It's been a couple weeks, but I thought it appropriate to mention the performance in the Wampum Willow at Wrockstock the Third.

It was even better than the performance last year.

As I walked up to the Wilow, I saw it was packed for Dumbledore's Army Band.  To myself I was hoping that everyone wouldn't leave when I walked in.  What a hit to my ego that would be.  The crowd roared after Dumbledore's Army Band finished the set, so I prepared myself for the rush of people leaving the place.

Very few people actually left.

Oh how happy that made me.  I was barely able to make my way to the front of the room to start playing.  The floor was covered by Harry Potter fan bottoms.  I saw many familiar faces in the crowd, but most importantly, lots of new ones.

The crowd was fantastic from beginning to end.  They sang along with all the songs (which is probably the greatest compliment a song-writer can ever get).  They clapped in just the right places during "Neville Never Gets the Girl."  They shouted nice and loud during "You Can't Stop the DA" and "Pick Up Your Wands."  And they danced around during "At the Yuleball."

For some reason, the Neville's Diary set became the "Touchy-Feely" performance of the weekend.  Since most ND songs touch on some point where Neville has felt down on himself, the peeps felt compelled to utter an "Awwwwwwww" at these moments.  I wish I had a clicker and counted how many times this happened.  It was actually quite touching to know that people really do care about the lyrics.

The best part of the show though for me though was seeing my cabinmates and how much they supported me.  I loved hearing Steph singing at the top of her lungs, and completely out of tune.  I loved Jake how kept asking for Neville's diary entries at random times.  But most of all, I loved playing "I'll Make It Through" with my good friend Matty Greco.

The best thing about Wizard Rock is how it brings people together.  Matty lives in Buffalo, and I live in Indiana.  In a normal world, there would be no chance of us ever meeting.  But in the wizarding world, we are able to get together, share our interests in music, laugh a lot, and connect in a manner which Matty likes to call a "Bromance."  The performance was great because of the crowd, but it was made especially memorable because of my performance with Matty, my first wizard rock friend I ever made.

As you can tell, a memorable performance with many memories I will take with me forever.

The subject says it all.  In keeping with my desire to spread music, the Least Expected EP is entriely downloadable now.  Sorry for the long wait.

Track Listing:
1. Neville Never Gets the Girl
2. Neville's Lullaby
3. She's So Evil
4. I'm Gone
5. Pick Up Your Wands
6. At the Yuleball- Electric

Hello All,

Neville and I are pleased to announce that we have been hard at work recording some new songs, and can't wait to get them out to you.  So here's the official announcement of the EP, "Least Expected."

This album has six songs, all recorded with full instrumentation.  We are very pleased with it, because we have been trying some new things with recording and mixing that have turned out really well.

We also have decided not to restrict ourselves to just any one style for the album.  Since each song touches on a different emotion, each song has a different style.  There is one song in particular, "She's So Evil," that is drastically different from the acoustic nature of "Things Will Get Better."  The best way to describe it is to say that it sounds like something by Hot Hot Heat.

The EP will be officially released on March 17 at Notre Dame University.  I'll be working on figuring out the technology behind Pay Pal so I can sell this over the internet.  Please check back within the next month or so for that to happen.

We can't wait to see some of you at the upcoming shows.

Bryce & Neville

Neville's Diary was asked to be a  part of the compilation album, "Wrock Against Bullying."  Since Neville was pushed around so much at Hogwarts, it kind of made sense.  And since it is for charity, I decided to not make this one dowloadable either.  Sorry.  It pains me to not share my crappy music with as many people as possible, but the cash goes for a good cause.

So Neville and I wrote a song about how Draco is always a jerk, but the N-man is just so tired of it, he doesn't care any more.  It has a neat beat to it, and everyone can definitely clap along.

The tune is called, "Draco is Stanko."  We hope you enjoy.

So Neville's Diary was asked to be a part of a charity album by the wonderful Jarrod of Gred & Forge.  After the shock of being asked, and being honoured to be on an album with some big Wrock names, I set to work.

Now, I know I'm all about getting the music out there for free, and not requiring anyone to hear my crappy songs and pay for them, but since this is for charity, I had to make this one non-downloadable.  It wouldn't really help the charity much if the five of you that care could get the song for free.  So if you want to own your own copy of this tune, you'll have to actually buy the album.  It's called "Siriusly Smiling," and it will soon be dowloadable through I-Tunes (if it's not already).

I hope everyone likes the song, and I apologize again for the non-dowloadability of it, but it's for a good cause.

A big thank you to all the people that came out to support "Neville's Diary" at Wrock Chicago.  I loved seeing all those faces out there.  And big thanks to those of you that saw me perform in all of my sets I played.

Special thanks to Jarrod of "Gred & Forge" for letting me play drums for his set.  I never really get to perform the drums, and I had a blast.  I don't think I've ever moved around that much behind a drum kit before.

Well, I am continually shocked by all the support "Neville's Diary" gets considering that I never tour and barely get a chance to play any shows.  I made a limited amount of CDs for this event, because I just figured people would never want to actually buy a copy since everything is basically up for download at some point or other.  In a surprising happening, all my CDs were sold out before I even went on stage (giddy as a school girl).  "Wow" is all I can say.  So all of you that bought a copy are required to burn copies of those CDs for as many people as possible.  Spread the Neville love.

Finally, I am absolutely overwhelmed by the friends I made this week.  This is the most fun I've had at a con before, and it has nothing to do with how awesome the performances were (even though they were epic), and it certainly has nothing to do with the partying considering I did not attend a single party.  I'm not going to name any names because I will forget someone, and they will be offended, but just know I enjoyed myself immensely and I have made some incredible friendships on this trip (I know it sounds cliche, but it is true).  I am sad that it will be a long time I get to see all my friends again.

Thank you again, and don't forget to put on your dancin' shoes.

It ranks up there with the moment that Bob Dylan decided to go electric at the fateful festival...not really.  But still, I think it's pretty rad.

With Neville's permission, I have just created an electric version of "At the Yuleball."  I am totally excited about it.  It is so fun sounding, and you can't help but move to it.  Come on, just try.  I dare you.

I've had this idea since last Christmas, but I was waiting to have enough songs done for an entire album.  I got impatient.  Neville's Diary is going to be creating a new project unique to the Wizard Rock community.  Neville and I plan on releasing a double album.  One disc will be all acoustic, and one will be the same tunes, but electric.  This project will take some time into come to being, but it has already begun with the release of "At the Yuleball," electrified.

Please stick around because Neville and I planning to have our acoustic album finished hopefully before Terminus, with the electric album coming a while after that.

Thanks for listening and share with friends this new development with your friends.  I've noticed that interest in ND has been slowing, and I think this will really revive it.

Bryce & Neville

 

Neville's Diary performed a set at the Wampum Willow during Wrockstock, and it was the most fun I've ever had performing.

Of course, with me me being so much like Neville, I was even doubting that there would be more than ten people (I know Jen is giving an exasperated sigh right now, but I'm telling the truth).  During the QK set when I announced the performance, I was shocked at how many people in the crowd cheered...it was way more than ten.  Then I started getting really, really excited.

Right before the set, I got nervous, but that went away when I picked up my guitar, asked people to come sit closer, and then I saw Jen, Michelle, Erin, the other Quaffle Kids, Lauren, Matt, and Alex there.  I wasn't nervous anymore.  Seeing the friends I had made supporting me was just thrilling.  I then made it my mission to give it my all and not dissapoint (especially the veteran Wizard Rockers).  Now, I'm not sure if I accomplished my mission, but I sure as heck had fun trying.

There are three things I'm always going to remember about that performance.  One is the fact that there were way more people there than I expected and how thrilled I was to see the people mentioned above watching.  Second is how when I looked around at people, I saw lots of them smiling, and boy did that make me giddy.  I'm having a hard time writing down the exact emotions I felt when I saw those smiles, so I'll just go on to something else.  And the last thing is how stupid I probably looked at the end of the performance because I was just smiling like a goober.  Maybe it was just because I got lost in the moment, but the applauding seemed to go on for a while, and the longer it went on, the bigger I smiled.  The feeling I had at that moment was amazing.

I really want to thank Alex of The Remus Lupins for saying that my set was amazing.  Coming from him who puts so much into a performance, those words really mean a lot.  Thanks to Matt of The Whomping Willows for saying he was blown away.  He was so genuine with his compliment.  That kind of support is great for a newbie to hear.  And finally, big thanks to Lauren of The Moaning Myrtles.  I had never met her before this weekend, and the first time I saw her she was waving her arm frantically, smiling, and then galloping towards me.  The first words out of her mouth were, "Bryce, I saw the posters for your show tomorrow and I had to tell you how excited I am."  Wow!!  There is no bigger compliment than that.  I hope I didn't come off as rude because I had no idea what to say.  Here's a big name in Wrock, saying that to me, and I just was dumbfounded.

Needless to say, considering how much I've written, it was a freakin' awesome experience.  I could really write tons more about this experience, and that still would not even begin to do justice to the feelings I had while singing.  I'll spare myself the embarassment of trying and you the punishment of reading it all.  I'll just end by saying a big "Thank You!!!!!!!!" to all the Neville's Diary fans, who are the greatest fans in all of Wrock.  Neville and I will try our hardest to keep writing songs you can enjoy.

"Neville's Diary" is always committed to sharing music.  Neville and I have no intentions of becoming famous or wealthy from this musical effort, so why should we keep the music from other fans?  We are just so happy that people want to listen.

Since there is so very little opportunity for us to perform live (the diary gets stage fright really easily and wimps out all the time), we don't want to restrict people from enjoying the music.  If you can only listen to it while sitting at your computer, then it won't be enjoyed by everyone.  Personally, I (Bryce) listen to music mostly when I'm either driving or doing yard work.  Neville listens mostly when he's tending to his magical plants and herbs.  Neville never uses a computer (you know, with magic and all), and my muggle-self rarely has a chance to sit at the computer.

Download all the music you want from the site.  Share it with friends, relatives, mailmen, or Hogwarts professors.  Spread it around.  Enjoy.

Well, we just recorded a song that was litterally, the hardest song we've ever tried to write.

We wanted to do a song about the peak moment of the Battle of Hogwarts, but it's such a powerful instant, we just couldn't get it right for so long.  We actually had the idea for months now, but we kept putting it off, dreading the task of it all.

Bryce tried several different things for the music.  He was inspired by The Get Up Kids song "Close to Home," and wanted that kind of vibe, but just couldn't find the right sound.  So he went to a more solemn version, but that didn't grasp the intesnsity of the moment.  Finally, he got the right sound that gets the raw energy of the situation.

And I was constantly changing the lyrics.  I even wrote an entire set of lyrics, but abandoned them because I felt they muddied the moment.  This version is much more to the heart of the matter.  The only thing we could both agree on was how the last section of the song would go.  In fact, that was the inspiration for the entire song, so we had to work in reverse and write the beginning and middle of the song.

And then when we recorded, my diary was just doing weird things with its voice.  We actually mixed a version and was about to post it, but Bryce and I decided we didn't like certain parts, so we had to re-record individual lines.  Then there was the mixing...I hate mixing

All in all, we're happy with the outcome, and we're glad we finally have it done, because it's a huge weight off our chests.  It really is like how I felt after I stood up to Lord Voldemort.