Sorcerer's Rock

Harry and the Potters work their magic.

by A.D. Amorosi

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Published: Jul 10, 2007

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With Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix just out in theaters and the seventh and final book hitting shelves next week, you'd think the young wizard would need a break. Not if Harry and the Potters have any say. Boston-based brothers Joe and Paul DeGeorge (19 and 28, respectively) continue to rock out the magical series with their latest album, Harry and the Potters and the Power of Love, a follow-up to 2004's Voldemort Can't Stop the Rock. According to li'l bro Joe, "It's all totally nerdy and rocking."

City Paper: How do your records follow in regard to how the books unfold?

Joe DeGeorge: I feel like our music's evolved as Harry Potter's grown up. When we started, our songs were cute, short and simple. They were about taking the train and going to magic school. You can't take the bus, 'cause the bus don't go to Hogwarts. But in the same way the books get heavier, we tried to make our themes. We tried to take those bigger, more important themes and amplify them with rock music.

CP: How do people who've never cracked a Potter � book or movie � take to you? Do they get you?

JDG: Music can be this awesome community event that anyone can be attracted to. We make every rock show a party. When we're onstage, it's not just about Harry Potter. It's about sticking it to the man. That's important to all rock music � sticking it. But it's also a big element to the Harry Potter books. We've taken this one part of Harry and made it hip for him to be in a rock band.

CP: Do your local Warner Bros. PR people ever hook you up with advance screening tickets? Have you ever heard from J.K. Rowling's lawyers?

JDG: No. We're unaffiliated with Warner Bros. We've never heard from anyone's lawyers, surprisingly. There's been a very relaxed view toward the Harry Potter spinoffs. Probably because, at first, they did try to crack down on all the Harry Potter Web sites and there was an eruption within the online fan culture. Warner Bros. took a progressive approach and realized that that sort of stuff was just fostering demand for the products.

CP: Had you ever considered another novelist's output on which to base your work? Gravity and the Rainbows, perhaps?

JDG: When my brother was in high school he had an idea of taking all the Calypsos from Cat's Cradle and setting them to art rock. Harry was just more accessible.

CP: You've given the new record a bigger, more lustrous feel. How does this reflect Harry's growth?

JDG: Anything would be bigger than our first record. We wrote and recorded that in two weekends and struggled to get it out in time for our shows that summer in bookstores and libraries. We had no idea that millions of people would listen to them, so now we put a lot more effort into our records.

CP: Can you imagine what the last book will read like?

JDG: I'm guessing Harry's going to start a rock band and go back in time.

HARRY AND THE POTTERS

with The Hungarian Horntails and Math The Band, Wed., July 18, 6 p.m., $10, The Starlight Ballroom, 460 N. Ninth St., 866-468-7619, www.eskimolabs.com/hp

 

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