The release of DCC #100: The Music of the Spheres (is Chaos) looms on the horizon, so Dieter Zimmerman takes a look at the relationship between DCC RPG and music in a series of blog posts appropriately titled “The Music of DCC (is Chaos).” Join him as he decides which Goodman Games person has the most embarrassing taste in music, as he interviews some bands associated with DCC RPG, and as he examines songs that specifically reference Appendix N authors and some that are written by Appendix N authors!
The Music of DCC (is Chaos) #4: Interview with Glitter Wizard
San Francisco based glam-psych-rock band Glitter Wizard is well known to fans of DCC RPG from their song Abaca aka “the theme of the Spellburn podcast.” Few listeners can hear that opening riff without getting excited for some new DCC goodies. But who are these mysterious rockers, and what’s their connection to DCC RPG? I interviewed singer Wendy Stonehenge to find out!
Wendy Stonehenge, Doug Graves, Kandi Moon, Fancy Cymballs, and Lorfin Terrafor started jamming together about 11 years ago. They come from a variety of musical backgrounds, but “the common denominator is that we’ve all been in punk bands,” says Stonehenge. “I don’t know if I could play music with anyone who hadn’t.” Other strong influences include Blue Öyster Cult, Alice Cooper, Hawkwind, Uriah Heep, and The Sweet.
The name Glitter Wizard perfectly suits the band’s psychedelic metal prog-rock glam punk sound. Just by hearing the name, you can make a pretty good guess as to what the group sounds like. “The name was originally going to be a song title but I quickly realized that it perfectly summed up the whole project so it became our moniker.” says Stonehenge.
As for how the band became the musical mascots of DCC RPG, that is a tale shrouded in mystery. Local legend has it that Lorfin performed dark rituals to transmit the band’s music through the phlogiston, where it took root in the dreams of one Judge Jim in the year 1974. Years later, the hapless Judge was compelled to use their song in a podcast, thus fulfilling the ancient prophecy. [Author’s note: this may or may not be true. I forgot to ask this question, so I made up an answer.]
But being the sonic representation of DCC’s most popular podcast is not the band’s only experience with tabletop RPGs! Stonehenge says: “Three of us have been gamers at one point or another. Our guitarist, Lorfin Terrafor, got his stage name from his last D&D character. I think I’m probably the most seasoned adventurer in our party. I was familiar with DCC when Spellburn asked to use our song but I was in the middle of a D&D campaign at the time so I wasn’t able to play it until a couple of years later. DCC is the only game that I’ve ever DM’ed.”
Stonehenge gave DCC a try because “…standard D&D was getting really bogged down with rules. The last campaign I had played was 4th edition and we spent far too much time consulting the handbook. I actually listened to Spellburn for a whole year before I was able to get a crew together.” That crew was then subjected to such classic adventures as DCC #67: Sailors on the Starless Sea, DCC #81: Intrigue at the Court of Chaos, DCC #72: The Emerald Enchanter, and The Arwich Grinder from Crawl!.
“I would advise new players to stay on their toes!” Stonehenge says. “I had a player that was really good at throwing unexpected curveballs at me and I had to do quite a bit of improvising.”
Listen to Glitter Wizard on Spotify.
