Oh hello there members of our incredible-attractive extended-family. Today is my birthday, so I've finally posted our track off of Tonk And The Aurors' To Write Love On Her Arms benefit compilation "Letters From Hogwarts." An incredible array of bands have contributed to this, and you can purchase it through Steph's Myspace. We're very pleased to be a part of it.

Our new song that's up is called "The House Of Neville." This is the version that appears on the benefit compilation, but this will also be on our forth-coming full-length, completely re-done. We recorded it at long-time friend Mark Scherrer's studio over two 8-hour days. It's been a long time in the oven, so please take the time to read the lyrics. This is our first song with full-drums and a step into a more energetic style. We hope you love it, and sing and dance along to it with all your friends.

But the real reason for this blog is this essay I've written. If you pre-ordered our album at our last show with the lovely girls of the Accio Bodyguard tour Lauren and Lena, you got a hard copy of this. I wanted to post it for everyone else to read because it's very important to me, and I hope will give you some insight into a lot of things.

And finally, after the essay, I've included a promotional poster for our upcoming full-length album. As always, we hope we melt in your hearts, and not in your hand.

How To Melt Chocolate,
written by Matty Greco.

The question I get asked most is "why does it take you guys so long to post new songs?" Well it's quite simple really. All of us in this lovely wizard rock melting pot are playing songs about a story about some weirdo named Harry Potter. This story in my opinion (which is always right) is perfect. Well then it would be a crime and disservice to not have our music be of the same quality. In all of my dabblings: film, muggle music, wizard rock, art; I demand an almost brutal standard of myself. If I don't believe that what I'm creating is the best thing I can create, I will re-work it until it is. (And then it still comes out terrible.)

You can rest assured that that mentality is applied ten-fold to my little band The Chocolate Frogs. I think a clearer answer might be to describe my writing process, which will also give you some insight into our forth-coming full-length album. I'm a very cinematic, visually-oriented person. For most of my life I've worked in art and film. That imagery-driven content comes through when I write songs. With my lyrics, you won't find many metaphors and double entendres. What you'll find is an image that I would paint, or a frame that I would film (if this wasn't music,) but in written form. Songs like "Our Very Own Burrow" are the most obvious example of this. I want the words to be so precise in tone and (later on) vocal execution that it fits the story I'm trying to take you on perfectly. I want the words to evoke an image, an immediate feeling, and a post-song feeling in you that is more than just words going through your ears. So I write and re-write and re-write my lyrics until I think I've achieved this.

The same goes for the music. To me tone is the most important thing in music. You can look at a painting or at a film and get a specific type of raw feeling from it much faster than any other sensory detail affects you. If you were to watch the film "Juno" for example, the second the first frame comes on, you would be filled with an overwhelming warm and snuggled feeling, and want to go eat an inappropriate amount of sticky buns at a tiny café. That is tone. In the music I put together for the words that I've written, that is what I care about most. The chords of the guitar, or Mike's trombone (which he writes but understands perfectly the tone I'm aiming for.) These parts need to mesh seamlessly with what I'm singing.

I'm not at all interested in churning out songs once a week for Myspace traffic or what have you. I'm not at all interested in writing four hits, and then ten flat and pointless filler songs. With each new song that I write, I don't stop until I can sit back and say, "wow, now this one is our best song." If you don't constantly push yourself, which can be extremely uncomfortable, then you have no business making music.

It's so refreshing to see my favorite bands coming out with incredible new material that really pushes the envelope of wizard rock thus far. Alex and The Remus Lupins gents, Mr. Maggiacomo of The Whomping Willows, Lauren's solo work (and of course the Myrtles in general,) Justin Finch-Fletchley, Jace, Oliver Boyd And The Remembralls, The Nifflers, The Mudbloods, Lena, Allie, Steph, Tina, Ian, what Harry And The Potters are doing with their tour, and many others. So many people are breaking through comfort zones and putting out amazing new stuff. I'm so thankful to be surrounded by that; these people are true artists who refuse to rest on their laurels. (I think we've all felt the Earth shake a little after listening to "Seven Potters.")

And pushing ourselves brings us to the topic of our new record. These songs have been in some form of completion for about a year now. I'm singing in ranges I've never had the confidence to attempt before. I'm pushing myself out of what guitar progressions I'm comfortable with. You'll hear instruments and sounds you may have never heard before. A lot of my friends are playing with us on this album, and I can't thank them enough for that, and they are all beautiful musicians. The album is full of love, loss, laughter, trials, triumph, mundane and monumental things, heart-warmingness, foot-thumpingness, smile-inducingness, bittersweetness, and Dawlish.

I don't want to tell you the subject matter of the songs for spoiling sake, but I can tell you what my mission statement is with this record. If you can go home from one of our shows, or have been driving around in your car listening, or on your iPod, I want you to go meet a friend you haven't seen in years and hug them. I want you to laugh at the dinner table with all of your family, and I want you to cook the meal, even though you've never cooked before. I want you to paint something even though you've never painted before. I want you to write a story even though you've never written a story before. I want you to sing as loud as you can in your car with the windows down, and when that disapproving seventy-year-old woman pulls up next to you, I want you to stick your head out of the window, and sing to them even louder. I want you to smile at a stranger and be amazed by the smile that's returned. I want you to feel something warm inside of you comparable to melting chocolate. I want you to drive to that girl or boy's house that you've exchanged so many glances with, but never words. And when they answer the door, I want you to kiss them fully on the lips until the sun comes up. That is what I do for you. That is what you've done for me. That is The Chocolate Frogs. ♥ your very humbled and thankful Matty.