#I was really into wrock back in the day

[arcticmist0324]

There was definitely a huge wave of fannish music, specifically “wizard rock” (called wrock) in the late 2000s and early 2010s. In 2014, there was a MASSIVE shock to the community as many prominent creators were accused of a number of abusive behaviors (towards both other fans and creators). It was a mess. I discuss it a bit more in the tags.

Hank Green (who is someone who was involved in this space and has a reputation for being a stand-up human and not a creep) even made a video in response. It’s still up on the Vlogbrothers YouTube channel. It’s titled “Sexual Abuse, Consent, and Culture.” He doesn’t delve into specifies, but it’s a good sense of the things being discussed at the time. (A lot of the creators who were accused were tied in with the Nerdfighter community).

Oh, and I remember this but I don’t think many other do, but there was also Hunger Games-themed music called Rockingjay. There was overlap with Wizard Rock (which might be a reason it didn’t really go anywhere because… well 2014 happened).

I'm meant to be writing so naturally my brain went into asking the real questions— why don't we have fandom music? We have all forms of expressive art, writing, drawing, editing. The more physical forms of art, sewing outfits, forging swords, acting, even audi narrating fics. So basically all art forms in order to further explore our blobros and yet— no music? Why is it? I am genuinely curious why songwriting and music-making is the one form of art that is not present in the daily fandom life? Yes there's music video edits, even people recreating music from shows on piano etc— but that's not what I mean, I mean honest to god making a real, proper, lyric and music and singing original song for your blobro. Why don't we have that?

[xserpx]

Hello! I really, really love all the music I've heard from you and @vicmin, and I was wondering if you'd be able to tell me if I've missed any albums you've worked on. I've listened to Riddle Me This, Secrets of the Darkest Art, This Time Around, Talons and Teacakes, Void Stuff, and four original songs (Forgotten Friendship, We Shall Rise, Don't Cry, and Come and Go). And also, while I'm here, are you working on anything new? :) Many thanks!

Whoaaa, that’s all kinds of amazing!! Thanks so much! :D I thiiink the only things you didn’t list were our two Christmas wrock songs featured on Jingle Spells 2 & 3, called Celebrate the Day & Draco’s Christmas Wish, which you can find on Spotify/iTunes etc and probably on YouTube somewhere. But other than that I think you’ve literally listened to everything I’ve ever recorded!! ❤️

As for whether we’re working on something new: Hard answer: no, soft answer: I really want to get back into it, and never say never.

[enter-the-phantom]

I look awful in this picture but it’s time for a story. Middle school was about when I started getting into the Potter fandom big time. One day I stumbled on a song called 99 Death Eaters. It was based off an 80’s rock song, so naturally I fell in love with it. This led me to a little band known as Draco and the Malfoys, and this was my introduction to wizard rock. 
I started collecting as many wrock songs as I could, and soon had an impressive collection. As you can imagine, I was laughed at quite a lot for this. Here at Leaky I got to meet my hero, Brian Ross, one of the men behind DatM. I told him how much the band meant to me and how 99 Death Eaters was my intro to the world of wizard rock and fandom as a whole. He was really touched by it. They played the song last night at the concert. Brian pointed me out and gave me the heart. Then today, walking back to the vendor hall, I ran into him coming out and he actually remembered me by name and came over to say hi, telling me he hoped I enjoyed the song live. Then he gave me a really sweet big hug and I guess what I’m trying to say is that Brian Ross is an angel and I really just thank him so much. Also my biggest fear came true, looking bad in a picture with one of my heroes. Oh well.

[houseofwolves-v1]

harry potter was my special interest for most of my life. and it’s so crazy to think about how much of my life now is a result of that series. like one of my criteria for what i wanted in a school when i was applying for college was that they had a quidditch (now quadball) team. i was deeply involved in that sport for almost 4 years, even spent 2 years of that time running my school’s team. my entire irl friend group is people i met playing quadball, my girlfriend of 4 years now is someone i met playing quadball, all the roommates i’ve had over the years are people i met through quadball. (gonna talk about quidditch since that is something i’ve been directly involved in most recently lol) but at an organizational level the name change from quidditch to quadball has been in the works for as long as i had been playing the sport if not longer simply bc of the restrictions warner bros had placed on the sport. we could only be a nonprofit, we weren’t really allowed any brand sponsors, we weren’t allowed to be on espn or any major news network. and all of that was frustrating and holding the sport back, especially since over the years it’s evolved so much (like literally outside of the base of using hoops and brooms, the ball names and position names, the sport is nothing like how it’s described in the books) we’ve been trying to move towards a much more athletic and serious sport and are implementing a lot of structure things that more long standing sports have. and even at a recruitment level for individual teams, we had such a hard time recruiting new members bc everyone saw us as just a nerdy harry potter club, and it made it hard for us to compete with other teams bc everyone that joined ours just didn’t know what they were getting into and didn’t want to put in the work that’s needed to be on a sports team. like this is a full contact sport, you have to be putting in the work to be athletic to play. and then getting into jkr and all her transphobia, quadball is one of the leading sports in gender inclusitivity, there are so so many queer and trans people in the sport and at an organizational level and individual level everyone is so supportive of that. there are rules in place to make sure a team isn’t leaving out one gender or another and that everyone gets play time and everyone regardless of gender gets to play on the same pitch on the same team with no gender divisions. and for jkr the inspiration behind this sport to be so blatantly against all that we’ve worked for fucking sucks. but yeah all that to say that the name change to quadball is one of the best things to happen to this sport, like within 5 ish days of the name change we were on espn. but like op was saying, this is an entire subculture that’s been lost. i used to listen to wrock all the time, i have so many harry potter fan films that i’ve watched over the years, there were podcasts i regularly listened to, i used to check mugglenet daily to keep up with what was going on, and to have all of that just..gone now bc i don’t want to associate myself with jkr and the harmful things she’s done? it’s been a weird adjustment.

What makes JKR's shitshow even harder to process is that she didn't just ruin a book series. Harry Potter was an entire subculture. Like Star Wars and Star Trek fans, Harry Potter fans dedicated their lives and careers to the series. I don't know if I'd call it "underground," but liking Harry Potter got you beaten up when I was in school, so it was more of a dedicated indie culture than a mass-appeal fanbase.

Harry Potter was so huge that fan works developed their own followings. Potter Puppet Pals racked up hundreds of thousands of followers and was nearly as relevant as the series itself. For fanfiction, Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality got so big that it has a Wikipedia page. The band Harry and the Potters spawned the wizard rock music genre. A Very Potter Musical developed a fanbase and launched Darren Criss's career.

Harry Potter also has extensive ties to fandom history. Everyone in my generation (millennials) remembers coming home from school to read Harry Potter fanfiction on the Internet. Today, most people just post their stories on Wattpad or Archive of Our Own. But at the time, the fanbase was splintered between fanfiction.net and dozens of individual websites and forums, some made for specific ships. Since they all had individual hosts, a lot of those sites have been lost to time.

And there's the infamous My Immortal fanfiction, which is an Internet legend with people still searching for the author. Everybody read that one (and laughed at it) in middle school.

Pre-social media, fan sites like The Leaky Cauldron and Mugglenet had massive followings because they were one of few sources for news, theories, essays and fan content. Some of these sites still exist after being around for over a decade and building their own legacy.

Before Deathly Hallows came out, fans were so desperate to know what happened that Mugglenet published a book called What Will Happen in Harry Potter 7: Who Lives, Who Dies, Who Falls in Love and How Will the Adventure Finally End? Yep...Harry Potter was so big that people wrote separate books about what would happen in an upcoming book.

And that's not mentioning all the book release parties, Harry Potter-themed events, monuments, fan films, restaurants and even a theme park. A lot of fandoms have those, but Harry Potter infiltrated every aspect of popular culture.

Today, there's a thriving culture of "Harry Potter adults" with themed weddings, baby showers and Etsy stores. Putting your Hogwarts house in your Instagram bio is pretty much a prerequisite for joining the "bookish" community. Warner still produces new content, like the Fantastic Beasts series, although we've all seen what a disaster that's been.

Everyone has at least a few memories associated with Harry Potter even if it's just watching the movies. I had great memories associated with Harry Potter. But looking back at the subculture, history and thousands of fan works, it doesn't seem fun anymore. Studying the fandom or being part of it comes with an awkward tension because you don't want to seem like you're condoning JKR's bigotry but can't divorce her from the series. This subculture was spawned by a woman who turned her legacy of magic and wonder into one of abuse and hatred.

I don't expect people to write paragraphs about how much they hate JKR every time they post about Harry Potter, but it's still uncomfortable to see people make new content or wear their Harry Potter Etsy tote bags like nothing happened. Even if they clarify that they don't support her, it's just a weird, tense situation for everybody.

People dedicated years of their lives to running Harry Potter fan sites, writing fanfiction, cosplaying characters and making fan movies. If I were in that situation, I'd have a mild identity crisis. I'd ask myself "Did I waste all those years? Should I delete my content? Where do I go from here?"

So ultimately, JKR didn't ruin "just" a book series or even "just" a fandom. She tanked an entire culture, which inspired people to look at Harry Potter more critically. The issues that people brought to the light tainted the series's legacy even without JKR's personal issues.

Once, Harry Potter was a series for generations. Now, former fans hope that the series fades into irrelevancy. Unfortunately, JKR didn't just tarnish her legacy--she took decades of history, millions of fans and a worldwide subculture along with her.

[wizrocklopedia]

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New Music Review: Calling Back Kelly "The One With The Little Wizard Boy"

Editor’s Note: Content on the ‘pedia has been a bit light this year due to staffer schedules and responsibilities, however that certainly doesn’t mean that there hasn’t been any news or releases on the wizard rock front! In fact, this year has seen a number of album and EP releases from bands new and old, as well as releases from bands that wouldn’t be considered “wizard rock”, although their albums certainly are.

We wanted to end the year on a high note with reviews of some of the new music that was released in 2017. This is not intended to be a comprehensive write-up of every single track from 2017; rather, it’s a way to give credit to the artists who are continuing to release fantastic wizard rock, while also hopefully introducing our readers to some new bands they may not have been aware of. 

As 2017 comes to a close and ushers in a new year, it’s important that we reflect on what constitutes “wizard rock” in this day and age. While there are still a good number of bands that focus exclusively on writing material based on the Harry Potter books, other non-wrock bands have released music that definitely falls under the “wizard rock” umbrella.

In other words, one doesn’t need to be a wizard rock band in order to release wizard rock music.

Just last month, the Cleveland, Ohio based Calling Back Kelly dropped their full length “The One With The Little Wizard Boy” on Bandcamp and we wanted to do this excellently-produced wizard rock album some justice.

As a quick overview, this reviewer wants to note this right out of the gate – the whole album is full of sick guitar riffage and extremely thoughtful lyrics. “The One With The Little Wizard Boy” is definitely on the heavier side of wizard rock, it’s not quite metal but falls on the hard modern rock side of music for sure. If you like pounding drums, thick bass, and excellent guitar playing, this is the wrock album for you. We also wanted to point out that this release is up on Bandcamp as Name Your Price, so you can get it for free, or offer a few bucks for the hard work that went into creating such a solid, well-sounding album. If you’re looking for some new releases to crank, you have no excuse to NOT have this one in your wizard rock collection.

The album kicks off with the track “Privet Drive” which starts with guitar harmonics and a nice grungy thick bass tone. Lyrically, the song is from Hagrid’s POV about having to stick Harry with those dreadful Dursleys as the book series opens. The music really kicks in for the chorus with nice drums and driving guitar, before coming back down to quieter guitar harmonics to close things out.

“Return to Sender” is an uptempo tune that reminds this reviewer of later AFI (in fact, much of the album does). Lyrically the song initially brings Aberforth to mind, complaining about how he felt Albus abandoned his family. It may not be his thoughts exactly (more on song meanings later), but once that theme got stuck in my head I couldn’t get it out. “Obviously Always” follows, featuring fantastic drums and layered vocals. The lyrics bring us Snape’s POV about his regrets, and the fact that he knows that he now has the life he deserves for his actions. Once again, the guitar riffing is on point, and musically, the song is relentless.

The fourth track “Hair of the Dog” is from Sirius’s POV about how he’s been driving himself for years purely on the thoughts of paying Pettigrew back, and doing his best to protect Harry. That’s all that’s been keeping him alive. That song is followed by “Minutes and Moments”, which starts with slightly out of tune guitar to build tension before it really kicks into gear. This angst-ridden song is from Harry’s POV about his realization that Dumbledore protected him in order for him to die. Knowing that his death is required to help defeat Voldemort weighs on him, along with the knowledge that others have died to help him when in the end, he still needs to die anyways. Some nice synth keyboard pads really help keep the tension throughout the song.

Neville gets some attention with the next track “Bloodline (Baby’s First Heavy)”; and man, he just draaaaaaaaaaaaags Voldemort. The heavy riffs relay the pain Neville has over his parents’ state thanks to Voldemort’s orders. This song gives a real Helmet vibe while listening to it’s heavy staccato riffing.

“Catching Smoke” is another banger, keeping up with the musical theme of the album. To be honest, there’s a lot of uptempo angsty and pissed off songs with little respite to your ears. Now, I guarantee you that’s not a problem for a lot of listeners, however I found myself wanting some quieter or down-tempo sections or songs to help make the crushing songs hit that much harder.

The lyrics in “Kill” seems like Snape and Harry are alternating verses about Snape’s death in the Shrieking Shack, and how much they hated each other, but needed each other to survive. Snape’s protection helped keep Harry alive, and that mission was what drove Snape. Unsurprisingly, the next song’s title “Left Ear” gives the subject matter away – it’s about George dealing with Fred’s loss. He knows his life will never be the same, and he will be reminded of the worst loss of his life every time he looks in the mirror. In fact, the bridge mentions the Mirror of Erised and it’s one of the more heartbreaking lyrics you’ll hear in such an uptempo song.

Finally, the album ends with the track “Swanson’s II”, which is really only a quick snippet of Ron Swanson talking about the little wizard boy, which was the inspiration for the album title.

All in all, “The One With The Little Wizard Boy” kicks a LOT butt, and if you like your wizard rock exactly that (ROCK!!!) then this is the album for you. Likewise if you like songs that don’t hit you upside the head with the meaning behind the lyrics; the songs all easily stand on their own with themes of loss, anger, and pain. If you knew someone who was resistant to wizard rock but likes heavy music, this album would make a great introduction for them.

You can follow the band on Facebook, and if you do so, let them know what you thought about their recent release. It’s great to see a muggle band pick up the wizard rock baton and run with it, and we can all hope that this won’t be their last release in the wizard rock category.

Do yourself a favor – head over to Calling Back Kelly’s Bandcamp, download the album, and CRANK IT. You won’t be disappointed.

[wizardhq]

TASK #10 { A VERY WIZARD MUSICAL } – OPTIONAL

Music is an art of sound in time that expresses ideas and emotions in significant forms through the elements of rhythm, melody, harmony, and color.

There have most likely been times when you are writing, and a song has come to mind for your character. You can’t help but muse, even if the character themselves can’t sing a single note in tune, how they would perform it if it were a musical. After watching the OUAT ( Once Upon A Time ) Musical Episode, as well as having been a strict follower of glee, Main Admin Shannon has decided it would be fun to bring the music to wizards in an unexpected twist:

GENERAL OBJECTIVE:

Rewrite songs to be relevant to the Harry Potter verse / Your Character, then write them performing it like it's something straight out of the television show Glee, a musical, etc. 

Assigned Song Types:  

THE SOLO: This can be a song that you just wish your character could sing, whether or not they can really sing or not, or a theme song for your character. Ultimately, it’s a song they’d sing by themselves ( perhaps with a band backing them. Or not. Logic doesn’t matter here. )

THE ENSEMBLE: This song should definitely be about your character in some respect, and it should be written as if it’s being sung by other characters, about your character. This would be even better if you got permission from other roleplayers to include their characters in your para, but don’t just include someone and write their actions, since that’s godmodding. They can be unaware people are singing about them... or very aware. It’s up to you!

Bonus Songs: 

THE THROWBACK: This is specifically for Hogwarts Alumni characters. If you want to write your character singing something that would’ve been relevant to your character back during their school days, with the setting being Hogwarts, this is your chance to do just that!

THE DUET: You and another roleplayer can rewrite a song and then group write the para of them performing it together. It can be whatever kind of song you want, but it has to be sung with another person.

example(s) of lyrics:

1. 24K Galleons, as performed by wrock duo “DJ.” link. 2. Starboy by The Weeknd, lyrically changed to fit Lezekiel Theosidis. 

Everyday a muggleborn try to test me, ah, Everyday a wizard try to end me, ah, Pull off in that brand new broomstick, ah, Pockets overweight with galleons, ah, Coming for the seer, that’s a far cry, I come alive when I see visions I, No competition, so no stimulation, Up in my manor, gramophone on playing wizard vinyls.

TAKEN SONGS:

CHARACTER NAME: Claramae Bagnold.

“SOLO” SONG: Straight Up by Paula Abdul. “ENSEMBLE” SONG: Uptown Girl by Billy Joel. “DUET” SONG: One and the Same by Selena Gomez and Demi Lovato with Andromeda Duponte.

CHARACTER NAME: Adora De La Fuente.

“SOLO” SONG: Primadonna Girl by Marina and the Diamonds. “ENSEMBLE” SONG: Donatella by Lady Gaga.

CHARACTER NAME: Lezekiel Theosidis.

“SOLO” SONG: Scream from High School Musical. “ENSEMBLE” SONG: Perfect Illusion by Lady Gaga.

CHARACTER NAME: Jay Mendina.

“SOLO” SONG: American Idiot by Green Day. “ENSEMBLE” SONG: Skater Boy by Avril Lavigne.

CHARACTER NAME: Tiffany Park.

“SOLO” SONG: Wrong Bitch by Todrick Hall. “THROWBACK” SONG: Love Doesn’t Stand A Chance performed by the Evil Queen ( OUAT. ) “DUET” SONG: Lay All Your Love On Me from Mamma Mia with Reagan Cardel.

CHARACTER NAME: Christian Black.

“SOLO” SONG: Sign of the Times by Harry Styles.

CHARACTER NAME: Phe-Phe Stormshade.

“SOLO” SONG: Blood on the Dance Floor by Michael Jackson.

Character Name:  Aurora Clearwater.

“Solo” Song: Roar By Katy Perry. “Ensemble” Song:  Most Girls By Hailee Steinfeld. “Duet” Song: ___

Character Name: Nadia Yaxley.

“Solo” Song:  Teen Idle By Marina And The Diamonds. “Ensemble” Song: Oh No By Marina And The Diamonds.

Character Name: Kellan Avery.

“Solo” Song: Hard Times By Paramore. “Ensemble” Song: R.ip 2 My Youth By The Neighbourhood.

Character Name: Fatima Black Nee Valentine.

“Solo” Song: Stay Together By Noah Cyrus. “Ensemble” Song: Bounce Back By Big Sean. “Throwback” Song:  Blonde By Bridgit Mendler. “Duet” Song: ___

Character Name:  Kaylynn ‘Jinx’ West.

“Solo” Song:  All Star By Smash Mouth “Ensemble” Song: Pretty Girl By Maggie Lindemann. “Throwback” Song: So What By Pink.

Character Name: Catalina De Garcia.

“Solo” Song: Somebody To Love By Queen. “Ensemble” Song:  Killer Queen By Queen. “Throwback” Song: Hell Of A Girl By Grace.

CHARACTER NAME: Daniel Eansworth.

“SOLO” SONG: Umbrella by Rihanna.

CHARACTER NAME: Reagan Cardel

“SOLO” SONG: Victorious by Panic! At The Disco “ENSEMBLE” SONG: Cold Hearted by Paula Abdul

CHARACTER NAME: Delaney Lovelace.

“SOLO” SONG: Don't You Worry 'Bout A Thing by Stevie Wonder ( Tori Kelly rendition ) “ENSEMBLE” song: Crybaby by Melanie Martinez.

SONG REQUEST:

To send a request for your character to use a certain song, submit this format to the main. Please don’t send in a song that’s already taken:

CHARACTER NAME: __

“SOLO” SONG: __ “ENSEMBLE” SONG: __ “THROWBACK” SONG: __ “DUET” SONG: ___

FINAL NOTES:

Self-para the above directions. You don’t have to rewrite the whole song, it can be abridged, but each performance overall ( including lyrics and the actual description of the performance ) should be at least four paragraphs, with a minimum of five sentences. The genre/arrangement doesn’t have to be the same as the original. You can only do one of each of the choices of songs ( solo, throwback, ensemble. ) but you can do up to three duets. You can also choose to just do one of the song choice.

A completed performance is worth 30 points for your character’s house, as well as from alumni. A completed duet is 40 points.  The house with the most completed performances will get a one hundred point bonus.

The songs have to be altered to fit your character. Don’t just write them performing the real song.

Post each performance separately ( only one of you have to post a duet performance ) under read more, preferably as a picture post with a simple graphic, and tag everything with wizard:averywizardmusical. 

Keep in mind your character can be tone deaf canonically speaking but will be able to sing for this task specifically.

As far as this being a musical goes, it’ll be said that some sort of curse was cast upon Wizarding Britain that made everyone break out spontaneously into song with the inability to sing out of tune, there even being a ripple effect in time ( hence the throwbacks. ) The Ministry decided it was best to wipe everyone’s memory of it happening though, once they got everything under control: so no one will remember this happening. This is all definitely au-ish though, so please don’t mention this in your actual threads. :P

DUE DATE: 05/30/17

                                      PLEASE LIKE THIS POST IF YOU WILL BE PARTICIPATING.

[a-smoakiism]

bethewhitecanary replied to your post “ヾ(⌐■_■)ノ♪: what are your favorite band(s)/artist(s)?”

Oh my god I had such a Wizard Wrock phase a few years back and I just rediscovered that I had Ministry of Magic songs on my iPod and played them on repeat for a whole day

wizard wrock is ALWAYS something I go back to. I got married last year and used some songs for my wedding like when my reception happened the house song by ministry of magic played because all my wedding party wore the house colors and during the cocktail hour we had the Song Ministry of Magic playing and well my whole wedding was harry potter themed I just... love so much harry potter things. I listen to ita ll the time really.

[wizrocklopedia]

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Here's what you missed in #wrock! 2016 Wizard Rock Sampler Edition

As we turn our calendars to the new year, we wanted to throw it back to something you may or may not have missed in late 2016, the #wrocksampler, compiled by Snidget’s own Grace Kendall.

The #wrocksampler was released on September 3, 2016, and featured songs from old favorites like Draco and the Malfoys, and newer bands like Percy and the Prefects.

Grace decided to put together the sampler after noticing that, in recent years, the majority of wizard rock compilations being released were from the Harry Potter Alliance (which just recently put its older compilations online, so go snatch those up) and were invitation-only. Grace said that she missed “the old days, where people just sent in songs and they automatically got in and you got a real taste of what’s going on in the scene.” As a musician whose own songs were released on charity compilations throughout the years, Grace knew first-hand what it felt like to be included in a project with people she looked up to. “As a musician starting out, it’s exciting to be on an album with your heroes.” Grace wanted to create an opportunity for newer musicians to get the attention that they need to help them grow and get more exposure.

Grace first tweeted about the #wrocksampler project in June 2016, and accepted submissions up until the day of its release. Grace says that she “foolishly chose to run this project while living off-the-grid in the backwoods of Tennessee” and she only had internet access for a couple of hours each week. She promoted the compilation, collected the files from bands, did all the album artwork, and uploaded to Bandcamp using library and “surprisingly fast!” fast-food Wi-Fi.

If you’re in a wizard rock band (or you want to start one) and you missed out on being included in the 2016 sampler, don’t worry your lightning-bolt-scarred-heads over it. Grace is planning to make the sampler an annual compilation, and she’ll start taking submissions for the 2017 sampler this summer. She’s looking for volunteer artists and producers as well as musicians; she hopes to find people to master the album and design album artwork.

If you have questions about the sampler, don’t hesitate to reach out to Grace at wrocksampler@gmail.com.

The #wrocksampler was meant to showcase what’s still going strong in our community, and help newer bands reach a wider audience. Grace says, “I love this scene. People are making some really cool stuff and it deserves to be heard.” Every time she got a new submission for the compilation, Grace would get so excited; “it was like Christmas.” Stand outs for Grace include the submissions from How Airplanes Fly, Flitwick and the Charmers, and Miranda Puffskein.

What are YOUR favorites on the #wrocksampler? What are you planning for the 2017 #wrocksampler? Let us know in the comments below!