedric” (The Moaning Myrtles), “Alone” (The Butterbeer Experience), and “Lullaby” (The Butterbeer Experience, which still makes me cry every time I listen to it) so those are high on the list as are “Bridge to the Other Side” (Oliver Boyd and the Remembralls), “The Ballad of Sirius Black” (Marked as His Equal), “Lovegood” (Ministry of Magic), and “The Radio” (Tonks and the Aurors).

Ah, OBatR! It should be noted that there have been several signs that we are destined to attend LeakyCon thus far. The first was the email that Brae received informing all attendees that Christian of OBatR was coming out of retirement to play live at LeakyCon! I knew that I had to be there when we heard this. This oh-so-important sign was followed by us getting what we can only assume was the last available (cancelled) room at the Portofino Bay hotel. We'll be documenting the other signs as we move along, but since this was wrock-related, it warranted mentioning in this post.

At Infinitus we saw some amazing wrock concerts (though we don't have much to compare it to since we'd only been to one other wrock concert to see Jason Munday of of MoM, Tonks and the Aurors, and Witherwings at the Y right before Infinitus to meet a semi-local HP group). Among the most memorable were obviously The Butterbeer Experience's last live performance (ever), Swish and Flick and watching the shocked expressions of those around us at the mature content of their songs, Ministry of Magic and the chaos that ensued when they took the stage, and The Moaning Myrtles. Of course MC Kreacher and House of Black were memorable, if only for their hour long performance. The Parselmouths' pajama-clad jam session at the closing feast was quite a talking point too!

At the top of this post, you can see pictures of Brae and I with various wrockers. From the top, there is me with Swish of Swish and Flick, Lauren from The Moaning Myrtles and I, Christina from The Parselmouths and I, and Lena Gabrielle of The Butterbeer Experience with Brae and myself.

I think what appeals to me about wrock, aside from the catchy and often hilarious lyrics, is the feeling of unity it inspires with the rest of the HP fandom. With the last movie coming out, many are feeling like the fandom is coming to an end. While I don't agree that the end of the franchise has to trigger the end of the (true) fandom, I can see where they are coming from. Wrock provides a unique opportunity to have a record of us moving through this series together and growing up with Harry. I know whenever I listen to “Gryffindor Rally Cry” (Ministry of Magic) I'll be right back at Infinitus in a throng of insanely passionate fans screaming and dancing like crazy for a house that I profess utter hatred for. Wrock is truly ours, and it brings us together because of that. We can all find a song that connects us to that whether or not one claims to be a fan of wrock.