Chapter 2 - 1986/7
1986 marks a very important year in the band's history, since it is the Weird Sister's official founding year. With two years of practice on their backs, the boys became quite established among most Hogwarts students and many attended their famous post-Quidditch concerts, which were always a welcome event for all houses.
"You know, it did not matter whether your house just lost or won, it was all about the music and having fun and it was the perfect opportunity to get off with girls, of course," adds Wagtail jokingly, "sometimes we would wake up in different dormitories altogether." (Jordan, 2001)But the Rock and Roll years would soon be over when Donaghan decided that their sound needed to expand even further in order to form a respectable band.
"We were just a bunch of boys jumping about a stage. There was nothing professional about that and if we ever wanted to record an album, then we had to improve." (McTavish, The Sound of Music, 1989) Tremlett had a clear vision in mind as to where the band should go and was finally able to convince his fellow band members to go looking for a new addition to the band. "It'd always dreamed of bag pipes," beams Donaghan, "I am Irish and I love traditional music, so why shouldn't we add a bit of it to our music?" (McTavish, The Sound of Music, 1989)
The boys distributed leaflets, plastered the halls with posters and made big announcements during the lunch break to find the missing piece to their quartet. But for a long time, it did not seem like anyone was interested in making music with them. Despite their efforts, only a handful of students stepped up to the challenge, but none of them could live up to the band's expectations.
"They didn't really fit our style," complains Wagtail, "we didn't need some flute-playing school boy with the fashion sense of a 50-year-old housewife; we needed someone like Gideon." (Barnaby, 2005) Of cause Wagtail was referring to their bagpipe player Gideon Crumb, a bearded, stout Scottish man, who occasionally features as a background singer on their songs with his very deep raspy voice. Gideon was, in fact, their forth missing piece. The eleven-year-old Hufflepuff auditioned for the part just like many other contestants and convinced the trio with his authentic play of the bagpipes.
"Gideon looks like he was born an old Scottish man. Like he skipped a few years and just became this bear-like bloke that he is now," jests Duke (Duke, The journey of the Duke, 2013). Duke and Crumb have since kept a very close friendship despite recent rumours of an impending break-up. "He was just always there for me, when others weren't and he's helped me through a lot." (Duke, The journey of the Duke, 2013) Gideon soon proved to be a very worthy addition to the band, when he co-wrote Remember, Remember, which to this day remains a very important song in British history.
"We had all been very young during the first war, so none of us could really remember how it had felt back then, but I remember my parents being very excited about it, "remembers Crumb, "and I thought: you know, what would I have done on that day, how would I have felt being them and that's what this song is all about." (Skeeter, War Memoria, 2001) The band has a very strong connection to the First and the Second Wizarding War and a majority of their songs deals with war and coming to terms with it.
Although Gideon was a very accomplished musician, he was still too young to visit Hogsmeade and until he would turn thirteen, was not allowed to visit the village, which made it sometimes difficult for the band to perform. "Myron is a very impatient person and he often excluded me from gigs and treated me like I wasn't part of the band," sighs Gideon (Burridge, 1999). Wagtail claimed in the past that he had been sick of "looking after children" and that he'd wanted to take his art seriously and perform properly. "I've never had anything against Gideon personally, you know. It's just that I was [insert insult] fed up with not being able to do the things I used to do" (Jordan, 2001). It is not hard to think of the kind of things that Wagtail was referring to, since the lead singer has always had a reputation with girls.
But if you think that a small quarrel prevented Gideon from making music, then you are fairly mistaken: the boy rolled up his sleeves, took matters into his own hands and formed a band of his own.
"We called ourselves 'The Poltergeists'," Gideon explains, "just Herman, Heathcote and I because I was fed up with Myrons' attitude and constantly being excluded from gigs. Myron is incredibly difficult to work with and I wouldn't recommend it to anyone." (Burridge, 1999)Now, you may already be asking yourself: I thought this was the story of the Weird Sisters? We are getting there, be patient, Rome wasn't built in a day. So for a very long period of time the Weird Sisters only existed as "A band-in-a-band" (McTavish, Wizard Rock Wave, 1994).
The name Weird Sisters, was agreed on, when Gideon decided to quit the band after only a few intermezzos. The three remaining members sat together and discussed the band's future, which also involved dealing with Myron's difficult behaviour towards Gideon. Myron however declared that if he was sacked, the band would never have the desired success. "The problem with Myron is that he is usually right about things, but he has a [insert insult] way of communicating the truth," says Duke (McTavish, Myron Wagtail - A portrait, 2000).
"We called ourselves The Weird Sisters and the Poltergeists whenever we played together," explains Duke. (McTavish, Wizard Rock Wave, 1994) "Unfortunately, we still didn't have a bagpipe player when we played in Hogsmeade that's why new songs were hard to perform and we resorted to acoustic versions instead, which is, on the long haul, very unsatisfying. But that's essentially why we are still called the Weird Sisters because after all we were a trio." (McTavish, Cool Britannia, 1999) The two bands not only went under two separate names, but also produced different records all together.
The Weird Sisters had already produced a small record with approximately six songs on it. Some of them ended up on Remember, Remember, some didn't. The Poltergeists, however, were only beginning to establish themselves, but eventually ended up being a frequent support act for the Weird Sisters. "Funnily, we got along really well as soon as we were two separated bands," remarks Barbary, "only when we had to put up with Myron did things [insert insult]" (McTavish, Myron Wagtail - A portrait, 2000).
Barbary was sorted into Ravenclaw house in 1986 and he was the lead singer for The Poltergeists. He also had auditioned for the Weird Sisters, but was turned down like many others. The young Londoner expressed a very strong love for certain Muggle subcultures that had emerged in the city during the 70s. The frequent display of the Union Jack on his clothes caused quite a stir among teachers and students and let to one of their concerts being cancelled during a Hufflepuff vs. Ravenclaw game.
"We saw ourselves as quite the renegades", laughs Heathcote, "not giving two [insert insult] about what others thought about us and that's why we really relished the fame that we took away from that little incident. We had an amazing time." (McTavish, The Poltergeists Q&A, 1999). The Poltergeists built the Antithesis to the well-organized Weird Sisters: wearing ragged clothes, playing aggressive music and sporting ridiculous hairstyles. "I hate to think that you have to be a Gryffindor or a Slytherin to be able to do the cool stuff. We wanted to proof to every Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw that you could be in those houses and still be rad," defends Witringham, a Hufflepuff himself (McTavish, The Poltergeists Q&A, 1999).
Witringam was sorted into Hufflepuff the same year as Gideon crumb where they shared a common room and became close friends. "I remember there was this one girl, a Hufflepuff, must have been two years above me or something, and she was a massive fan. Came to every show and even dyed her hair pink. Best moment of our lives, "recalls Barbary (McTavish, The Poltergeists Q&A, 1999). Whoever has pricked up his ears in History of Magic, knows of course, that that significant pink-haired lady is Nymphadora Tonks. Sadly, not many documents or recordings exist of "Tonks" as she preferred to be called; however, she conducted a small interview with her husband during her time on Potterwatch. The record was found by Tonks' mother Andromeda, who kindly provided it for our cause.
Romulus: How did you decide to change the colour of your hair to pink?
Cricket: I was a massive fan of The Poltergeists when I was in school and they all had green and blue and pink hair. It was about the coolest thing to have, I thought, but it got me into a lot of trouble back home. Naturally my mum didn't approve, but due to our family history, she let it slide eventually.
The channel Potterwatch was a "Feindsender" (a term established under Gellert Grindelwald that describes forbidden radio stations that seek to help the enemy) or underground radio station; depending on the side you were on. They secretly broadcasted news about Harry Potter and his supporters and helped like-minded people stay in touch with their loved ones. Potterwatch occasionally played tribute to the band and played their records during breaks. Former chief editor Lee Jordan (River) once stated that the music comforted him, when he had to announce the deaths of people. "It was always difficult to pull myself together, but when I listened to their songs before I went on air, I managed not to break down and cry" (Jordan, The Potterwatch Years, 1999)According to Lee, his favourite song is called: Scarlett Engine, a song that was originally written by the Poltergeists, but ended up on Remember, Remember. The song deals with the death of a Hogwarts student that was abducted by Deatheaters in the 70s and draws parallels to a ride on the Hogwarts express.
"This is not the end, this is my Ascension, I am Jesus Fucking Christ and I am leaving on a scarlet engine (Wagtail, Duke, & Tremlett, Remember, Remember, 1989)." These lyrics often caused confusion among wizards, since the reference is obviously aimed at muggles, but even if you do not get the reference this song still makes a pretty good tune. "We've had to answer to so many questions about that song and it made us very tired that we had to have religious debates about it. To be perfectly honest with you, Ascension was the only word we could think of that sounded a bit like engine and so we put it in the song. Stop over analysing it, for Merlin's sake. We are sure that, if Merlin had risen from the dead, we would have put him in the song instead (McTavish, The Poltergeists Q&A, 1999)."
Today Poltergeist tapes are very hard to get and collectors pay a huge sum for them. Those of you, who happen to have one of these rare records, should definitely lock them somewhere safe because their price may increase in the future. Nowadays teenagers are often seen wearing "Weird Sisters and the Poltergeists"-T-Shirts, most notably Teddy Lupin and Victoire Weasley. The Poltergeists released a series of merchandise in 2013 to honour the 15th anniversary of the Battle of Hogwarts and raise money for the school.
We see that The Poltergeists play a huge role in the making of the Weird Sisters and are still regarded by many as the "enfant terrible" of the Weird Sisters. The two bands collaborated on many early songs and the credits on Remember, Remember still cites them as a separate band. So why would 1986 be their official founding year?
"We played a gig in Manchester during the Christmas holidays. It was a very small venue and the advertisement space wasn't big enough, so the bartender came up to us and asked if it would be okay that we went under the name the Weird Sisters that night and we agreed. You know, the people knew it was the two of us anyways," laughed Tremlett (Lovegood, 2005). From that day on, the bands just went under the name the Weird Sisters, whenever they played together. However a very important question remains to be answered. Who are the Weird Sisters, then?
We will further explore the question throughout the course of the story and we hope to find a satisfying answer. Undoubtedly, whether they are a band, a person, two bands or if they never existed, their achievements have left marks in wizarding history and their songs have coined a generation for sure.
Author's note: Thank you so much for reading the story and being patient with me! I hope you enjoyed this chapter and stay tuned for the next one 3