With Thanksgiving over and the holiday season very much upon us, there is one thing that becomes hard to avoid: Christmas music. It’s in just about every store you walk into, on the radio, and sprinkled into commercials. Personally, I love classic Christmas carols. I thought I would be doomed to year after year of listening to only choral arrangements while decrying any of the pop-ier songs. Then, of course, Jingle Spells came along. Since both Harry Potter and the holiday season give me that warm glowy feeling, a wizard rock holiday album is just about the most happy-making thing I can listen to. (more…)

It’s taken us a few weeks, but we’ve finally discovered the meaning behind the mysterious and enchanted pieces delivered to me via owl. We, staff members and site visitors, helped me in figuring out that it was an album. This morning, however, the spell encrypting the puzzle pieces dissolved itself. The colorful “tangerine spaghetti” clips ended up being the album artwork, clearly contributed by Frak Franco, while the screen shots established the album’s track list. It’s taken me a few hours (and several handfuls of owl food) to gather the remaining details.

Like many a wizard rock CD, (more…)

One thing that I feel is especially unique of wizard rock as a musical community is its vast amount of charitable compilations. It’s a truly great thing, and it sometimes seems as if every area of outreach has been covered.

Enter Wrock Against Bullying, a CD put together by Jenn Somers. Jenn, herself, has two wizard rock bands; The Vanishing Cabinet and Essence of Dittany. She began her compilation in June writing in her blog, “I was a victim of bullying as a child and built up a barrier around myself. Being involved in wizard rock and every single, truly amazing person I’ve met through this community has helped me break down that barrier (more…)

I know what you’ve been doing; sitting anxiously by your computer, refreshing your MySpace home page for notifications about new wizard rock, specifically from Tom Riddle and Friends. How do I know this? To be frank, I speak from experience. I also have an outstanding set of omnioculars.

So, what’s this about a new song? Well, it seems like the boys are beginning to release tunes from their upcoming contribution to the Wizard Rock EP of the Month Club. The disc, Bob Hope is a Vampire, named not for its theme but because “somebody must deliver the message to the people,” will be kind of different, according to Ty. Mr. Barber described the disc as “…an eclectic mix of raw power. This EP is going to (more…)

The names of wizard rock albums are some of my favorites. Spells From a Broken Wand. Toilet Humor. You get the idea. Now we have another winning title; Jinxed in the Head. The album, by North Carolinians Hawthorn & Holly, got it’s name from their creative lyrics. “It came from a line in ‘Pansy, Please!’,” band member Christie explains. “I’d rather be jinxed in the head, than be in Pansy’s shoes…”

One of the southwest’s more active bands, H&H may not have toured, but they enjoy playing a lot. “We perform maybe once or twice every two weeks,” band member Christie says. They have been one of several acts to play at Camelot Treasures, a shoppe run by wrockers (more…)