In a recent blog, the girls of Riddle TM have provided scans from an article about wizard rock that appeared in Dazed and Confused magazine.
The article is titled “Spells Like Teen Spirit” and the author, Matt Dyson, immediately calls wizard rock a “strange new musical phenomenon.” He is perplexed by the “unlikely proposition” of the wizard rock movement, seemingly amazed that anyone would want to write and perform songs about books. He first interviews Josh Koury of the documentary We Are Wizards, who explains the basic concept of wizard rock; to essentially pick a character and write songs from that character’s perspective. To Dyson, it sounds like “the result of drug-induced psychosis” and he notes that nearly all the songs are “utterly ridiculous odes” to the Harry Potter characters.
Dyson also mentions some other bands, like Draco and the Malfoys, in such terms as “two brothers from Rhode Island who are old enough to know better” and “two librarians having a breakdown.” Dyson then refers to The Moaning Mertyls[sic] as “sultry goths in school uniforms” and calls the Ministry of Magic “disturbing.” Dyson then makes a blanket statement about all wizard rockers, calling them a “twitching outsider[s] with an unhealthy Harry Potter obsession.”
Dyson doesn’t understand the community behind wizard rock and the Harry Potter fandom, but at least he tried. His article is a bit under-researched, and although the article was published in the UK, he only speaks about American wizard rockers. He is basically clueless and it’s obvious that he doesn’t get it, but he still brought the idea of wizard rock to the minds and living rooms of more potential fans.
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October 8th, 2008 at 7:34 pm
I think the Malfoys should work “two librarians having a breakdown” into a new t-shirt design.
October 8th, 2008 at 8:01 pm
Geez, what is this guy’s deal? (And what’s so “disturbing” about Ministry of Magic? The fact that they have great songs?) Oh, and seriously – who can’t spell “Myrtle”? It’s not like it’s a solely HP name like Gringotts or something. Oh, and it kills me that he thinks wrock is so new. It’s like when mainstream journalists try to write about slash and they act as though it’s some sort of brand-new thing.
Totally agree about the t-shirt design.
Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have to twitch my way over to MySpace to put up the new song from The First Task Is Dragons…
October 8th, 2008 at 8:48 pm
OK,
I actually didn’t think this article was so bad. Yes, there were some mistakes (the misspelling of Myrtle and the misattribution of a Draco and the Malfoys lyric to Harry and the Potters), but I don’t think it was any more poorly researched than any other more mainstream news article I’ve seen on wizard rock. For the Wizrocklopedia staffer who posted this to say “He is basically clueless and it’s obvious that he doesn’t get it,” is a little unprofessional and unfair. Dazed and Confused is an art and music magazine, not a Harry Potter fanzine, and that is the perspective that this writer was coming from. He was maybe a little unfamiliar with Harry Potter canon because you can tell that he failed to recognize the humor in Draco and the Malfoys oeuvre, but at the same time, he was dead-spot-on in some in some of his musical assessments. When he says that our song, “Don’t Believe It,” is “reminiscent of Sonic Youth,” he’s right on the mark because I stole that guitar riff straight off “Kool Thing.” He’s a music critic and he’s allowed to be critical. I honestly think that he took wizard rock very seriously and illuminated some of the really great things about the genre.
Also, no one mentioned how FREAKIN’ GORGEOUS the layout of this article was. I think that shows a certain measure of respect.
October 9th, 2008 at 7:05 am
the article calls the ministry of magic awful. WHAT!!! It’s called a harmony you may not have heard of it. I love the ministry of magic. i think their music is excellent. One thing is for sure i would not like to listen to the authors top 10 CDs.
writing that article could have been a really worthwhile experience to that reporter, to explore something out of the ordinary and have a little bit of fun. but they chose to simply make fun. that’s not cool.
oh, and he called the moaning myrtles goths? that makes me laugh. it’s ridiculous. (oh…. he must have only looked at the album art. now it makes sense.) said before. say again. under researched much.
yep! awesome t-shirt idea.
: )
October 9th, 2008 at 9:59 am
oh good they used the pics of the cave and the horntails. we had a blast with that photo shoot!!!
October 9th, 2008 at 10:56 am
Haha, I’d love a D&TMs t-shirt with that slogan
October 9th, 2008 at 11:21 am
“He is perplexed by the “unlikely proposition” of the wizard rock movement, seemingly amazed that anyone would want to write and perform songs about books.”
Of course he is! Has there ever been another entire music movement based on books before? Weren’t we all a bit surprised to first hear about it at first?
I think we sometimes forget (myself included) that not everyone knows about wizard rock. The fact that Dazed and Confused even published this article is pretty impressive to me, even if there were some mistakes.
October 9th, 2008 at 2:01 pm
I agree with Freya. I don’t see this article as a negative thing at all. In the big scheme of things, wizard rock is still a tiny little subcultural bubble. Even the notion that wizard rock is “sweeping across the nation” is kind of an overstatement. And this is coming from a guy who’s spent the majority of the last year touring almost nonstop. : ) We can’t expect everyone to be into this or to treat us with the same respect that we treat each other. Some of my best friends still can’t believe that I’m doing this.
October 9th, 2008 at 2:54 pm
Paul that’s the first thing I noticed, the awesome artwork. Second, I’ve read tons of mainstream articles about mainstream bands and the writers still goof up pretty basic information. Basic information that is known to the people in the scene or rabid fans….a lot of times the article is “good enough” and the staff could really care less about a minority musical genre. If a “Wizard Rock fanzine” was going to publish a gushing tribute you know damn well every detail would be correct. Including how many times Brain Malfoy sneezed on Thursday. Overall I’m quite impressed Dazed and Confused took the time to do a four page spread on Wizard Rock with full color pictures. I talked to a friend of mine from England and mentioned in passing we did a thing for DaC and she was floored. She said it’s basically like Rolling Stone in England.
Basically, I feel Dyson wrote with the same ironic humor most of the bands use in their songs. All in all a good job.
October 9th, 2008 at 4:10 pm
Also, music magazines always make judgments. That’s kind of their job. The author has the right to like some bands and not others.
October 9th, 2008 at 4:39 pm
yeah, there was definitely an eclectic vibe going on. but i was happy to see that they currently are running an article about lydia lunch. and their comment about my music, why, that was the best???? lol…i’m going with it…
October 9th, 2008 at 5:36 pm
I agree with Paul and Molly — so what, he had negative things to say about a couple bands. I don’t think the Malfoys or the Ministry guys are gonna lose any sleep over it. Music critics listen to music with a critical ear. It’s their job. If you can’t handle criticism then you shouldn’t publicize your music. : )
October 9th, 2008 at 6:58 pm
i cant handle criticism. I quit
October 9th, 2008 at 9:15 pm
Ha. I didn’t even think it was an issue, it is a magazine that reviews things…Wizard Rock was reviewed…end of story. Be happy your name was mentioned in a worldwide magazine. Remember good publicity is great…bad publicity is even better. Think about how many hits Ministry of Magic is going to receive. I would definitely need to hear a band that is 3000 times worse than someone else! Why are we discussing this any further?
October 9th, 2008 at 10:46 pm
Ian has a point. Matt your point of whether or not to publish things for fear of a bad review was interesting. One of the key elements of how wonderful wizard rock is the fact that a lot of people, young people dust off the keyboard their grandparents got them when they were 8 because they thought of a clever set of lyrics or character to base a project on.
The critic in question and his sorta snubb tone was not looking at that and that’s fine, I mean for his name drops of other bands says something about his taste and looking at the whole publication sees that yeah, maybe they aren’t going to be into MoM. It’s kinda sad that they didn’t listen more to hear how talented DatM really are all together.
A couple of years before wizard rock i participated in the garageband.com site where you could upload your mp3s for free if you wrote reviews for others, so if you participated you set up for being reviewed by all kinds of musicians. i received some of the best and WORST reviews.
it’s really up to the artist to be their own critic. keep challenging yourself it builds character. or like my grandfather would say, it grows hair on your chest…wait maybe that was his chilli.
October 10th, 2008 at 12:47 am
Tina — I was kinda joking about that. : ) I mean.. wizard rock is kinda immune to this sort of BS, and that’s what’s awesome about it. Sure, fans have their preferences, but it’s not like you hear people saying things like “Oh, I like the Malfoys cause they’re from 2005 so they’re legit… I hate those Remus and the Lupins guys though, they’re so new school.” Wizard rock isn’t competitive, it’s all-inclusive and there really are no standards, and that’s what I’ve always loved about it. That’s also why I hate that Uncle Ben guy — he stated that the Horntails shouldn’t be playing certain shows because they aren’t talented enough. Probably one of the most ridiculous things I’ve ever heard.
On the other hand, there are many wizard rock bands who’ve had no experience in the larger “industry.” They don’t know what it’s like to release an album and send it off to 200 indie zines to be reviewed, because that’s the only form of promotion available to you besides college radio (which is unreliable at best). You offer up something that you feel is your best work of art and it gets KILLED by snarky indie snobs like the guy who wrote this article. It takes a certain level of insulation and self-assurance not to let that stuff slow you down. So it’s no surprise to me that some wizard rock fans would read this and be really upset about it. The fact is, this article is well-written, objective, and entertaining, and that’s what that guy gets paid to do.
Ian, I think you’re absolutely right — I bet the Ministry guys got the most hits from this article, closely followed by the Malfoys. And I bet that a lot of those people ended up liking the music.
October 10th, 2008 at 1:01 am
Around 8 years ago, well before composing music for MoM, I was and am still part of a few musical forums where people upload and critique each others songs. I went through a year of listening mostly to 80s pop/rock ballads, so many of my songs were influenced by them. Some musicians hated the synths and progressions I was using and the melodies that I was writing and were not afraid to tear me down online about it.
However, I luuurve getting feedback from others, good or bad. I would expect/hope that not everyone is into the same style of music as me. Diversity is great and important.
As far as the article, it was excellent for wizard rock. He tore MoM down hard but in a very stylish and hilarious manner. “JK drunk over a PC, sobbing, ‘I didn’t mean for this to happen.’” Haha! Spot on with the lack of irony with Phil Collins cited as an influence. ian was right about good/bad publicity, too. It doesn’t matter, because people are being exposed to a new community and maybe they will realize what an amazing place the wizard rock world can be.
October 10th, 2008 at 1:07 am
yeah, the immunity is amazing and as you know i believe and am inspired by the trains of though that go into this. BUT there are the ambitious. The truly hard thing is making it universal. not everyone is a harry potter fan, but they should probably be one, if they want to feel good. universiality is the way to exist after this point and time. i believe this a key to the success of certain people like yourself that work with the feeling of the overall. people want to feel good when they go to a show. you do it dude.
October 10th, 2008 at 1:10 am
luke, awesome! you must have eaten my grandfather’s chilli…
October 10th, 2008 at 3:33 am
wow wizard rockers are nice.
i felt like tearing the guy to shreds.
i can see your points and agree.
October 10th, 2008 at 3:51 am
I am criticism. You quit.
October 10th, 2008 at 4:56 am
I love harry potter
October 10th, 2008 at 8:22 am
The thing that bugs me is that it doesn’t seem like this guy really gave wizard rock a fair chance – he thought the idea was weird and slightly creepy and so he viewed everything through that lense instead of going into it with an open mind.
October 10th, 2008 at 10:05 am
Wizard rock is weird and slightly creepy. I mean, think about it — Brian and Bradley are 33 and 29, respectively. They play songs about a book series that appeals primarily to children and young adults, and their shows take place in libraries where 25% of the crowd is often under 10 years old. And one of them is BALD. What’s not creepy about that? And when 12 year old fangirls say that they want to have Alex’s babies, what’s not creepy about that?
I love the wizard rock community with all of my heart. But there’s nothing wrong with admitting that it’s out of the ordinary and that an outsider might find the whole thing a bit creepy. : )
October 10th, 2008 at 10:33 am
Matt– re: sending your CD to college radio stations:
I totally found your Jena Campaign CD at my college radio station, and promptly had a few songs played on the air. See? Sending it to Tufts paid off!
October 10th, 2008 at 11:19 am
Molly, that’s awesome! I actually played a couple shows at the Tufts radio station a few years ago, which is why they have my CDs. : D
October 10th, 2008 at 11:44 am
“I love the wizard rock community with all of my heart. But there’s nothing wrong with admitting that it’s out of the ordinary and that an outsider might find the whole thing a bit creepy. : )”
Well said, Matt. That was kind of the whole point of everyone sharing their stories with the ‘Muggles and Wrock’ article – to show that not everyone gets it, but some people do.
October 10th, 2008 at 5:07 pm
I think you all made interesting points. Most people in wrock are ultra fans who don’t care if people think that they’re weird. Most of my classmates think I’m insane! It’s just a part of the job, being different. While I’m totally at odds with the statement that the ministry of magic is ‘disturbing’, that reporter might just be one of the close-minded people who have totally shut out the idea of book based music. I know a lot of people like that. Many people that I have introduced to wrock think that it’s weird at first, but a lot of them grow to love it. The article was shockingly under researched, and he may have been a bit harsh, but he was just new to it. I think we should cut him some slack.(But, seriously, who misspells Myrtle!?)
October 10th, 2008 at 11:41 pm
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kzEmJApQ6iI
i thought this was interesting.
October 11th, 2008 at 1:53 am
Firstly, I want to say that I was going to comment here a couple of times before, before noticing that I hadn’t actually read the whole article. After wrapping my journalism teacher in copper so that when he starts to roll in his as-yet-non-existent grave he’ll generate electricity, I then went and read the whole thing, and I urge anyone else who hasn’t read it yet but wants to comment on the article’s content to do so as well.
Now, firstly, I do have to second the comments about how beautiful the layout is. At first I was just thinking, “Huh, this is well-drawn intricate border. Whatever.” Then I actually looked at it. DAMN, it’s nice! Especially the little “The Story of Wizard Rock” all concaved at the bottom. So, major props to whoever made the actual page.
Secondly, I’d like to state that first and foremost, I am a comedian, or at least, a purveyor of comedy. People win my respect through well-timed tasteful jokes, and I must say that I enjoyed the author’s sense of humour. The opening paragraph has a particularly delightful pun on “musically branching out”, revolving around turning the tree of music into discount furniture.
However, sometimes, the reviewer was being negative for the sake of being negative. You can not like our music, fine, but saying that wizard rock was probably “the result of drug-induced psychosis” is a bit far. Now, to be fair, Matt Dyson does qualify his statement, but the negativity is still unnecessarily there.
Okay, I’ll admit it – I’m reading the article while reviewing this, so I haven’t read the whole thing yet. Huh. Apparently electric power has just been restored to an entire third world country.
Okay, I’ve finished reading it. First, the good:
It might have been acerbic, but for the most part, it was a reasoned article. And it was well-written. The only spelling error I found was in the name of The Moaning Myrtles.
It was pretty well-researched for a wrock article. Now, hear me out. There are definitely problems, and I’ll get to them, but a variety of bands were covered, which was nice.
For the actual music, for the most part, Matt Dyson was complimentary, and he did make good connections to other bands, and reviewed the music pretty well.
Now, for the suck:
MoM: It was just a little odd how much he hated them. I know it’s all personal taste, but it seemed sort of like he wanted a punching bag and chose a random wrock band and some random other bands and drew some profanity-laden similarities. However, most other bands were more reasoned, and his reviews of them made sense. so I’m inclined to think that he truly just didn’t like MoM, and I can respect someone for not liking something, as long as they’ve actually listened to it.
Every wizard rocker is a twitching outsider with an unhealthy Harry Potter obsession: Seriously? EVERY single one? These are the times when the negativity again seemed unnecessary.
The lyrics: I found it odd how it distressed him that good music was being ruined with “utterly ridiculous odes to Ron Weasely and the like.” This is where I’m not sure how much wizard rock he actually did listen to. The thing is, there are many songs that you wouldn’t guess are wizard rock songs except for a few mentions of names and things, but are about universal themes, just like how Harry Potter is about more than wizards and magic.
The stuff that was unresearched: The first ever wrock festival was on Sept. 21st this year in NY? Give me a break! He didn’t even try researching that one at all!
The killing blow: Everything above accounted for, it wasn’t that bad an article. It was relatively well-researched, musically fair if lyrically unnecessarily negative, and had a gorgeous layout. But here’s what made me lose all respect I had for the reviewer, and made me seriously doubt every nice thing I said about the article (except for the purty artwork, of course): “The key to their [Ministry of Magic's] awfulness lies in their influences, listed as Phil Collins and Driveshaft, and is cemented by the fact that these people are cited without the slightest bit of irony.”
Now, this might seem like an innocuous statement, before we remember something. Hmmm… let us collectively ponder for a moment.
“Driveshaft, Driveshaft, hmmm…. why does that sound familiar?”
You want to know why?
THAT’S THE NAME OF THE BAND FROM LOST. Yes, Merry’s, er, Charlie’s band, from the TV Show Lost. As Wikipedia says – “a fictional band”. FICTION. A band based around fiction cites a fictional band as an influence doesn’t contain “the slightest bit of irony” HOW exactly?
It’s then that I realized that Matt Dyson probably had no idea who or what Driveshaft was, and that’ when I lost all respect that he had gained. It’s one thing to not research the bands you’re reporting on, it’s another entirely to make witty remarks linking them with OTHER bands that you haven’t done research on.
Now, for all we know, he could have just gone through a list of bands, threw them in randomly with some conjunctions and profanity, and hit copy/paste a buncha times.
Okay, maybe I’m being a little unfair, but that Driveshaft thing just completely made me lose all respect I had for the guy. And maybe I’m overreacting, and it is late and I’m even less coherent and concise than the last comment I wrote, so I’ll just end it with a lame geology-Harry Potter joke:
Q. What do you call a snake-shaped plutonic mass underneath the Earth’s crust that pushes into the surrounding layers?
A. A batholithk!
October 11th, 2008 at 2:04 pm
Before there was Wizard Rock, there was Filk, another set of music based off of fantasy novels by Mercedes Lackey, Terry Pratchet, and others. Wrock isn’t something completely unique, though it is getting a lot more press than Filk ever did.
I think someone who finds it disturbing that books affect some people so much has spent too much time reading tabloids and watching TV (because singing a song about movie stars or other rockers is perfectly normal, you know?). The idea that the only thing that should be able to affect people is reality is flawed at best, and completely ignorant at worst. I think the wizard rockers, regardless of their ages, are showing an intelligence and depth that most popular magazine writers couldn’t even begin to imagine.
October 11th, 2008 at 3:34 pm
i love driveshaft.
you all everybody!
October 12th, 2008 at 9:30 am
wow…
October 12th, 2008 at 12:42 pm
My reaction to this article and the subsequent posts by all of you has been threefold.
First, I was not in the least bit shocked or bothered by the piece. As Ian pointed out, there really isn’t any such thing as bad publicity. Frankly, I was honored to be mentioned in such a highly circulated publication! I am sure that our website will get a few more hits from this, and perhaps some will not be nearly as disturbed as the author apparently was. I appreciate the author’s honesty on that score. He’s certainly entitled to his opinion.
Second, I am overwhelmed by the reaction on the part of so many of you. I’ve read post after post of contributers to this forum sticking up for us. I want you to know how deeply appreciated that is! We love the fandom, and we readily acknowledge that we’d be nothing without it!
Finally, I would like to echo Matt’s very astute comment that Wizard Rock is insulated from this sort of criticism by it’s very nature. We all know that it’s a bit weird. To be honest, whenever I’m painted up as the embodiment of a shattered soul split seven ways and tell a fictional character (whom in reality I love like a brother) that he’s a fool, and he’ll lose everything; I’m a bit disturbed myself! It’s been my perception over the last year that the reason why Wizard Rock is insulated from such criticism is precisely because it is not ultimately about the music. Don’t misunderstand me. I think there is some remarkable talent in this subculture. The Malfoys have a remarkable ability to perform, Matt is a great song writer, Alex is a genuine grade “A” rock star, the Myrtles are perhaps some of the most clever lyricists I’ve ever encountered, The Parselmouths are brilliant, and I could go on ad infinitum, ad nauseum. Rather, the phrase “Wizard Rock” is really a shorthand way of talking about a coummunity. The Wizard Rock community is ultimately about relationship and love. It’s about people enjoy the hell out of each other, and who have a great deal of respect for one another. It’s about a kind of passion that expresses itself in song. One can’t criticize that.
To those on the outside, Wizard Rock does seem a bit odd. However, human nature is such that it indulges in the bizarre in the name of fanaticism. After all, we have middle aged men painting there faces and bare bellies like their favorite sporting teams and screaming at fellows in plastic suits of armor trying to get an ovular ball up and down a field on a weekly basis. There’s nothing wrong with that, that’s a foot ball fan. We are no different. I have high hopes that the those outside of our community can end up a bit like Dudley Dursley. Now they mock us, make fun of us, and put us down. All the while we have group like the HP alliance doing remarkable things for the good of humanity. We chase off the soul sucking dementors of ignorance, apathy, and loneliness with a few songs about a boy who lived and the power of love over death itself. Maybe one day those who don’t understand us as much will offer us a cup of tea and mutter, “I don’t think you’re a waste of space.”
October 13th, 2008 at 7:57 pm
*claps* That was a bloody brilliant explanation, Mark. Hats off to you!
December 23rd, 2008 at 12:01 pm
Hilarious.
I like a lot of the Wizard Rock bands. I covered as much of the scene as possible. Four thousand words to be precise. I listened to all the bands, many, many times. Perhaps I should have only mentioned Phil Collins in reference to the Ministry of Magic? Apologies. As for the spelling mistake, what about you foolish Americans? You can’t even spell colour. Joke.?
Merry Christmas.
Dyson
January 28th, 2009 at 5:51 pm
Woah, I just noticed that on page 4, in huge letters, they falsely attribute a DatM lyric to HatP. I mean, it’s not a huge deal, but it left me for confused for a few moments. “Why are Harry and the Potters singing about Voldemort being freaking awesome?”