Tilde is all about the crossover between fandom and real life. Nobody understands that link better than Lauren Fairweather. Lauren made a name for herself in fandom when she formed The Moaning Myrtles with her friend Nina in 2005, at the beginning of the wizard rock popularity boom. Since then she’s produced several other albums under her own name, created popular videos on the Five Awesome Girls and devilishlypure YouTube channels, and started an Etsy store for her plush creations.
Lauren was kind enough to answer some questions for us about music, fandom, and launching a career you love.
Q: A bit of background for people who don’t know you: How did you first get into wizard rock? When did you first realize that your music was gaining traction and fans?
I found Harry and the Potters back in 2004 through one of my online Harry Potter roleplaying communities and bought a bunch of their music. They did a big tour in 2005 so I got to see them play twice that year, and that’s when I ended up starting The Moaning Myrtles with my best friend Nina. We realized that people liked us right after posting a little 30 second clip of our first song on MySpace and gained over 100 friends in less than a day. It was pretty amazing, and it only grew from there.
Q: Although the Harry Potter fandom is disproportionately female, I would argue that popular wizard rock can be a bit of a boys club. I don’t think this is the case as much anymore, but when you were starting out, the Moaning Myrtles & The Parselmouths were some of the few female fandom bands. How do you think being a female wrocker set you apart? Did your gender cause you to approach your music or promoting yourself differently?
I tend to disagree with most people on this; from my experience, there are way more female wizard rock bands. I’m one of the few people I know who has actually listened to hundreds of the bands (I wrote Wizrocklopedia’s first band listing by location) so I guess that would explain why everyone else assumes that there are only a few female bands. Within only a few months of my starting out, there was also Hermione Crookshanks Experience, Switchblade Kittens (3/4 female), Huffle my Puffle, Roonil Wazlib, The Marauders, The Gryffindorks, Snidget, and Ginny and the Heartbreakers (off the top of my head). The female bands just tended to be still in school or have families or were otherwise unable to tour or spend a lot of money on making albums, whereas at least four of the bigger male bands were single, out of college, and had previous touring experience with their other bands, making it easier for them to play full-time and make enough money to record and produce albums.
I think our music was set apart because of our piano rock vibe, funny lyrics, and showtune-inspired harmonies. We were the only wizard rock band that sounded like us for a while. I never really considered my gender at all when deciding how to promote my music. Being a female, I’m sure there are differences in the way people viewed me vs. one of the male bands, but it’s not something I had very much control over.
Q: After you graduated from college, you decided to make wizard rock your full-time career. Was that a scary decision to make? Did you have to justify it to yourself, or any of the people around you?
It definitely wasn’t scary. I would’ve done it four years earlier if I didn’t need to go to college. By the time I finally could do it, I was really anxious to get out of college and out on the road. By then, I didn’t have to justify it to anyone, but when I was getting ready to go to college, my parents wouldn’t even let me study music to prepare myself for a career in it. So I went to school for Psychology and worked on my music and online promotion the whole time, playing as many shows as I could on weekends and breaks. I guess my family didn’t realize how serious I was until four years of school had gone by and I was still working on music and playing shows.
Q: What’s some “practical” advice you would give to someone who’s taking the leap into a non-salaried career?
You have to really love it. It’s likely that you’ll be constantly working with no guarantee of pay, which can be really difficult. What you need is enough motivation and love for what you’re doing that it doesn’t matter whether you’re financially succeeding or not. You might need to find as many different ways of potentially making money as you can. That way, if nobody buys any of your merchandise on tour, you could still have a little bit of money coming in from YouTube revenue or iTunes or Etsy sales so you won’t get thrown out of your apartment or something.
Q: You’ve clearly picked up a lot of skills through your wizard rock career. You manage your tours, designed a beautiful website, market yourself, and make adorable plushies to sell at your merch table. Has this had an impact on your thoughts for future plans? Do you want to keep doing music, or are there other interests you might potentially pursue?
Oh, definitely! I enjoy doing all of the things I’ve learned to do in order to run these businesses, and I intend to continue using these skills even if what I use them for shifts over time. I’d like to keep doing music, for sure. Depending on what allows me to support myself, I may have to make the decision to play shows and release albums less often so I can continue to feed and shelter my family. Doing all of these things has showed me that I really want to continue to be as creative as I can and I hope that enough people support my music/art/videos that I can keep making all of those things full-time for a long time.
Lauren’s latest album, The Prince’s Tale
Q: Your last, brilliant album, The Prince’s Tale, was entirely focused on the Lily & Snape relationship. What prompted you to dedicate an entire project to this story?
I really loved the chapter “The Prince’s Tale” and as soon as I read it, I knew that I wanted to write a whole album focusing on the memories. It kind of pulled the whole series together for me, sealed Snape as my favorite character, and made me cry quite a bit. The fact that it was happening the whole time and most of us had no idea just because Harry was looking in the wrong places and assuming the wrong things about his parents. It’s brilliant and beautiful and as soon as I felt like I’d developed enough as a songwriter, I started to re-read and outline the memories with an album in mind.
Q: My favorite Moaning Myrtles song is “Bathroom Acoustics.” Any chance of an all a-capella wizard rock album in 2013? How about a follow up for Armoured Bearcub?
I’m always up for more Moaning Myrtles but Nina has been very busy studying and training for her career for the past few years, and she’s getting married next year. If she wanted to work on a new album with me, I would. Sadly, I’m not sure it’s very likely. As for Armoured Bearcub, it’s possible, but we don’t have specific plans for it at the moment.
Q: What was your first experience with fandom? (not your first experience with Harry Potter, etc., but with the fandom itself. Was it on a particular website/forum/etc.?)
I started out reading Harry Potter fanfiction on fanfiction.net when I was 12, if I’m remembering correctly.
Q: What was your first experience with online friendships?
I’m having trouble remembering what my first online friendships were. Maybe one or two people I met in those old AIM chat rooms centered around broad topics, but the first time I remember really making good connections with people was on a Kelly Clarkson forum. Those were some of the first online friends I ever met in real life (at a Kelly Clarkson concert we all got tickets to!) and I still keep in touch with a few of them. I was also role-playing with other Harry Potter fans on GreatestJournal around that time and met some cool people through that.
Q: Obviously, your real life and fandom life are currently extremely integrated, but when they first started integrating, how did you explain it to the people in your “real life?”
My mom knew that I had online friends, but she would always tell me to go hang out with the 3D people outside. I never really made up things about them, I just told people that I’d met them on forums and things, that we had common interests and I had fun discussing books and music and television with other people who liked them as much as I did. Eventually, I think my parents realized that I was forming real friendships rather than just typing into a machine alone all night. And my school friends were always pretty great about it; I even introduced a few of them to people I met online and they made friends with them too.
Q: What do you think makes girls who are into fandom different from girls who are not? Are there any personality traits that stand out? What are benefits girls can gain from being involved in fandom?
When I was in high school, it seemed like anyone who found out that I was really dedicated to the things I loved would make fun of me. Even friends of mine were weirded out and quick to say mean things about it. So at least then, it seemed like people who were less prone to getting involved with fandom were a bit more closed-minded. Through my various experiences with different areas of fandom online, I’ve had access to so many kinds of people from so many places. The more I learned about ways I could share my passions with others, the more excited I was to get involved and be creative and social online. I improved my writing skills, increased my excitement for reading, and figured out who I was thanks to online fandom.
Lauren knows all about balancing real life and fandom. She’s married to fellow wizard rocker, Matt Maggiacomo of the Whomping Willows.
Q: You’re married to another wizard rocker, Matt Maggiacomo. Any fun fandom details in your wedding you can share?
Brad Malfoy was the best man, Nina Myrtle was the maid of honor, Kristina from The Parselmouths was a bridesmaid, Brian Malfoy and JFF were groomsmen, and Paul from Harry and the Potters was our DJ!
Q: Besides Harry Potter, what other fandoms are you really into right now?
Joss Whedon and Nerdfighters/Vlogbrothers. I’ve recently gotten into Doctor Who and My Little Pony as well.
Q: A few favorites. Favorite…
…chick flick? – Juno
…song you’ve written? – “Home”
…makeup product (assuming you use any)? – Clinique’s Almost Lipstick
…country you’ve never visited? – France
…warm winter beverage? – Hot Cocoa
…Harry Potter “ship?” – Lily and Snape
Q: What are your New Year’s resolutions?
Write more music, make more plushies, vlog more often.
You can find Lauren lots of places on the Internet. Check her out, buy her music, covet her merch!
Lauren’s Website | Twitter | YouTube | Etsy
