Fans enjoy a slow song by wizard rockers Draco and the Malfoys during a concert at the State University of New York at Purchase.

Sarah Morgan

A month after the release of the seventh and final Harry Potter book last July, Ithaca College freshman Lena Gabrielle Weinstein went to a conference in Toronto of fans of J.K. Rowling’s record-breaking series. An aspiring songwriter, she composed a song based on her favorite Potter novels and performed it on piano at the conference’s talent show. People started urging her to start her own “wizard rock” band.

Like many people, Weinstein had never heard of wizard rock. But she caught on fast, calling herself The Butterbeer Experience, after a popular drink in the series. Now she’s planning a summer tour.

Wizard rock traces its roots to a shed in the Boston-area backyard of brothers Paul and Joe DeGeorge. The duo, now 28 and 20, perform under the name Harry and the Potters and are considered the granddaddies of wizard rock. They recorded their first album in 2003, based on the concept that they each represent Harry Potter at different ages.

Since then, they have inspired hundreds of other Rowling fans to start their own bands, writing songs from the perspective of characters in the series of seven books about young wizards and witches growing up, learning magic, and fighting evil. This outpouring of creativity has become a movement that, even with Rowling’s series complete, continues to not only thrive but grow.

Composing and listening to wizard rock has become a way for fans to express their personalities through characters in their favorite books, say people familiar with the phenomenon. The dedicated fan base provides a supportive atmosphere for young amateurs, and has even given some rockers the chance to quit their day jobs and become full-time musicians.

“I go to live shows all the time, and it’s pretty rare for me to just feel happy,” said Amy Phillips, senior news editor of Pitchfork Media, the influential music criticism Web site. She found Harry and the Potters’ lyrics so clever and the all-ages crowd’s enthusiasm so infectious that she gave the brothers a spot on her Top Ten Best Live Shows of 2005 list.

Wizard rock as a genre took off in 2005, when Harry and the Potters began to inspire imitators during the long wait between Rowling’s fourth and fifth books. Riddled with book-based in-jokes, wizard rock inspires enthusiastic dedication in its fans. The rise of MySpace helped build an online community. Live shows provided a real-world place to develop friendships begun in cyberspace.

“Reading can be such a solitary experience,” Paul DeGeorge pointed out in an interview. “Our shows served as kind of that tie to the real world, instead of just being online or reading at home.”

The lead-up to July’s publication of the final book in the series drew wizard rock’s biggest audiences yet. And so far, the phenomenon shows no signs of slowing down. On the contrary, more than 100 new bands have formed since July, according to Lizz Clements, who runs the Web site wizrocklopedia.com. About 450 bands are listed on the site.

Wizard rockers do not seem concerned that their supply of fresh material has run out. For the DeGeorges, for example, writing songs about Rowling’s books has always been about putting their own spin on her creation. Their version of Harry Potter, Paul said, is “slightly less jockish and slightly more rock ’n’ roll” than Rowling’s. They focus less on Harry’s love of the wizard sport quidditch and more on his anti-authority attitude.

Wizard rock provides a spark for creativity, especially for young musicians, according to rockers and observers alike. By taking on the persona of a favorite character, novice songwriters gain access to a new range of material to write about.

“It’s hard to make songs about love or tragedy, especially younger people who are just trying to come to grips with who they are,” said Josh Koury, director of the documentary We Are Wizards, which premiered at the South by Southwest Film Festival, in Austin, Texas, this month. The movie follows several wizard rock bands through the book seven release parties.