Wizard rock

Wizard rockers Harry and the Potters are on the six-week Unlimited Enthusiasm Expo ’08 summer tour along with bands Uncle Monsterface and Math the Band; they plan to cast a spell here in Bloomington on August 3 at Rhino's All-Ages Club, 331 S. Walnut St.

Brothers Paul and Joe DeGeorge started Harry and the Potters in the summer of 2002.

“I was really impressed by the effect the books were having on kids everywhere. They were inspiring kids to read, tantalizing their imaginations,” Paul DeGeorge said. “It seemed like it was such a positive force that we thought we could supplement that in some way and get kids not only pumped about reading books but also pumped about rock ‘n’ roll.”

But Harry and the Potters aren’t new to Bloomington. They played at the 2006 WIUX Culture Shock and even have some friends in the area.

“Bloomington has a great, awesome punk rock scene. We try to adhere to that culture and we love going to a place that embraces that,” DeGeorge said.

IU junior Ace Cutshaw said he saw Harry and the Potters play at the 2006 Culture Shock. During a few songs the band used an iPod so they could run around and sing, he said. Cutshaw said he enjoys “wizard rock” and thought the songs bring a new perspective to the books and give minor characters more attention.

In 2003 interviews, Harry and the Potters coined the genre “wizard rock” to describe their music and spawned a following of over 400 bands devoted to the “Harry Potter” theme, including Draco and the Malfoys, The Remus Lupins and The Half Bloods.
Although Uncle Monsterface and Math the Band don’t primarily sing songs about the wizarding world, all three bands have a good mix, Marty Allen of Uncle Monsterface said.

“We’re fans of the books ourselves,” Allen said. “It’s cool to be the muggle representatives, even though we’re weird.”

Using sock puppets, singing songs about video games and welcoming the occasional giant monster, Uncle Monsterface, who have teamed up with Harry and the Potters for about three years, is the “total embrace of the nerd and child in all of us,” DeGeorge said.

And the newest band addition – Math the Band – play “hyperkinetic party music like Andrew W.K. on speed, (and) rock ‘n’ roll dance aerobics,” he said.

The performance at Rhino’s will be the first time IU freshman Melinda Kashner has seen the three bands live. Not only is she excited about the performance, she said their music is “fun, eclectic, interesting, and definitely out of the ordinary.”

“I respect them for not taking music so seriously,” she said. “While they are really dedicated to what they do and care clearly devoted to making music, they have fun with it, which is refreshing.”