Harry and the Potters (album)
Encyclopedia
Harry and the Potters is the eponymous debut studio album
by indie rock
band Harry and the Potters
, released in June 2003. The album was inspired by the first four novels in the Harry Potter
book series.
Massachusetts
home, Joe had advertised a concert with Ed and the Refrigerators and several other indie bands. The venue was the back yard shed. Perhaps the venue was too modest but while an audience had arrived, the bands did not. To rescue a nearly lost opportunity, while waiting hopefully for a band to show, Harry and the Potters came into existence over the next hour when the two brothers wrote seven Potter-themed songs. They performed that first concert as Harry and the Potters for six people who remained of their audience. Of those seven backyard songs, six were to make it onto the band's first album in 2003.
In April of 2003, the brothers wrote an entire album's worth of songs. The brothers split songwriting responsibilities between the two of them: Joe was responsible for songs dealing with Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
, whereas Paul was responsible for songs dealing with Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
.
Harry and the Potters' themed lyrics - which have come to define the band as much as the costumes - have become an integral part of the band's work. For the Harry Potter fandom, Harry and the Potters refer to words and phrases unique to the books, including Firebolt, Felix Felicis, the Flying Car, wizard chess, platform nine and three-quarters, the three-headed dog Fluffy, Mrs. Norris, the basilisk, and the Invisibility Cloak.
Harry and the Potters couple their themed lyrics with rough-edged music on their debut album. Harry and the Potters was recorded and produced by Harry and the Potters in 2003 under the Eskimo Laboratories record label
, at the DeGeorge Family Living Room in Massachusetts
. According to Melissa Anelli, Paul wrote the majority of the instrumental tracks on his Casio
keyboard, whereas Joe conceptualized most of the vocal tracks.
Vocalist Paul DeGeorge later said, "We were pretty much writing songs and then recording them on the spot". This statement emphasizes the band's do-it-yourself amateurishness as an essential aspect of the album.
In recording Harry and the Potters, the band aimed to release the album shortly before the fifth book in the Harry Potter series, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
was released. According to Paul, "We were in a rush to get that stuff done before the 5th book release" and this instinct supports claims it took only two weekends to record the album. He went on to say "it’s kind of cool because it serves as a document and really captures the moment". Despite the band's purported rush to finish the album, Paul and Joe worked particularly hard on the song "These Days are Dark."
When the recording sessions for the album were finished, the band had twenty songs for an album. However, the songs "Diagon Alley" and "The Wrath of Hermione" were left off. The two were later released on the Harry and the Potters compilation album Priori Incantatem
. Paul DeGeorge explained that the former was left off because the band felt they had enough short songs on their debut, and the latter was omitted because the DeGeorge brothers found it annoying, although it was played live.
In order to publicize the release, Harry and the Potters decided to undertake a summer tour performing at libraries through the publicity from the highly anticipated release of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
. On 21 June 2003 the band played five sets in a span of 24 hours.
Critical reception to Harry and the Potters has been, for the most part, positive, with many reviewers praising the bands lo-fi sound and album production.
Before the release of the album, Harry and the Potters had already made minor headlines in the news, thanks to their quirky appearance and their energetic lives shows. However, a year after releasing their debut album, in the spring of 2004, the Barnard Bulletin, a student news magazine of Barnard College
, printed one of the earliest reviews of their music. Until then, it had been the stage persona
of the band that drew media attention. The student reviewer said that, “The best thing about Harry and the Potters is not how silly the whole concept is or the faithfully accurate retelling of the books but how very bad the band is.” The review was tongue-in-cheek and emphasized the do-it-yourself (DIY) amateurishness as an essential part of the group's "reading, rocking, all ages" vision.
Additional personnel
Studio album
A studio album is an album made up of tracks recorded in the controlled environment of a recording studio. A studio album contains newly written and recorded or previously unreleased or remixed material, distinguishing itself from a compilation or reissue album of previously recorded material, or...
by indie rock
Indie rock
Indie rock is a genre of alternative rock that originated in the United Kingdom and the United States in the 1980s. Indie rock is extremely diverse, with sub-genres that include lo-fi, post-rock, math rock, indie pop, dream pop, noise rock, space rock, sadcore, riot grrrl and emo, among others...
band Harry and the Potters
Harry and the Potters
Harry and the Potters are an American alternative rock band known for spawning the genre of wizard rock. Founded in Norwood, Massachusetts, the group is primarily composed of Joe and Paul DeGeorge, who both perform under the persona of the title character from the Harry Potter book series...
, released in June 2003. The album was inspired by the first four novels in the Harry Potter
Harry Potter
Harry Potter is a series of seven fantasy novels written by the British author J. K. Rowling. The books chronicle the adventures of the adolescent wizard Harry Potter and his best friends Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger, all of whom are students at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry...
book series.
Background
The origin of Harry and the Potters is rooted in accident. After reading the Harry Potter books, Paul DeGeorge formulated the premise for Harry and the Potters where the principle Harry Potter characters would be the musicians: Harry as the front man, Ron on guitar, Hermione on bass and Hagrid on drums. Then a crisis of sorts struck the brothers on 22 June 2002. During a barbecue at the DeGeorge family’s NorwoodNorwood, Massachusetts
Norwood is a town and census-designated place in Norfolk County, Massachusetts, United States. As of the 2010 census, the population was 28,602. The community was named after Norwood, England...
Massachusetts
Massachusetts
The Commonwealth of Massachusetts is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. It is bordered by Rhode Island and Connecticut to the south, New York to the west, and Vermont and New Hampshire to the north; at its east lies the Atlantic Ocean. As of the 2010...
home, Joe had advertised a concert with Ed and the Refrigerators and several other indie bands. The venue was the back yard shed. Perhaps the venue was too modest but while an audience had arrived, the bands did not. To rescue a nearly lost opportunity, while waiting hopefully for a band to show, Harry and the Potters came into existence over the next hour when the two brothers wrote seven Potter-themed songs. They performed that first concert as Harry and the Potters for six people who remained of their audience. Of those seven backyard songs, six were to make it onto the band's first album in 2003.
Writing and recording
After the makeshift show at the DeGeorge's backyard, Paul and Joe had the idea that they might be able to write and record music, release an album, and even tour as Harry and the Potters.In April of 2003, the brothers wrote an entire album's worth of songs. The brothers split songwriting responsibilities between the two of them: Joe was responsible for songs dealing with Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban is the third novel in the Harry Potter series written by J. K. Rowling. The book was published on 8 July 1999. The novel won the 1999 Whitbread Book Award, the Bram Stoker Award, the 2000 Locus Award for Best Fantasy Novel, and was short-listed for other...
, whereas Paul was responsible for songs dealing with Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets is the second novel in the Harry Potter series written by J. K. Rowling. The plot follows Harry's second year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, during which a series of messages on the walls on the school's corridors warn that the "Chamber of...
.
Harry and the Potters' themed lyrics - which have come to define the band as much as the costumes - have become an integral part of the band's work. For the Harry Potter fandom, Harry and the Potters refer to words and phrases unique to the books, including Firebolt, Felix Felicis, the Flying Car, wizard chess, platform nine and three-quarters, the three-headed dog Fluffy, Mrs. Norris, the basilisk, and the Invisibility Cloak.
Harry and the Potters couple their themed lyrics with rough-edged music on their debut album. Harry and the Potters was recorded and produced by Harry and the Potters in 2003 under the Eskimo Laboratories record label
Record label
In the music industry, a record label is a brand and a trademark associated with the marketing of music recordings and music videos. Most commonly, a record label is the company that manages such brands and trademarks, coordinates the production, manufacture, distribution, marketing and promotion,...
, at the DeGeorge Family Living Room in Massachusetts
Massachusetts
The Commonwealth of Massachusetts is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. It is bordered by Rhode Island and Connecticut to the south, New York to the west, and Vermont and New Hampshire to the north; at its east lies the Atlantic Ocean. As of the 2010...
. According to Melissa Anelli, Paul wrote the majority of the instrumental tracks on his Casio
Casio
is a multinational electronic devices manufacturing company founded in 1946, with its headquarters in Shibuya, Tokyo, Japan. Casio is best known for its electronic products, such as calculators, audio equipment, PDAs, cameras, musical instruments, and watches...
keyboard, whereas Joe conceptualized most of the vocal tracks.
Vocalist Paul DeGeorge later said, "We were pretty much writing songs and then recording them on the spot". This statement emphasizes the band's do-it-yourself amateurishness as an essential aspect of the album.
In recording Harry and the Potters, the band aimed to release the album shortly before the fifth book in the Harry Potter series, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix is the fifth in the Harry Potter series written by J. K. Rowling, and was published on 21 June 2003 by Bloomsbury in the United Kingdom, Scholastic in the United States, and Raincoast in Canada...
was released. According to Paul, "We were in a rush to get that stuff done before the 5th book release" and this instinct supports claims it took only two weekends to record the album. He went on to say "it’s kind of cool because it serves as a document and really captures the moment". Despite the band's purported rush to finish the album, Paul and Joe worked particularly hard on the song "These Days are Dark."
When the recording sessions for the album were finished, the band had twenty songs for an album. However, the songs "Diagon Alley" and "The Wrath of Hermione" were left off. The two were later released on the Harry and the Potters compilation album Priori Incantatem
Priori Incantatem (album)
Priori Incantatem is the first double and compilation album from wizard rock and indie rock band, Harry and the Potters. It was released by record label Eskimo Laboratories in May 2009. The album is a collection of the band's previously unreleased songs, compilations appearances, songs from their...
. Paul DeGeorge explained that the former was left off because the band felt they had enough short songs on their debut, and the latter was omitted because the DeGeorge brothers found it annoying, although it was played live.
Promotion and reception
Paul DeGeorge used $1,200 of his own money to finance the pressing of the CDs. The band also started silk-screening about two hundred T-shirts with the help of friends.In order to publicize the release, Harry and the Potters decided to undertake a summer tour performing at libraries through the publicity from the highly anticipated release of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix is the fifth in the Harry Potter series written by J. K. Rowling, and was published on 21 June 2003 by Bloomsbury in the United Kingdom, Scholastic in the United States, and Raincoast in Canada...
. On 21 June 2003 the band played five sets in a span of 24 hours.
Critical reception to Harry and the Potters has been, for the most part, positive, with many reviewers praising the bands lo-fi sound and album production.
Before the release of the album, Harry and the Potters had already made minor headlines in the news, thanks to their quirky appearance and their energetic lives shows. However, a year after releasing their debut album, in the spring of 2004, the Barnard Bulletin, a student news magazine of Barnard College
Barnard College
Barnard College is a private women's liberal arts college and a member of the Seven Sisters. Founded in 1889, Barnard has been affiliated with Columbia University since 1900. The campus stretches along Broadway between 116th and 120th Streets in the Morningside Heights neighborhood in the borough...
, printed one of the earliest reviews of their music. Until then, it had been the stage persona
Persona
A persona, in the word's everyday usage, is a social role or a character played by an actor. The word is derived from Latin, where it originally referred to a theatrical mask. The Latin word probably derived from the Etruscan word "phersu", with the same meaning, and that from the Greek πρόσωπον...
of the band that drew media attention. The student reviewer said that, “The best thing about Harry and the Potters is not how silly the whole concept is or the faithfully accurate retelling of the books but how very bad the band is.” The review was tongue-in-cheek and emphasized the do-it-yourself (DIY) amateurishness as an essential part of the group's "reading, rocking, all ages" vision.
Track listing
Personnel
Harry and the Potters- Paul DeGeorge – vocalsSingingSinging is the act of producing musical sounds with the voice, and augments regular speech by the use of both tonality and rhythm. One who sings is called a singer or vocalist. Singers perform music known as songs that can be sung either with or without accompaniment by musical instruments...
, guitarGuitarThe guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...
, baritone saxophoneBaritone saxophoneThe baritone saxophone, often called "bari sax" , is one of the largest and lowest pitched members of the saxophone family. It was invented by Adolphe Sax. The baritone is distinguished from smaller sizes of saxophone by the extra loop near its mouthpiece...
, melodicaMelodicaThe melodica, also known as the "blow-organ" or "key-flute", is a free-reed instrument similar to the melodeon and harmonica. It has a musical keyboard on top, and is played by blowing air through a mouthpiece that fits into a hole in the side of the instrument. Pressing a key opens a hole,... - Joe DeGeorge – vocals, keyboardKeyboard instrumentA keyboard instrument is a musical instrument which is played using a musical keyboard. The most common of these is the piano. Other widely used keyboard instruments include organs of various types as well as other mechanical, electromechanical and electronic instruments...
, tenor saxophoneTenor saxophoneThe tenor saxophone is a medium-sized member of the saxophone family, a group of instruments invented by Adolphe Sax in the 1840s. The tenor, with the alto, are the two most common types of saxophones. The tenor is pitched in the key of B, and written as a transposing instrument in the treble...
, glockenspielGlockenspielA glockenspiel is a percussion instrument composed of a set of tuned keys arranged in the fashion of the keyboard of a piano. In this way, it is similar to the xylophone; however, the xylophone's bars are made of wood, while the glockenspiel's are metal plates or tubes, and making it a metallophone...
, thereminThereminThe theremin , originally known as the aetherphone/etherophone, thereminophone or termenvox/thereminvox is an early electronic musical instrument controlled without discernible physical contact from the player. It is named after its Russian inventor, Professor Léon Theremin, who patented the device...
Additional personnel
- Ernie Kim – drumsDrum kitA drum kit is a collection of drums, cymbals and often other percussion instruments, such as cowbells, wood blocks, triangles, chimes, or tambourines, arranged for convenient playing by a single person ....
- Georg Pedersen – artwork design