Harry Potter and the Kittens of Switchblade After reading Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets I wrote the song “Ode to Harry.” I wrote the song because I love the Harry Potter books and because I thought Ginny Weasley was not getting a fair shake in book 2. Ginny is always around and Hermione, Ron, and Harry did not include her, yet she is a very sweet person. I think of all the characters in the book Ginny has the possibility of becoming a true riot grrl. She is going to stand up for herself in a major heroic way and I hope it is someday (or somebook) soon. I wrote this song from the point of view of Ginny Weasley. It is about loving Harry Potter through her eyes then.
We released the song Christmas/ Chanukah of 2000 only on the internet to our fans. We also gave it freely to any Harry Potter site that wanted it. It was something I wrote for all Potterheads and muggle nerds. Writing songs is what I do, so it just so happened that JK Rowling’s writing inspired me and I was so moved by it that it came out in song. That year there was 3 million downloads of “Ode to Harry.” “Ode to Harry” is considered the first ever wizard rock song.
Harry hits the road…Not only have I read all the Harry Potter books but I bought them as a presents for everyone I know. I read the books out loud to the band when we have to travel long distances, so the band has been read all six HP books! At first they complained and then one day when I was talking on my mobile and not reading on the drive, Pep said to me "So what's going on with Harry?" Now we have HP debates. We had the pleasure of playing the Vans Warped Tour and we were able to play the first wizard rock song live. We had great debates about Harry and the books with bands like Vendetta Red and Bowling for Soup. HP fans jumped on stage and sang “Ode to Harry” with us, which was amazing because this song had ONLY been released on the internet. I realized Potterheads are everywhere! After that we played the first ever Harry Potter Symposium, Nimbus. We were able to party and discuss every aspect of HP with like minded friends and it was pure bliss (a shot out to Harry Potter Obsessed!)
Why we made this CD...I literally received thousands of e-mails begging me to write an entire CD about Harry Potter. At the time we were in a pending major label recording contract and the label would NOT let me write anymore songs about Harry Potter. After our record deal fell through I experienced the toughest time in my entire life. My band was all I would eat, sleep, and breathe for 5 years. To endure music executives ripping apart my band and making enemies out of friends was a living nightmare. I made it through by reading about Harry and his trials; I can honestly say that Harry Potter may have saved my sanity. I gathered the best friends I had and one reluctant sister and forged on to create a new Switchblade Kittens. And I returned the favour to Harry by writing this 13 song CD called “The Weird Sisters.” It is not a collection of songs about plot summaries but a reaction to the emotion and strengths that are encountered in the books and in a magical life.
