17 'Harry Potter’ Bands That Would Put The Weird Sisters To Shame
The "Harry Potter" series of books inspired a lot of amazing fanfiction, fanart, cosplay, conventions, and beyond -- heck, you can even play Quidditch at college now and compete against other athletic quaffle-throwing nerds!
But quite possibly one of the most amazing and surprising aspect of Potter fandom is Wizard Rock, or Wrock. First popularized in 2002 by a duo called Harry and the Potters, the act of singing and performing music inspired by the works of J.K. Rowling became an international phenomenon -- and while many of the most popular Wrock bands of the last decade ended their reign in 2011 when the final "Deathly Hallows" movie was released, you can still jam out to many of their funny and clever tunes online.
But if you've never heard of wizard rock before, where should you start listening? Here's a mix of classic and new bands to check out:
This group's 2000 "Ode to Harry" is the first-ever documented song about Wizard Rock and is featured on their second album, "The Weird Sisters." Their third, "Rebel Princess," is inspired by the "Princess Diaries" series of books, so as you can see they're clearly a pretty amazing group of people.
The group that officially founded the Wizard Rock genre back in 2002, Harry and the Potters consists of brothers Joe and Paul DeGeorge, who've written songs like "The Missing Arm Of Victor Krum" and "The Economics Of The Wizarding World Make No Sense," and "Save Ginny Weasley From Dean Thomas." Together they also later created The Harry Potter Alliance, an nonprofit group devoted to inspiring activism among fans of the boy wizard.
Half-brothers Brian Ross and Bradley Mehlenbacher founded their "evil Wizard Rock" band back in 2004 as a parody of Harry and the Potters. They don't tour regularly as much anymore (though they did reunite for MISTI-Con!) but all of their amazing songs, such as "My Dad is Rich" (above), "I Couldn't Kill Albus Dumbledore," and "Why Didn't You Shake My Hand?" live on in our hearts. Our cold, Slytherin hearts.
Matt Maggiacomo first got involved in the wizard rock movement in 2004 after inviting Harry and The Potters to play at one of his many house parties in Rhode Island. His own band, "The Whomping Willows," performs songs like "In Which Draco and Harry Secretly Want To Make Out," above. His newest album, "1975," is currently available for pre-order and focuses on the lives of the Mauraders.
Created by Steph Anderson in 2007, this band is based in Ann Arbor, Michigan, and travels around the country performing songs like "I'm In Love With A Werewolf" and "Owl Post." Currently they're wrapping up their "Yes All Witches" Summer tour.
Not a band, per se, but the musical performance group that made "Glee" star Darren Criss famous on the Internet first got its start with a series of "Harry Potter"-themed musicals that you can watch all for free on Youtube.
Married couple Scott and Kirsten Vaughan started their wizard rock band in 2007 and since then have wowed crowds up and down the East Coast with songs like "Dobby, Bang Your Head," "Nargles Stole My Socks," and "Dark Lord Sleeping On My Sofa."
This band from Ashville, North Carolina writes songs like "Won Won," "My Ear Is Not Here," and "Fred's Dead." They can be found on Myspace.
Another member of the "Yes All Witches" Tour, this singer/songwriter just released a new album, including this song where she professes her love for Hermione Granger. She also wrote all the music for "Twilight" storyteller Yulin Kuang's short film about wizard rock, "I Ship It."
Kristine Thune of The Hermione Crookshanks Experience specializes in incredibly sad songs about everyone's favorite insufferable know-it-all -- like the above, "So Long and Goodbye," which is all about that time Hermione made her parents forget she existed.
Jason Munday, Luke Conrad, Ryan Sellers, Aaron Nordyke, Mark Jennings and Jeremy Jemmings bring on the boy band magic with "This Town," "Gryffindor Rally Cry," and lots of other poppy "HP" songs.
While this band split up in 2011, frontman Alex Carpenter still performs nerd-rock on his own solo Youtube channel, and you'll still be able to listen to songs like "Seven Potters" online!
From the POV of Harry, Ron and Hermione's kind of annoying Hufflepuff classmate, this band performs songs like "Umbridge is Dumbridge," "Matchbox," (you know, the thing Justin Finch-Fletchly might get sent home in if he duels against Neville Longbottom), and "Krum!"
Also a part of the "Yes All Witches" summer tour, Swish and Flick organized the very first New York City Witch Rock Concerts to highlight female wizard rockers, and write really raunchy songs about Slytherins and Draco Malfoy. Their track "Pimp My Ford Anglia" is a perennial favorite.
Amanda Jade Sprecher and Robert Salvatore Scalici are part of a two-Hufflepuff Wizard Rock jazz band that performs mainly in New York. Their album, "The World Is Full of Magic," is available on CD Baby.
Yet another "Yes All Witches" tour member, Tianna Mignogna writes songs about "Twilight," "Harry Potter," being a Slytherin, and other awesome stuff. Her latest album just came out in June and has this gorgeous song about Draco being in love with Harry on it.
The "Great Wizard Rapper Alive" came about when Wil Wright of Senyru got writer's block and decided to write a whole rap album inspired by Harry Potter. It end result was -- yeah, I'm gonna say it! -- MAGICAL. Seriously.
