Interview: Kenneth Marut

["Back to School" by Harry and the Potters plays]

Andrew: Okay. Welcome ladies and gentlemen. Back to the show. That sort of ended abruptly, sorry about that. Jamie and Mikey are here.

Mikey: Yeah, I'm back.

Andrew: Okay, good. Got scared for a second. This is wizard rock! You know what I'm saying?

Mikey: Hey, so before we...

Andrew: What's up?

Mikey: Wait, what are we going to talk about - anyway, [laughs] remember how I was talking about pizza last hour?

Andrew: Yes.

Mikey: I didn't order any yet, but my roommates - and they were all like, "Dude, yeah. We should order pizza." So in a bit they're discussing what kind of pizza, so we're going to order pizza in a bit. I'm going to eat pizza right now - or in a bit, on air live with everybody.

[Andrew laughs]

Mikey: So you guys should - if you're in California, order your pizzas now.

Andrew: Okay.

Mikey: Eat with me! Eat with me!

Andrew: Awesome. Well...

Mikey: I like my pizza.

Andrew: Yeah, Jamie, you can join in on this. We are going to add to the discussion now, Kenneth Marut. I think that's how you produce - pronounce his last name. Let's get him in here. One minuto.

[Prolonged silence]

Andrew: Kenneth!

Kenneth Marut: Hello?

Andrew: Hey! What's up?

Jamie: Hey!

Kenneth: Cool. All right, this is great!

Andrew: [laughs] How's it going?

Kenneth: Pretty good. How about you?

Andrew: Pretty good. Kenneth, people love you on MuggleCast.

Kenneth: Oh, that's awesome.

Andrew: I'll start off by saying that. You and your friend Andrew created the - what we've been calling Crackpot "Hedwig's Theme"...

[Kenneth laughs]

Andrew: ...that we've been using on the show since late August, September, of 2005.

Kenneth: That was about two years ago.

Andrew: Yeah. Well - yeah, we started using it then. When did you guys actually create it?

Kenneth: We did it that summer, actually, but we also - the first - when we came up with the idea, it was about a year before that.

Andrew: Okay.

Kenneth: So we had actually been playing it a year before we sent it to you guys.

Andrew: Yeah. And how long did it take you to actually create the whole thing start to finish?

Kenneth: About a day, I'd say.

Andrew: [laughs] Really?

Kenneth: Yeah.

Andrew: Wow! Yeah, I was stalking your Facebook the other day and...

[Kenneth laughs]

Andrew: ...you're passionate about your music, aren't you?

Kenneth: Oh yeah, I love it.

Andrew: And I've seen some pictures of you going all out on the guitar and stuff.

Kenneth: Oh yeah.

Andrew: It's awesome.

Kenneth: I love it, yeah.

Andrew: Yeah. And...

Jamie: Why did you want to do it? What sort of - what made the decision for you to record - re-record "Hedwig's Theme" and rock it up?

Kenneth: Well, my friend Andrew and I, we always play music together and we're huge Harry Potter fans, and so we just - I don't know, kind of decided to put the two together and see what would happen.

Andrew: Awesome. And what was the kind of feedback you got when you guys started? Did you show it around to your friends or what?

Kenneth: Oh yeah, we did. Yeah. We did, and we would play it at - in high school, and...

Andrew: [laughs] I was going to say, you performed it live?

Kenneth: Yeah, we did. Yeah.

Andrew: That's great. How many people - is it just you and Andrew playing that song, or are there - is there a bassist or...

Kenneth: Yeah, well what happened was - yes, Andrew and I played the guitars and the bass, and then we had one of our friends play the drums. And this was a while ago. I haven't been in contact with him.

Andrew: Okay.

Kenneth: So it's been a while. But yeah, it's not us on the drums.

Andrew: Oh okay. And what does Andrew play?

Kenneth: Andrew plays the guitar.

Andrew: And what do you play? I thought you played the guitar.

Kenneth: Yeah, we both play guitar.

Andrew: [laughs] Oh okay.

Kenneth: [laughs] Yeah.

Andrew: That's very cool.

Kenneth: Yeah.

Andrew: And let me just say that we get e-mails every week from people saying, "Where do I get the 'Hedwig's Theme' song? Where do I get the 'Hedwig's Theme' song?" But I'll even show it to my friends in school, I've played it for them on my iPod, and people just - it sounds like I'm sucking up to you, but people just love it!

[Kenneth laughs]

Andrew: It's fantastic! I mean, I don't know what else to say. [laughs] You should be...

Kenneth: That's cool. That's cool. Thanks.

Andrew: You need to get in touch with WB or something, and do something with that.

Kenneth: Oh yeah. Yeah, that'd be something.

Andrew: [laughs] Was there any - have you found any rip-offs of your idea? I've never heard of - I've never really heard a rocked-out "Hedwig's Theme" before.

Kenneth: No, so far I haven't heard anybody copying us or anything, but...

Andrew: Mhm.

Kenneth: It's been pretty good, though.

Andrew: Yeah. And a lot of...

Jamie: What's next for you?

Andrew: Hmm?

Jamie: Sorry.

Andrew: No, go ahead. Go ahead.

Jamie: I was going to say, what's next for you? I mean, are you going to do some more rocked-out Harry Potter music? Because I'd like to see an entire Order of the Phoenix soundtrack right now.

Kenneth: Soundtrack, yeah.

Jamie: Yeah. That could be a week's project or something.

Kenneth: Yeah, yeah. I mean, I'd just have to get together with Andrew and we could have it done like that. [laughs]

Andrew: [laughs] Are you guys in a band together or something?

Kenneth: Well, kind of, but he's - right now he's at Duke University, and I'm down in William and Mary in Virginia.

Andrew: Oh okay.

Kenneth: We're kind of far, far apart.

Andrew: [laughs] Right, right.

[Kenneth laughs]

Andrew: Let me just say to the listeners right now, if there's anyone who wants to ask a question to Kenneth, feel free to call in.

Jamie: E-mail it?

Andrew: Or e-mail.

Mikey: Hey Kenneth, I have a question for you.

Kenneth: Yeah, yeah.

Mikey: For a while on the Wikipedia page, it was said that the song was actually done by Andrew Sims. Did you get offended at all that people...

Andrew: I never claimed credit for that, for the record. [laughs]

Kenneth: Oh, Andrew.

Mikey: ...thought Andrew was the one that did the song?

Kenneth: Oh man. You're horrible.

Mikey: He's trying to steal credit for what you did.

Andrew: I never ever claimed credit.

Mikey: I just want to know - what did they say? It was like on his two-watt amp or something. I don't know.

[Kenneth laughs]

Mikey: Like "Andrew Sims was playing a rock-and-roll version of 'Hedwig's Theme.'"

Kenneth: I didn't even know it was on Wikipedia. That's kind of cool.

Jamie: Andrew...

Andrew: I think it...

Jamie: ...there are loads of requests for you to play it. Is there any chance we can get a live listen?

Andrew: You know, I was actually just trying to get it up. If you give me a - you know what? Where is it - well, hold on.

Mikey: It's not on Wikipedia anymore. I looked right now.

Andrew: No - yeah. Yeah, let me - I'll work on getting it. I was going to play it after the interview or something, but here, let's take a couple of calls here. Let's see if people actually have questions about - for Kenneth. Peter?

[Prolonged silence]

Andrew: Peter?

[Prolonged silence]

Andrew: Peter?

[Prolonged silence]

Andrew: Not there. Let's try this call. Hello?

Jamie: Hey.

Caller: Hello?

Andrew: Hi!

Caller: Andrew?

Andrew: Yeah, what's up?

Caller: Hey, my name is Camillo, I'm from Australia. I called - I sent an e-mail just before.

Andrew: Oh cool.

Caller: Yeah.

Andrew: Hey, you have a question for Kenneth about his awesome "Hedwig's Theme" song?

Caller: Yes, I do.

Andrew: Oh perfect.

Caller: It's called "'Arry," yeah? It's like Harry with an apostrophe at the beginning?

Kenneth: Right. Right, yeah.

Caller: Yeah. Well, I just wanted to ask if it was all right if I borrowed that riff, because...

[Andrew and Kenneth laugh]

Caller: ...I wrote like a taped one with singing.

Kenneth: Uh-huh?

Caller: And it's like the hidden track on my CD.

Kenneth: Oh nice. Okay.

Caller: But I didn't even realize that it was a song by a band.

Kenneth: Oh yeah, don't worry about it.

[Jamie and Kenneth laugh]

Caller: Are you sure?

Andrew: Just don't make money off of it.

Kenneth: Yeah, just don't make money off of it.

Caller: Oh, I won't. I won't.

[Kenneth laughs]

Caller: Can I just have a quick shout-out to the Vulture chat...

Andrew: Sure.

Caller: ...that's going on on Skype right now?

Andrew: Sure. You vultures, you're crazy.

Caller: Yeah.

Andrew: All right.

Mikey: Who are these Vultures again?

Andrew: Oh, let's not get into this.

[Andrew and Mikey laugh]

Andrew: Thanks for calling! Let's take some other...

Caller: Thank you.

Andrew: No problem.

Jamie: Hey, Kenneth?

Mikey: [whispers] I know who you guys are.

Jamie: We have a question - well, we have a sort of statement from Hannah L, who e-mails from Chicago, who said:

"Kenneth, I love 'Hedwig's Theme.' Will you marry me?"

[Andrew and Kenneth laugh]

Kenneth: Oh wow, okay. It's a possibility.

[Andrew laughs]

Jamie: You can play it at your wedding. You can - instead of the traditional sort of love music, you can play a rocked-out "Hedwig's Theme." That would be awesome.

Kenneth: Oh yeah, so romantic.

Mikey: Walking down the aisle.

Jamie: Walking - [laughs] yeah, exactly.

Andrew: [laughs] Yeah, that's pretty romantic. Yeah.

[Andrew and Kenneth laugh]

Andrew: Here's another caller. Hey, you have a question for Kenneth?

[Prolonged silence]

Jamie: Hey.

Andrew: Hello?

Caller: Hello?

Kenneth: Hello?

Andrew: Hi! You have a question for Kenneth?

Caller: Hey!

Andrew: Hey!

Caller: Yeah, I just wanted to know, what was the inspiration to make the "Hedwig's Theme" so rock?

Andrew: Good question.

Kenneth: I guess - that's a hard question.

[Andrew laughs]

Kenneth: I don't know, I guess we just thought it would be a good idea. That's a...

Andrew: That's fair enough.

Kenneth: I don't know.

Andrew: Yeah. [laughs] Because it...

Kenneth: I can't really put it any other way.

Andrew: Because all you hear is the John Williams version, and it definitely deserves a sort of...

Kenneth: Right, yeah. And you can get sick of that, and...

["Waiting" by Green Day plays]

Andrew: Hey there. What is this? Oh, sorry.

Jamie: You sound awfully like Green Day, Kenneth.

[Song ends]

Andrew: [laughs] Okay, shut up!

Kenneth: Yeah.

Andrew: I forgot to hit "Pause" on the radio break. Sorry about that. I'm sorry, I'm sorry, sorry.

Kenneth: Yeah, turn it off.

Andrew: Very unprofessional here. Very disappointed in myself. Okay, cool. Well, thanks for calling in!

Caller: Yeah, sure.

Andrew: Let's see, who else. Let's get Ciara. Hey!

Kenneth: Hey!

Caller: Hi!

Andrew: Hi. you have a question for Kenneth?

Caller: Hello?

Andrew: Hi. You have a question for Kenneth?

Caller: Hello?

Andrew: Hi.

[Jamie laughs]

Caller: Hi. I can't hear you. Can I turn up my volume a little bit?

Andrew: Sure, go for it.

[Kenneth laughs]

Andrew: You have a question for Kenneth?

[Prolonged silence]

Andrew: [laughs] Do you have a question for Kenneth?! Come on! Work with me!

Caller: Yeah, sorry. I've never used Skype before. I just downloaded it like five minutes ago.

Andrew: Oh okay.

Jamie: Ooh.

Caller: But I was wondering...

Mikey: Wait a minute, you downloaded it? You mean you didn't buy it?

Andrew: It's not for sale.

Caller: No, I just [unintelligible] I don't know.

[Andrew laughs]

Caller: I clicked the thing that said "Mac."

Andrew: Oh okay.

Mikey: Okay.

Caller: And I'm calling people on it. Is it free?

Andrew: Well, is it free, Kenneth? It's free, right? I mean...

Kenneth: Yeah. I mean - yeah. I can't make money off of it.

Andrew: Yeah.

Mikey: I know I didn't pay for it, so... [laughs]

Caller: If I call people on it, will it cost money?

Andrew: [laughs] Yeah.

Caller: It will?

Andrew: What's that?

Caller: If I call people on it, will it cost money?

Andrew: If you copied it?

Caller: No, if I call people on it.

Andrew: If you call people on it?

Caller: Yeah, like I am now.

Jamie: Oh, you downloaded Skype five minutes ago, you mean?

Caller: I have no idea.

Jamie: Yeah, it's a hundred dollars a minute. Quickly, quickly, quickly! Be quick, be quick.

[Kenneth laughs]

Andrew: I am so confused right now.

Jamie: No, I'm joking.

Caller: I kind of sort of am, too, but - did you guys originally write this just for MuggleNet, or did you just wanted to make a cool version of the "Hedwig's Theme" thing?

Kenneth: We did it - yeah, we didn't initially do it for MuggleNet, but we re-recorded it for MuggleNet. We have an older version of it from the year before.

Andrew: Oh really?

Kenneth: Yeah. And it actually had Andrew screaming various incantations.

Andrew: [laughs] Really?

Kenneth: Yeah.

Andrew: Do you still have that, by chance?

Kenneth: Yeah, we still have that.

Jamie: Can we hear it? Yeah. [laughs]

Andrew: Oh!

[Kenneth laughs]

Andrew: Dude, can you send it to me? Can we play it on the show?

Kenneth: [laughs] Oh yeah, sure. It's pretty funny.

Andrew: Okay. I'll IM you my e-mail address.

Kenneth: Okay.

Andrew: Via Skype here. Let's see. We'll play that - [laughs] that'll be pretty funny. Okay, well cool. Yeah, thanks for calling in, Ciara.

Caller: Oh wait! Guys, can I say something really quick?

Andrew: If it's appropriate, yeah.

Caller: Yeah. Well, I just wanted to give a shout-out to everybody in the chat-room. They all wanted to say that Ustream loves Toots, which is your old nickname or whatever.

Andrew: Oh, loves Toots? Oh.

Caller: Yeah.

Andrew: Oh. Well, thank you.

Caller: Everybody has been like dying for everybody who comes on here - everybody always gives shout-outs, but they never say that, and that was the thing that was planned.

Andrew: Oh awesome.

Mikey: Toots, really?

Andrew: Toots, that's my radio name.

Mikey: I like Simsy. I like Simsy.

Andrew: That's not a radio name, though. It has to be...

Jamie: Yeah, DJ Simsy is cooler.

Andrew: It has to be something a little better than that. Okay. Yeah, thank you for that.

Mikey: And Toots is that much better? Really?

Andrew: Yeah, Toots. I'm Toots.

Mikey: Oh gosh, you're back.

Andrew: What's up, Julia? This is Toots.

[Echoing sounds in the background]

Andrew: And that's what we call feedback.

Jamie: That is feedback.

Andrew: Let's get Sarah Alkin here. Hi, Sarah.

Caller: Hey, how are you?

Andrew: Oh, loud. Hi. What's going on?

Caller: Nothing. I really love your show.

Andrew: Oh great.

Caller: You're like the awesomest podcast ever!

Andrew: Oh, thank you.

Jamie: Thank you very much.

Andrew: [laughs] Your audio is really loud. Do you have a question for Kenneth?

Caller: Yeah. Okay, just a second.

Andrew: Huh? What? Oh, connection lost. Oops. Let's try Lauren here. Hi, Lauren.

[Echoing sounds in the background]

Andrew: Okay, here's the thing: If you're going to call in, mute your thing so we don't hear that.

Jamie: While we're waiting, Kenneth, I have one more question.

Andrew: Go for it. Forget about the callers for now.

Jamie: You should start up a wizard rock band now, and just do rocked-out versions of everything.

Andrew: That's a good question.

Kenneth: That sounds good to me.

Andrew: What do you think of wizard rock?

Kenneth: Oh, I love it.

Andrew: Do you? [laughs] Awesome.

Kenneth: Yeah. I have like three Harry and the Potters CDs.

Andrew: Cool.

Kenneth: Yeah.

Andrew: May I recommend The Remus Lupins? Good band.

Jamie: And...

Kenneth: Oh, yeah, yeah.

Jamie: The Remus Lupins, and also Oliver Boyd and the Remembralls.

Kenneth: Okay, sounds good.

Andrew: I have...

Mikey: And you can't forget - you guys can't forget The Whomping Willows, because...

Andrew: The Whomping Willows? Yeah, very good too.

Mikey: ...Whompy's a tree. Matt's a tree, so...

Jamie: And Mikey and the Bs.

Mikey: Yeah, the Mikey Bs.

Kenneth: I do like Draco and the Malfoys.

Andrew: Draco and the Malfoys are great, too. Yeah.

Kenneth: Yeah.

Mikey: Yeah. You should also download all the wizard rock singles from Andrew Sims.

[Kenneth laughs]

Andrew: Are you planning on taking a - what are you looking to do as a career?

Kenneth: I'm not sure right now, but right now I'm kind of - I'm planning to double major in music and physics, as weird as that sounds.

Andrew: [laughs] Okay.

Kenneth: Yeah.

Andrew: Well, if you're passionate about music it makes sense.

Kenneth: Yeah. Not so much physics, but you know, I've got to do it.

Andrew: Right, right. Well, again, everyone loves your music. Thank you so much for letting us use it for the past three years. It's really a perfect theme song for MuggleCast, and as soon as I heard it when - I guess someone e-mailed it in. Maybe it was you? Was it you?

Kenneth: It was Andrew.

Andrew: Oh, it was Andrew, right.

Kenneth: Yeah.

Andrew: As soon as I heard it, I was like, "This is great for the show, because..."

Jamie: "We have to use this," yeah.

Andrew: Yeah. If we just played regular "Hedwig's Theme" or any Harry Potter soundtrack song - it's magical, it's slow, it doesn't really fit the theme of the show, but "'Arry," it really - is that the official name of it, "'Arry"?

Kenneth: I guess so. That's how we named it.

Andrew: Yeah, yeah. [laughs] So thanks again, it's really a perfect song for us to use.

Kenneth: Absolutely.

Jamie: Thank you once again.

Andrew: Yeah. Kenneth, thank you for coming on today. If there's any more questions that the listeners bring in, we'll forward them off to you.

Kenneth: All right, thanks a lot.

Andrew: Okay, no problem. And pass our thanks along to Andrew. Why isn't he here? I thought he said he was going to be here.

Kenneth: Yeah, I thought that too, but he's kind of busy right now and he doesn't have Skype, and...

Andrew: [laughs] Okay. I'm just messing, it's cool.

Kenneth: Oh yeah, yeah.

Andrew: But we owe you guys a - well, we'll talk later. [laughs]

Kenneth: Yeah, okay. All right.

Andrew: All right, see you later.

Kenneth: All right, thanks a lot. Bye.

Andrew: Bye. All right, finally we had Kenneth on for an interview. It's something we've been trying to do for a while, and he just so happened to e-mail me earlier this week. And actually, I shouldn't have taken him off so quick. We're - he says it's okay to use his song, the "Hedwig's Theme" as a ringtone. So soon, on that MuggleCast page I made, we're going to have "Hedwig's Theme" ringtones available as well. Okay? Jamie and Mikey, you still with us?

[Prolonged silence]

Andrew: Jamie? Mikey?

Jamie: Yeah, I'm here.

Mikey: That's going to be cool.

Andrew: [laughs] Okay. We lost you for a few seconds.

Mikey: Yeah, I'm here. You know what? I think I should put that ringtone on my iPhone.

Andrew: Yeah. I should, too. Because Apple screwed that up.

Jamie: Now wait, gentlemen. I thought you couldn't do that. Oh, unless you illegally hacked it, of course.

Andrew: No, we can do it - yeah, you can do it illegally. Yeah.

[Jamie gasps]

Andrew: I have no problem saying it, because it's Apple's fault.

Mikey: And also, just so you know...

Andrew: Yeah?

Mikey: Apple said they don't mind. The homeroom people that go ahead and open up their phones and hack it - I was last night playing with a friend's phone - actually, you know Chris Kelly. I was playing with his phone. He totally - I was playing Mega Man on his phone - iPhone. [unintelligible] actually. It was pretty entertaining. Yeah, I think I might have to start opening up my iPhone and doing a lot more to it, but we'll see.

Jamie: Hey, if you can play that on it, you've got to.

Andrew: We got this e-mail...

Mikey: I know.

Andrew: ...coming in from Emily sent in via MuggleCast.com/Live. She's from Michigan and she writes:

"Don't mean to sound rude, but will any of the PotterCasters be on so you can PWN them at Book 7 trivia?"

Mikey: Wow.

Andrew: It's funny you bring this up, because we actually wanted to do just that, but they don't want to. So...

Jamie: We could try and give a call to John. See what he's doing.

Andrew: I'm kind of surprised he hasn't called in by now. I was really expecting that.

Jamie: Awww, Johnny! Come on - John, if you're listening...

Andrew: [laughs] He's not listening!

Jamie: ...send me an e-mail.

Mikey: John Noe. John Noe.

[Jamie sings]

Mikey: Come on, John. Me and you. We can always call his counterpart.

Jamie: [laughs] Yeah.

Mikey: [laughs] His female counterpart.

Jamie: Hey, can we hear the...

Andrew: I don't have it yet. I don't have it yet.

Jamie: Okay, sorry.

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