The Weird Sisters (Harry Potter)
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The Weird Sisters are a fictional rock band in the Harry Potter series. Their instruments include guitars, bass, lute, cello, bagpipes and drums. They were booked by Dumbledore to play at Hogwarts during the Yule Ball. In the book version of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire they are described as "all extremely hairy and dressed in black robes that had been artfully ripped and torn." A full music video of the band playing at the Yule Ball is included as an extended scene on the Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire 2-disc DVD. In Sweden their name is translated as "Systrarna Spök" (The Spook Sisters), indicating that they may or may not be ghosts. Their name might also allude to the three witches in Shakespeare's Macbeth.
Band members
The members of the band according to Wizards of the Coast Famous Wizard cards are:
- Heathcote Barbary (b. 1974) - rhythm guitar
- Gideon Crumb (b. 1975) - bagpipes
- Kirley Duke (born Kirley McCormack) (b. 1971) - lead guitar
- Merton Graves (b. 1978) - cello
- Orsino Thruston (b. 1976) - drums
- Donaghan Tremlett (b. 1972) - bass
- Myron Wagtail (b. 1970) - lead singer
- Herman Wintringham (b. 1974) - lute
On film
They appear as a conventional band in the film version Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. The members were:
- Jarvis Cocker (of Pulp) - vocals
- Jonny Greenwood (of Radiohead) - lead guitar
- Jason Buckle (of All Seeing I) - rhythm guitar
- Steve Mackey (of Pulp) - bass
- Steven Claydon (of Add N to (X)) - keyboards and bagpipes
- Phil Selway (of Radiohead) - drums
They performed three songs (all composed by Cocker), entitled "Do the Hippogriff", "This Is the Night" and "Magic Works" during the Yule Ball. The band was originally to be played by Franz Ferdinand.
Lawsuit
In 2005, Warner Bros., the international distributor of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire was sued for trade mark violations by members of a Canadian folk-rock band named The Wyrd Sisters. In connection with the lawsuit, the Wyrd Sisters band brought an interlocutory injunction hoping to prevent the upcoming release of the film adaptation. The injunction application was dismissed allowing the film release to go ahead as planned.
However, Warner Bros. and its counsel are the subject of contempt proceedings relating to alleged violations in the evidence provided to the Court on the injunction hearing and the judge that heard the matter, Mr. Justice Colin Livingstone Campbell of the Ontario Superior Court of Justice, is the subject of a complaint to the Judicial Council arising from alleged judicial misconduct and interference with the action in the Ontario courts.
The Wyrd Sisters band are moving to the Federal Court to pursue their main claim for damages, an action in which Warner Bros. and some of its major licensees are accused of using the band's name without permission.
