In part one and part two of this series, we’ve looked at balancing being in a wizard rock band with other important obligations like school and work. What if you didn’t have to do that? What if your number one obligation was your wizard rock band?
There aren’t too many bands out there that manage to do this, but I did get the chance to talk with Matt of The Whomping Willows and Justin of Justin Finch-Fletchley and the Sugar Quills, both of whom use wrock as a primary means of financial survival.
So, what makes you decide to devote your life to this? Both Matt and Justin had what we would think of as standard Muggle jobs. Matt worked as a technical writer and Justin was a recruiter and human resources manager. “With full-time employment you either love your job or you’re doing what you love. Anything else just sucks,” said Justin. Being a musician is what both of them love. Matt told me, “I’d always wanted to pursue music full time since I was 15, but I’d never been in a band that sold more than like 50 copies of an album. I liked my technical writing job, but after touring the country for a summer and having the time of my life, I couldn’t bring myself to stay in a desk job.”
Full-time wizard rock involves touring, of course, but not all of it is necessarily fun. Booking these tours takes an immense amount of time. Matt told me it was his “least favorite aspect of being a musician”. He has managed to make things easier on himself by doing the Whomp the House tours, where he asks fans to help him find places to play. “Booking Whomp the House-style tours tends to take away a lot of the stress, because there are a lot of people out there who aren’t just willing to book you to play in their house, they’re freaking excited about it.” How much of a difference does it make? “I had five dates booked after three or four weeks of contacting libraries. Within just 24 hours of switching to a Whomp the House format and announcing that on MySpace, I had half of my tour booked. It’s been a challenge to fill in the remaining dates of the tour, but going the Whomp the House route has probably cut my overall work in half.”
Other than booking, when not touring, they do much what we would expect – hang out with friends and loved ones, mail out our EPs of the Month, and pay attention to the cats in their lives (Roy, Rupert, and Pumpkin). Recently, we took a look at how Muggles react to the fans’ devotion to wizard rock, but what about the bands’ friends and family? Justin said, “My parents and brothers are very supportive, too. They know that this is all I’ve wanted and are glad that I’ve got it.” Matt’s parents have much the same attitude. “My parents have been really awesome throughout this whole ordeal. They occasionally ask me if I’m making enough money to survive, but mostly they’re just happy that I’m happy.” Matt even gifted his father a Whomping Willows shirt for Christmas. His reaction? “It was a look of mingled confusion and fear.” The two are friends in real life, so of course they support each other as well.
I asked them both if they had any intention of quitting the wizard rock scene, at least as a full-time gig. No worries, dear fans. There was a resounding “NO” from the both of them. Justin told me, “I’ll continue doing this as long as I’m having fun.” And who can imagine a time when wizard rock wouldn’t be fun? Matt didn’t even want to entertain the idea, and I felt a little guilty for bringing it up. “I don’t even want to think about this ending. It scares the crap out of me, because I can’t imagine anything being better than this.” Sorry, Matt!
Just as a backup plan, I asked them how a resume with wizard rock experience would look. Here’s Justin’s:
Wizard Rock Music 2007 – present
Employer: the Wizard Rock Community
Location: Worldwide
Salary: Merch money, free pizza, homemade cookies, hugs
Matt’s focused more on the business of managing a band, “even though I’d really prefer not to think of wizard rock as a business… much of my time is spent managing money, budgeting tours, making sure my CD and t-shirt inventory is in order, scheduling shows and answering questions from fans and potential venues alike. I’ve become much more organized and motivated than I used to be.”
I’m sure many of us are jealous as we try to plan our work and school obligations around various wizard rock events. Keep in mind that they do work hard to do this, and be grateful for the fact that this means more shows we have to figure out how to get to. Justin also wanted me to include this shout out: “Jarrod [of Gred and Forge], quit your muggle bank job and tour with me.” Anyone else want to join them?
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