Adventures in Wrock Pt. 1: The We of Wrock

Some of you may be aware by now that I spent the previous four months studying abroad. While living in Scotland for a semester abroad, I also managed to travel as often as possible. What surprised me more than anything else was how often I managed to bring up Wizard Rock when talking to perfect strangers. I would be on the way to a gig when I met someone on the train, so naturally they wanted to know what gig. I would be bopping along to my music so joyfully, people just had to know what it was. I would strike up a conversation with the person next to me just because I was bored and decided to see if they had heard of Wizard Rock. The list goes on!


Whatever the reason, I always seemed to bring it into the conversation. It was always in the background of my time abroad, and I want to spend some time over the coming weeks telling you all a little about my Wrock-coloured lenses.


One of the most memorable Wrock experiences in my travels began on the train from Paris to Stuttgart, Germany. Anyone who has done much traveling will know that when you are in a foreign-speaking country, you will be subconsciously drawn to anyone else who speaks the same language – especially if they have the same accent as you do. Fortunately for me, while I was sitting on the train by my lonesome, I suddenly realised that the small group of boys sitting a row up were not only speaking English, but they were clearly Americans from the West Coast. Naturally, I moved seats and struck up a conversation. Over the course of the train ride, I learned that they were traveling in a group of eight (all of whom were scattered a bit around the train), and that they were excellent fun to chat with. As it happened, they were staying in Stuttgart that night as well, so I offered the poorest and hungriest of them dinner.


As we sat around the table at Pizza Hut, having folded our menus and placed our cloth napkins (yes, Pizza Hut is fancy in Europe!), we got into a discussion about Harry Potter, as I am wont to do. Naturally, Wrock made its way into the conversation. These boys were extremely curious about the movement and asked a lot of questions. At one point I was interrupted with the most intriguing observation. “You keep saying ‘we’ when you’re describing things,” one of the boys said. That made me pause and think back on my descriptions, and it was entirely true.


Without realising it, he had pinpointed one of the qualities of the Wizard Rock community that I love more than anything else. We’re a community. I may not be a Wizard Rocker. I may not be a Wrock groupie. I may not have any musical abilities or close friendships with a ton of bands… but I am part of Wizard Rock. We all are.


We are Wizard Rock and we are what makes this movement so beautiful, loving, and open.


I explained how I traveled around the UK and Sweden, staying at the houses of friends I had met through Wrock and how, should anyone in the community show up in Chico, they would have a place to stay. I explained how many people only had the ability to chat with others online, but that didn’t make them any less loved. I explained how no one is excluded for any reason. We are all different, yet we share this love of Harry Potter and Wizard Rock, binding us together as a whole.


So I guess what those boys I met in Stuttgart taught me was nothing I didn’t already know. I just didn’t realise it was there until they pointed it out. Sometimes the most wonderful things are so close to us that we can’t bring them into focus.


Feel free to use the comments to tell us your stories about being a part of the Wizard Rock community. Or, if that’s too public, email me at: WrockDinahSaur@gmail.com

11 responses to “Adventures in Wrock Pt. 1: The We of Wrock”

  1. Zivlok Avatar
    Zivlok

    That is so awesome, and so true.

  2. Ellatrix (The Lost Diadems) Avatar

    Dinah, you have really hit the nail on the head. We are wizard rock!

  3. Georgia Riddle Avatar

    That’s so true! I can never talk about Wizard Rock like it’s just me. When I talk about my Muggle music, I talk about just me, but I find that with Wizard Rock, I have to mention that there’s a massive movement across the pond, huge wizard rock shows etc a) ok, so I don’t sound like an obsessive idiot with no life , and b) because Wizard Rock comes with the amazing community. You like one band and then you get dragged inside.

    Perhaps we should re-name it Wezard Rock.

  4. Ellatrix (The Lost Diadems) Avatar

    Wezard rock. I love it.

    🙂

  5. Heather Avatar
    Heather

    Wezard Rock. Once you get into it, you can’t get out. Not for any bad reasons but when half of your friends are involved in Wrock somehow, you don’t want to lose them by leaving. And I know that I don’t have the same sense of community anywhere else and I love that!

  6. Freya Avatar

    Wezard rock is right. Where else can you go and introduce yourself to a random person, knowing that you have something in common already?

    I’m glad to know the borders extend beyond the U.S. as well.

  7. obockstal Avatar

    I totally agree. The feeling of bonding and belonging is incredible in Wezard Rock. I’m quite new into the movement (less than a year) but it’s like each of us have known one another for years. It really is World Wide Wrock.

  8. Orlina Avatar

    Truer words were never spoken!

    The really cool thing with wizard rock is that at first, when I began to discover it (and trust me at first I had no clue it was such a huge community), I was actually always saying ‘them’.
    ‘They’ play awesome music. “They’ make the story live on. Thanks to ‘them’ I… ‘They’ seem to have so much fun.

    You know!

    But it really only me deciding that I wanted to join the fun, even with no skill, to begin to say ‘We’, to begin to feel like I’m part of something so huge, and wrocksome, and fun!

    The first time I talked to wrockers (on blogTV) I felt a bit akward, but then someone said something I’ll always remember:
    Nobody’s left out in Wizard Rock!

    And I really believe that!

    Cassia Lenoir

  9. Stine Avatar

    All I can say is “thank you” for writing this article, Dinah. This is something I’ve been thinking about a lot myself, and you really confirm a lot of the things I’ve been pondering.

    When I first discovered Wizard Rock, I wanted more than anything to become a part of the community, but I didn’t really know how to. My impression was that to get into the community, you had to get to know someone in there, but as they all seemed to know so many people already, it was really hard for little, shy me to just try and make contact with someone. I kept seeing and hearing about how open and welcoming the community was, but I still just stood there watching it all, slowly giving up actually getting into it. Not to be mistaken, I’ve never gotten a single negative response from anyone, I just haven’t known how to proceed…

    As time has gone by, though, I’ve started to realize that my impression has been slightly wrong. It’s not necessary to know someone to become a part of the Wizard Rock community; you just ARE. Just like Orlina, I decided to just go for it; joining some blogTV chats and slowly getting into talking with a bunch of people. I still don’t know anyone, yet the community feels more and more like WE… As a matter of fact, I’ve been thinking about it that way almost all along; I’ve just never really dared thinking others would feel the same. I’m pretty sure I was there at the blogTV show Orlina mentions, and the same quote has stood by me: “Nobody’s left out in Wizard Rock.” Because that’s just how amazing this community is.

  10. Christie Avatar

    This is so true!

    When people ask why I didn’t stay in Scotland over break, I tell them that I wasn’t sure if I’d have a place to stay or anyone to spend Christmas with, but that it turned out that I totally could have stayed with any one of about 50 people. Ha. I should have realized.

    🙂

    P.S. I miss everyone!! The UK is too far away!
    P.P.S. Dinah, why have we not hung out yet since we’ve been back??

  11. James Avatar

    Lovely article Dinah.

    I have immersed myself into it a fair bit since i first heard Riddletm. Everyone is awesome. I find myself bringing HP and wrock up a lot too. Its funny I dont even notice how it comes up but it always seems too. lol

    You do get swamped in the community pretty quickly, their are so many great bands out their its hard not to.

    I’ll hold you to the Chico bit!

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