Hello magical friends, especially my magical patrons who make these interview episodes possible! I’m your hostwitch Bess, and today’s interviewee has a very cool history with wizard rock that I can’t wait to share with you.
Coincidentally, I also can’t wait to share this music with you!
This is “I Wish I Was a Gryffindor” by Daniel Kelly.
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That was “I Wish I Was a Gryffindor” by Daniel Kelly [lyrics], “I’m Leaving Tonight” from the Hungry, Hungry Hippogriffs, and Horcrux for Cutie with “Mudbloods and Broken Hearts.”
“I wish I was a Gryffindor” is dedicated to TK by my wonderful patron Moritz, as a thank you for putting together not one or two, but three excellent sea shanty compilations.
And now, here’s my conversation with Eric of Striking Down Diggory.
Welcome to the show, Eric, of Striking Down Diggory.
Eric: Hello.
I am so stoked to talk with you today. There were lots of interesting hints before we started recording.
Eric: <laugh>. I’m glad, I’m glad to, uh, be here. You know, I thought about leading it off, like using my Striking Down Diggory voice, but then I realized like, I didn’t know if the podcast was five minutes or six hours. I thought “boy, I don’t know if I’m ready to commit that hard” <laugh> <laugh>, but that’s good to be here. Hello.
I do have questions about that. So, uh, how about we get started?
Eric: Yeah.
With, uh, your history with wizard rock?
Eric: Oh goodness. It is a rich history indeed. A tapestry of the ancient times. So, a long time ago–I think it’s been 17, 18 years ago now–I was sitting up in my apartment. I think I maybe just started college back in these days. Oh, back when we were young and um, uh, we were sitting around hanging out. I had this old like $2 Store, you know, pink little acoustic guitar, and we were just playing songs and we started singing this random song like as if we were the bad guys and we were celebrating Cedric Diggory being killed. ‘Cause I think that had just happened, like in real time way back then. It was so funny that we continued to work on the idea a little bit and formed it into a song, which is on our first album that, uh, Sever Us from Severus, which is “Still Poking Hufflepuff” song.
It’s, it’s like a very happy song about Cedric Diggory being killed <laugh>. So through that I went somewhere to like, I, I upload it somewhere. This was in the MySpace times. And, you know, uh, if you don’t know, wizard rock was like born in the MySpace times, okay? Like back when you could just record anything you wanted in your bedroom and it could be terrible and everyone would love it. So in fact, I, I think sometimes the more non-official it sounded the better you know. It, it was like its own little world. And so I uploaded the song and that was my initial sort of touch with the wizard rock community, which all these years later coming back in at 2023, I realized that they’re like, kind of like the, the like elders, the ancients of the time, these people from so far ago. And so, yeah, I mean at the time there were like 12 of us and that, that was kind of the beginning of it.
You said we.
Eric: Mhm.
Are you like, uh… Bisexual Harry we have Lan and then they sort of pull other people in as they need. Is Striking Down Diggory a set band? Or is it you and whomever you grab?
Eric: Striking Down Diggory originally was me and my, uh, best friend Morgan and the two of us that were in the apartment playing the silly, uh, songs. And as it–as we recorded that first album, I pulled a girl I knew in and the Brat Princess, who was one of the seven other wizard rock, you know, music people then. And that was pretty much it. I think I, I think I fluffed it up back then to make it look like we were like a cool metal band with like six, seven members or something like that. But it was, it was really just the two of us. And one of the things that I did when we went to make the 2023 album was I made sure to bring Morgan back. You know what I mean? I I I, I felt like he was such, even though he only has like 10 lines in the whole thing, those 10 lines like make the difference, you know what I mean? So I would say we were two and a half people. It’s like me and Morgan and then sometimes when my wife isn’t like “what are you nerds doing?” I can get her to put in too. <Laugh>
I love that. I think you sort of gave us a hint at where your band name may have come from, but I always like to know the exact history. So where did Striking Down Diggory happen?
Eric: So you are absolutely right. Striking Down Diggory comes from this moment. I don’t know why, but, um, for some reason there’s a moment and it’s, and it’s way more visual obviously in the films where, you know, I think Voldemort says, uh, like “get rid of the spare,” I think is the line from the movie. And then, then he just kills him with such ease, I guess is what I’m trying to get to. The way in which they killed Diggory was just so sort of “bam, bam, it’s over” uh, that when we were trying to think of band names, we wanted to go with something that felt cool to say, you know what I mean? I think, I think everybody who’s in a band wants it to sound cool. And so Striking Down Diggory is also fun to say. Like, you know, when you say “Striking Down Diggory” you’re like “yeah, that’s a cool feeling.” So it was a combination of that and I think just the way in which that scene took place because it was so casual for something that was so impactful to a whole community, they’re just like “Ah, now you’re dead.” And <laugh>. So the music kind of always represented that back and forth element too.
Were there other names that you all attempted?
Eric: Oh my gosh. I know that at the time we had like a whole list of silly–and like wizard rock band names are the best because you get to pull out of, uh, a bag of words that are just limitlessly ridiculous. So like wizard rock bands are always great. The names are always great–um, but I have no idea because part of what’s so really cool about while I’m, why I am actually here today is that that was like 18 years ago <laugh>.
That was such a cool way that this whole Striking Down Diggory renaissance happened, actually.
Eric: It was, there was, uh, so I made the album, the original one in 2007, I think, maybe even 06, I think 07. But somewhere in there we made that album and the, and the whole album Sever Us From Severus, we recorded basically with like an old flip phone, most of the songs we played live, like they, they sound so rough. Um, but everybody really loved them. And I guess because the community was so tiny there, you know, it was like everything that came out was a big deal then because there wasn’t a lot. So any one song was huge to add to your playlist of, you know, 30. And so we made that album and I, we floated around the community a little bit. I think I may have went to, uh, like a Draco and the Malfoy show one time, and… That’s right, ’cause I did like a three song acoustic set. I intentionally picked like the hardest, most metal songs off the album and did like, really pretty <laugh> acoustic versions of them that no one was ready for ’cause they all thought I was gonna do, you know, normal Striking Down Diggory stuff. So of course I didn’t. But I, after that I sort of just floated off into normal life. I say normal life–into other stuff and, and you know, projects. And I didn’t really ever go back. So it sat there and bubbled and unbeknownst to me there was like this whole growing community of people. It just didn’t, it didn’t die. It just kept going. And so I was checking my emails or something one day… I, oh, I got broke into an old email. That’s what it was. And when I got in there, I, there were like, and I’m not, I’m not trying to like fluff it up, but like, you gotta think it’d been 18 years.
There were literally hundreds of emails in there. People trying to, you know, find me, uh, ask for copies of the cd I, there must have been a hundred from the, Wizrocklopedia asking me for permission to <laugh> upload the album. Which I, by the way is a side note; I think it’s so cool that someone had to like, uh, the personal honor, I guess you would say, to, to ask permission even if it took 18 years to get that permission. I just gotta say that is so cool, uh, especially in a digital world where everyone steals from each other. But, uh, so it’s just super amazing. And I guess I was… I didn’t realize during that time that Striking Down Diggory and, and other wizard rock bands had developed such a, like, underground following. And it touched me and in a, in a way that I got in contact with a few people that are in the community and were like “Hey, you know, um, long story short, I kind of feel like Sever Us From Severus was recorded terribly. I mean, I know you guys love it, but like I I, if, if you guys are gonna listen to Striking Down Diggory, can I make another one that maybe sounds a little cleaner and then you can rock that one too.” And so that’s kind of how we got here <laugh>.
So you performed at at least one live show. Do you have any other amazing wizard rock stories?
Eric: Um, uh, lemme think when, when the original album Sever Us From Severus came out, I had the CDs made, but I made it so that seven of them–it was like a horcrux theme–Seven of them had bonus additional songs that weren’t listed on the back or that weren’t on any of the other, I think we sold, I can’t remember. I was super excited about it. Let’s say it was a little over a hundred CDs, which to me was huge back then. Um, so just ’cause it was actual physical media and not just stuff people could download, you know. So somewhere out there, there are seven Sever Us From Severus albums, they’re like Pokemon cards, you know? Like somewhere out there. They’re there and they have on them all the songs that people ask, uh, like fan SDD fans that they messaged me and they go “Hey, do you remember this? You wrote this song. It was like a lounge song about how sexy Moody was.” Or like “there was this acoustic version of this” or the silly, you know, song or maybe a rap. “This rap you did.” And they’re all on those seven CDs. So if anyone ever can find them, there they are. ’cause that’s probably the last remnant of their existence.
So you’re just giving the Wizrocklopedia archivist a new project.
Eric: A new headache yes. I’m sorry brother, but now you must go on a quest far and wide for the seven CDs of SDD. <Laugh>
Well, it worked out great the first time. Who knows?
Eric: Yeah. Hey, you know what, uh, they would be amazing because it’s always interesting to… So one of the Striking Down Diggory fans that’s in the Discord sent me a copy of one of the songs that was on there, but they had recorded it when they were like 13 with their phone, like, up close on the speaker. First of all, props for still having a phone recording from when you were 13 <laugh>. But, so they had it, but it was, you know, like kind of rough to hear. Um, but yeah, you’ve got a lot of archiving to do brother. That’s six more songs to go. So I’m sorry for you. <Laugh>
So we sort of already addressed, uh, what made you decide to create the Graves under Gringotts album. What did Morgan say when you were like “Hey, we’re still kind of popular, let’s make more music.”
Eric: Hm. We both felt like, um, like Post Malone level famous. I <laugh> like, I’m not gonna lie, I like came downstairs with like “everyone get together. I’m, I’m, I’m basically him now. I’m super famous.” Like “all nine of those people still love us.” So that was a huge, um, it made me feel really good. And when I called him, I think he thought I was, um, full of bologna. I don’t wanna say bad words, I’m not sure if we can, but he was full of poop. Um, and, you know. Just as surprised as we were or you know, about the whole thing. And then when I was like “so you know, this means we have to do it again, right?” Like they’re, they’re still here and they’re still dedicated. I feel like we kind of owe it out. And not only that, but like, you know, if people are gonna remember our music, maybe we could do it a little, you know, better this time and then that could be it. And you know, who knows, maybe we might do a third one. I don’t know. So he, yeah, he was definitely into it. It’s kind of cool. Fortunately, testament to our friendship, we’re still best buddies all these years later. So, you know, I still talk to him pretty much daily. So it was neat to be like “man, you remember that time when we were in college 20 years ago, we sang songs about Cedric Diggory being assassinated? <Laugh> So that’s still happening.” So <laugh>. Yeah. Yeah. He, he definitely was intrigued. It was a good time.
That is so much fun. You mentioned, uh, the Striking Down Diggory voice earlier and my–
Eric: Yes.
–Genre weaknesses are gonna come into play here. I’m, I’m not very knowledgeable about music…
Eric: <laugh>
Um, but my patrons were curious, how do you make your voice do that?
Eric: <laugh>
Are there, like, warmups?
Eric: So if you’re talking about like the songs, like all the screaming. So, um, I will say to you those songs, if the effects that are on my voice are like, um, effects that I feel like clear up the sound and there’s maybe some, uh, you know, like, uh, reverb or delay effects on there, but nine times outta 10, that is totally just the way it sounds. And what’s interesting about that is, is that those like [metal scream] that stuff? Like, right, yeah. Pretty cool, right? So <laugh>, so I can’t do it very loud. So what I have to do is I have to go in a quiet room. ’cause I get embarrassed most times when I do that. And it is hard to do it over long periods of time. So when I record that, I’ll work on one song and maybe I might do it twice.
So like, most of the Striking Down Diggory songs you hear, I recorded one time, maybe two or three at the most. And the reason that I do that is not ’cause I just think I’m cool and I just am perfect every time <laugh>, but I realized that part of the magic is in it not being perfect. I understand that part of the reason some people love it is that it isn’t flawless. And so I don’t want to, uh, I don’t wanna work on it so much that it is… It sounds studio, I guess. And so I, I try to leave the imperfections in. Um, I don’t go in and try to make it bad, but you know, I try to leave it that way. So, uh, yeah, I guess to answer your actual question, that is a tough voice to do. And um, so when I go in there, I’m just like “all right,” usually–funny–okay, this is fair. I usually drink like for some reason milk or orange juice for some reason gives me the extra stuff in my throat to, uh, do that or Skittles. So for all you like metalheads out there, get yourself <laugh> some milk and Skittles and [metal scream] you’ll be there.
Is there a name for that voice?
Eric: Um, so in my head, like that voice and this voice, like this is the speaking part, like those two are like my wizard rock persona I guess in my head, like the character that I usually am speaking from the perspective of. Um, but I guess that I haven’t ever given it an actual name. Um, but to me he’s like the mascot for Striking Down Diggory. It’s just a weird guy. I’ve actually filmed a video promo for Graves Under Gringotts, which is on YouTube, where I did the voice and I’m all dressed up. I think it got shared into the Facebook group once or something maybe. So you could find it there. If not, I’m sure you could type in ‘Striking Down Diggory’ or ‘Graves Under Gringotts’ probably the only thing on YouTube <laugh> that’s even remotely about that. Um, and so that was the first time I actually had to visualize like, what does Striking Down Diggory look like? You know what I mean? Like what are they, what would they look like? And to me it was like, well they’d probably be look like a bunch of, you know, like dark wizards, but slightly ridiculous, maybe a little crazy. Like if the Insane Clown Posse and Voldemort’s gang like got together, that would be what Striking Down Diggory looked like <laugh>. And so that’s kind of where I went with it.
So that like vocal style, is that something you’ve always been able to do? Is it something you had to train to be able to do? Is it just the magic of milk and Skittles?
Eric: <laugh> That’s gonna be my next side project. Milk and Skittles. I’m gonna get some new <laugh>, get a new group together. “We’re Milk and Skittles!” Um, <laugh>, no, I think that, honestly, if I’m being honest, uh, I think we all have a moment in time where, you know, when we spawn in to the world, you know, when your memories start, you sort of listen to whatever your parents listen to. That like is music. And, and you know, maybe sometimes for some people you end up just straight liking the music, you know, that your parents like, but for me, my parents listened to classic rock, which i, I still love, but that was all I knew about music. And um, I went on a field trip in the sixth or seventh grade, I was on a bus, um, I had a Game Boy and the dude next to me had like a Walkman, you know, I’m that old, okay?
He had a Walkman with a CD in it, <laugh>. And he’s listening to it. I’m playing my Game Boy, old school Game boy with, you know, 12 batteries in the back, green screen. And we both kind of were bored with it and we decided to swap. He gives me the CD player, he gets the Game Boy, I think we were on like a three hour trip on this hot bus, and you’re 12. And in the CD player was a copy of a Nirvana album. And I had never in my life experienced a sound like that. Uh, just this guy that was just, just so carefree the way he was playing with the way he was singing and he was screaming and all this stuff was going on. Um, and I was just so drawn to it. And that sort of blossomed in me out to punk and metal and hardcore music. And I think I just got accustomed to singing along with those type of songs that over time I too was able to produce the magic that is <laugh>.
Oh, here’s some music! This is Hogwarts Hotel and “Shadows.”
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You just heard Hogwarts Hotel and “Shadows (Song for Ginny),” How Airplanes Fly singing “Downfall” [lyrics], and “Draco You Got Pwned” by Hermionee Grangerr.
Let’s get back to that conversation with Eric.
Speaking of producing the magic that is Striking Down Diggory, what does creating a song or an album look like for you?
Eric: Hmm. That’s a good question. Okay, I can answer this. Let me see here. So for me, I think that–and this is, I I hope, I hope everyone loves me after this–uh, for me the magic starts with, um, I really like to… a lot of Striking Down Diggory albums, especially on this one, you notice they have like long, like long stints of instrumental pieces or guitar solos, like just, just like me shredding all over the guitar. Not that it’s good but me doing it right? Um, and so I think that a lot of harmonies and a lot of it, it’s kinda like the way that I paint. You know, when I, when I paint, I don’t ever, I rarely go into a painting knowing what I’m gonna paint. I just know I wanna paint. And so I just sort of start smearing colors around and somewhere in there I’m like “oh my god, this like, you know, this little swirl and this, this kinda looks like a house” and suddenly I’m painting a house.
’cause that’s what I see in it, but I have to start doing it. So the Striking Down Diggory process is a lot like that. Um, sometimes I’ll be on like an iPad and I have Garageband uploaded into–I’m a huge fan of Garageband just for like, working on the basic idea of music because you can really do a lot with a little effort–So I might be watching a movie and pop that open and what turns out to be a hardcore metal song might have started out as a rap song that just was an instrumental that I worked on for two hours with like neat horns and this and that. And I was like, well, I <laugh> I can’t actually drop this. Like, I mean, maybe I should start doing that, but… So I gotta convert this to a like guitar sound or, uh, or maybe I might have this solo piece on my computer.
I’m like “well, you know, if we converted these guitar licks to vocals, this could be a cool chorus.” Uh, and that that kind of is what starts to process. I would tell you this, if you ever hear a Striking Down Diggory rap song, which we’re kind of like sub-known for also, those are actually more in line with just me making a song. Like if I just didn’t do anything and I’m just like, I’m just gonna sit down and make music. The whole album would just be like Striking Down Diggory rap songs, just like 12 of them. Which I did kind of think about doing maybe next because so many people responded so strongly to the Wrock Sampler song we did that came out on the first. So I was thinking about maybe dropping some, you know, some freshness, but we’ll see.
That’s really interesting. Uh, my previous interview was with a group and their songs are all created very regimentally; spreadsheets upon spreadsheets. So it’s really interesting to hear another–
Eric: Wow.
–version where it’s a lot more organic.
Eric: Yeah, I wish I could be that like, planned out. I would love to plan Striking Down Diggory out like that, you know what I mean? And, and I bet that their song, their songs are probably like wonderfully put together too, because I <laugh> ’cause you definitely hear the chaos that is me in a Striking Down Diggory song. There’s a lot going on typically. I really am a big fan of, um, like clips from movies because they make me emotional. And so sometimes when I can’t find the right words, I realize like, well maybe Dumbledore’s line here better expresses like the feeling that I’m having about it. And, but anyways, yeah, there’s definitely a lot of chaos and I, I wish I could be that organized. Bravo to them.
On the other hand, for some of us chaos is a lot more accessible than, uh, organization.
Eric: Yes. I’m afraid of straight lines. <Laugh>
So having been a wizard rocker at the very beginning and not-not being a new wizard rocker now, um, what sort of advice do you have for other people who are just joining the community?
Eric: Well, here’s, I’m gonna get serious for a minute now if I may be serious. So one of the big things that happened in the time period before and after–we’re talking 06 in the beginning, 06 to 07, and then now here in 2023–so, uh, like the JK Rowling comments and all that stuff happened in that interval. And so I was gone for that piece, um, to be, um, affected by that in and the ways that that sort of, uh, wa it waved out into the community. I wasn’t present for that. Um, and so one of the things that I definitely noticed upon, uh, both before and after is a perspective of how that affected the scene. And so that’s definitely something I wanted to take a second to address because, uh, you just can’t get around it. But I, I wanna say it in a positive way that speaks to the power and the like, love and friendship and like acceptance of this community that we’re a part of.
Because I was there in the beginning times before that was anything anyone talked about. And um, the acceptance level was just as high. We had tons of people that wrote all kinds of silly–there was a whole, uh, there was a whole thing going on where people would write fan fic songs about, you know, this guy and this guy being in love. And secretly this person has this crush on this person and I never once thought anything about it. If anything, it was super cute that people were able to like creatively, uh, I guess find pieces of themselves and, and their affections in these characters and sort of, uh, write or dream about them in different ways. And I was always very positively responsive to that. And the whole community was. Like, no one ever had any sort of issues about anything. We just all jammed out and had a good time and supported each other ’cause we realized there were only 15 of us, you know what I mean? And when I came back in 2023, everybody seemed way, now the, the acceptance and all, everything that was there before is still there, but there’s an additional layer over top of it, it felt like, where everyone was, um, maybe a little more apprehensive with how they said things or did things. And so I think my advice in this area would be like, what made wizard rock so amazing and magical and, and people able to communicate with it and access it and be a part of it was that everybody just were, was exactly who they are, whatever that was, that they didn’t have to try to be or do anything. They just were themselves. And that’s what made it so easy to connect to because unlike hearing a star on the radio or on a, uh, you know, on your phone or on Amazon music or wherever it is, Spotify, wherever you’re listening to it, you could actually just pick up your instrument, be a part of it.
And if all you played was a xylophone and some cups and you sing like this, everyone still downloaded it and loved it and was like, when is the next jam coming out? And that is the kind of support and acceptance that human beings need. And a lot of times you don’t realize that you might just be supporting that silly xylophone song, but it’s doing so much more for them in their actual life, in their heart or in their soul. So for me, I would just say like, as someone who wasn’t actually a part part of that in the middle and who was there at the beginning and then back now, I would just say like, be yourself man. Like, that’s what the scene needs. It, it, it wizard rock lives and dies on the authentic nature of the people that are involved because you’re not just fans, you’re also a part of it. You know what I mean? So I think that’s important to remember, like just, just be you and everyone’s gonna really love that because that’s the magic.
That was beautifully put.
Eric: <laugh>. Well, thank you.
Uh, my listeners know I also like to get very concrete practical advice.
Eric: Mhm.
You know, your favorite button in GarageBand.
Eric: Oh!
Or you know how to upload something, so…
Eric: Oh yes. Okay. I have lots of that. So here’s what I would totally recommend to you, my friends. So obviously GarageBand is a really easy accessible app for you to use. Um, however, I will tell you this, um, all the pre-made sounds on it, um, are gonna probably be sounds everyone else is also using. So here’s a magic little secret that I think a lot of people don’t realize about GarageBand. You can record any track. Let’s say you pick, uh, like a 1950s church organ, okay? And it has five pre-made, you know, riffs in it. Okay? So you pick one and you record a song with it. Well, when you’re done, you can go in and change it from that 1950s organ to say any other instrument in GarageBand. And there are hundreds of them. So you could go in and turn what you just played into an acoustic guitar and now it’ll play that same thing you just recorded, but as an acoustic guitar. And you can sit there and play a song with one instrument and change it into others and you will find entire new musical realms to explore. And I really love doing that. And I think that’s a little something that a lot of people don’t know you can do!
I know nothing about GarageBand, so that sounds great to me.
Eric: Yeah. <laugh> yeah. To someone else–there’s someone out there that just, when they hear this, they’re gonna be like “oh my god!” <Laugh> So go, you go write that new album, then give it to me for free for giving you the idea. <laugh>
You’ve hinted a little that we might not have seen the last of Striking Down Diggory. What are you working on now?
Eric: So one of the things I noticed is that anytime I write a, a rap with a w on the front song, like a wizard rap song, it gets like the most, uh, response out of anything that I tend to do. And I think that’s because the way in which you can write, uh, can be more exciting and more funny. And of course I think that anytime you can rhyme something together, that moment where people are impressed, they go “oh my god, I can’t believe I never thought of that before.” The word play or whatever it is. I think that can be more exciting than say a, like a, you know, just a metal song where some dude’s just screaming about how he wants to break your wand <laugh> or whatever it’s today. Um, so yeah, I would say that I am thinking about doing a wizard rap album, but doing it like how, uh, like a popular rap album would be done with like a ton of featured guests on it, uh, from the community.
And I would really love to bring in both the people like Denni, like Cruciatus Curse, like he said he was gonna be retiring soon and back in 2007, him, he and I, however you say that correctly, who recorded, uh, a version of “Party Like You’re Evil,” which is the, not the one most everybody knows, it’s an older version. And so really he was the first guy that I, I wrapped with. So I would love to get like him. I’d love to bring in Ol’ Dream, uh, Bisexual Harry. If I could just, I would love to reach out to the other people that are way cooler than me and be like “hey, please come and be silly and wrap with me on this.” And let’s do like a huge, like Lil Wayne style <laugh> just full of features from top to bottom and we can all just have a great time. And so that’s kind of like the where I’m at now, although I haven’t actually asked them. So maybe if they hear this, they’ll be like, yes and we can do this. So yeah, that’s kind of what I would like to do next. Um, but we’ll see. I don’t know if the, yeah, I don’t know if the fans will, you know, think that was awesome or be like, no, we need more, uh, like hard metal and sad songs about chocolate frogs.
Collabs are a huge part of the community. I’m sure everyone’d be delighted.
Eric: Hmm. Well I would love to do it. Let’s, let’s do it. I would love, I I always love the what when when people listen to like the Striking Down Diggory wrap songs and then they start quoting the lines from it, it, it makes me happy. The the one we did on the Wizard Rock Sampler ends with, uh, basically using avada kedavra to get your legal troubles remedied <laugh>. And it was fun to see them guys cracking up about that.
Might we see any, uh, live Striking Down Diggory performances in the future, maybe at a convention or online?
Eric: I–listen, I would do it. I just haven’t been invited to do it. I don’t know how it works. But if, if anybody ever were like “Hey, would you come and do this?” I probably would go and do it because, uh, if there was even five people who like, seriously now and you guys listen now, don’t play with me. Don’t, don’t, don’t like make me go and there’s this one guy clapping alone because that would just be weird for both of us. But like, if there’s five of you <laugh> or more? Yes dude, I would totally go. And, but I will say this, I told you earlier that my, my favorite band has always been Nirvana, a big Kurt fan for the right reasons. Uh, and he was very unpredictable. And so I think when I get musical, I think I sort of channel unpredictability. So if you come to hear me, like just get up there and shred up a bunch of metal, you might not get that, but you might get any number… I might show up with like a, an accordion and do polka versions. You never know.
How many instruments do you play?
Eric: Way too many. Uh, <laugh>, way too many. My dad had an acoustic guitar that sat in the corner that he bought so that he could, uh, so that he could, uh, you know, look cool in front of his friends and, you know, pretend like he played guitar. And so I started stealing it from him. Uh, that same time period that I told you about where I discovered Nirvana, I don’t mean to keep bringing them up. Uh, but that same little window, the seventh grade time, I, you know, I realized like “well I have a guitar, I could make cool music.” And so that started that and I, pretty much any instrument I get around, I have to mess with it a little, at least a little. So yeah, too many.
The final music break is here, lead by Hawthorn & Holly and “Knickerbocker Glory.”
~*~
That was Hawthorn & Holly with “Knickerbocker Glory” [lyrics], “Run Remus Run” from Hannah is a Horcrux, and Creevey Crisis and “Don’t Look Back” [lyrics].
Here’s the last part of my conversation with Eric from Striking Down Diggory.
Thank you so much for talking with me today. Uh, Striking Down Diggory had such an amazing journey so far and I can’t wait to see what comes next.
Eric: Yes. I also can’t wait to see what comes next. It’s been, it, it is quite a thing to wake up one casual Tuesday and realize there are a lot of people that want you to make more music. And that was a really special thing. So I do wanna take a moment to say thank you to the people out there who cared about it all this time and who kept that little, uh, flame lit. Uh, that is something that I was really touched by and it motivated me way more than, you know, me wanting to make a, a prettier sounding album. Just the fact that people still cared all that time later or were looking for me. And, um, that Wizrocklopedia was so patient in waiting to put something out and I was just very humbled by the fact that anyone would remember that whatsoever.
Uh, it was touching. And so I wanted to give something back. I wanted to do something else. I wanted to give them something new to listen… I mean, shoot, if you’ve been listening to Sever Us From Severus for 18 years, you know, <laugh> I kind of owe you one. So–because that’s awesome. That is super, super awesome. I’ve been a artist and a creator my whole life and all I’ve ever tried to do was make something that people cared about. And it was interesting to me that the one thing I created that I totally walked away from ended up being something that affected people so much. And that meant a lot to me. And so I just wanted to do something else. So if the community wants more Striking Down Diggory, then yeah, I’m pretty sure you will see us again.
Where can WZRD listeners and all of those lifelong Striking Down Diggory fans find you online?
Eric: Oh goodness. Um, I need to make those kind of proper profiles. I have some, but they’re really not all that interesting. But I will tell you this much: if you want to. I am obsessed with collecting records. I’m a big vinyl guy. So, um, if you want to, you can go on Instagram, you can look up Tyrannasaurus_Recs, and it’s just like normal except the “Rex” is R-E-C-S, like records. Haha. ’cause I’m cool instead of R-E-X and there’s a underscore between it. So if you want to, you can check that out and see my record collection. But, um, if the Striking Down Diggory thing goes any further, I’ll probably make some kind of little hub that people can go and enjoy a little more properly than it being spread out randomly over 20 years.
And both albums are currently on the Archive?
Eric: Yes, they are. Um, the 2006 or 07 Sever Us From Severus is on there. If you guys wanna check out the whole reason that we, or a big reason why we came and did the second one. I, it’s a, it’s a tough listen, but in there is some really cool magic, I think. And from a time period where there wasn’t a lot of, uh, like metal or screamy– pretty much at that time, most of the music was, you know, uh, a little more laid back. It was definitely a lot more fun. And so we tried to inject something maybe for like the five metal guys and girls and people in the back that wanted to bang the head and, and didn’t have much to do that. And so, yeah, you know, I definitely appreciate it and we look forward to it in the future.
And that is Wizrocklopedia.BandCamp.com.
Eric: Mhm. Yes. And it’s also where we, um, the only place you can get, uh, also listen to Graves Under Gringotts, which if you want to, they are, I believe we set it up. Uh, instead of taking any sort of funds from it, we set all the funds to go straight to a charity. Um, so if you guys wanna go check that out, you can go and click on Graves Under Gringotts or The Wizrocklopedia and I’m sure find out more about that. It’s a great cause and we’ve raised some good funds and that makes me even more happy. So it’s all around just a good time over there.
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And now, here’s Striking Down Diggory!
Eric: So coming up, we’re gonna be checking out a track, actually it’s the title track, uh, from the new Striking Down Diggory album, Graves Under Gringotts called “Graves Under Gringotts.” And a fun fact about this song is that the idea was that Gringotts is so deep that whatever’s underneath it must be pretty serious. And so what are buried in the graves under Gringotts, you know? Your deepest secrets. And it actually started out about a song about the goblin wars, like the Goblin Rebellion. But I got into the song before I researched about the Goblin Rebellion and there wasn’t a ton of data on it for me to really fill out a song. So it became a huge metaphor for like what lies deep in us all. And I think somewhere in there also that Striking Down Diggory has been buried away for a long time and now we’re back and we’re back with a cool song. And this is it right here, the title track from Graves Under Gringotts.
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