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Megan: Tell me a bit about your band and how you started it.

The Moaning Myrtles: Lauren and Nina make up The Moaning Myrtles, a piano-based wizard rock band from Hillsborough, NJ. The idea for the band was sparked in November 2005 when the best friends saw Harry and the Potters play a live show and Lauren brought up how many new wizard rock bands had started. Jokingly, Nina suggested that they start a Moaning Myrtle band. Strangely enough, Myrtle was Lauren’s first choice of a character to base a band off of as well.

Myrtle was not a particularly easy choice because she does not appear too often in the books, but the girls decided that the whining bathroom ghost would be exactly what they needed. According to Lauren, “In the books, she makes really random appearances that often take you by surprise. Nobody expected her to be spying on Harry in the bathtub in The Goblet of Fire, and her friendship with Draco in The Half-Blood Prince was absolutely ridiculous. We thought she’d be the most fun to play around with because, while she’s usually pretty emo, she’s unintentionally hilarious and is great comic relief despite how depressed she is. Which, of course, provides lots of room for us to joke around in the lyrics.”

The Moaning Myrtles started playing live shows in the summer of 2006 and they were immediately hooked. Even those first local shows attracted a turnout of dressed up and enthusiastic Harry Potter fans. Since then, The Myrtles have played alongside wizard rock bands such as The Remus Lupins, The Whomping Willows, Draco and the Malfoys, The Parselmouths, The Hungarian Horntails, and many others. They are currently scheduling more shows surrounding the upcoming book and movie releases and may even tour the United States in the future.

Megan: What makes your band different from the other Wizard Rock groups?

Lauren: Almost all of our music is piano-based, so that gives us a different sound from the typical guitar-heavy rock band. We’re known for our harmonies and our witty lyrics as well.

Megan: What is the best thing about having a Harry Potter band?

Lauren: For me, it’s been the amazing friends I’ve made online and at our shows. We get to hang out with so many cool people, whether they’re in bands themselves or they’re fans of us. Harry Potter fans are the coolest people ever and I’m so happy being in this band has brought me to meet so many great people.

Nina: We really enjoy writing and performing our music so we’ve been having a lot of fun with this whole process!

Megan: Are you planning to do something major for the seventh book release?

Lauren: We’re flying to Michigan to play a big wizard rock show at the West Bloomfield Township Public Library with Oliver Boyd and the Rememberalls. It’s the most we’ve traveled for a show so far and we’re really excited to meet and play for fans who haven’t seen us live yet. We usually play in NJ, NY, or PA so a change of scenery should be really exciting!