Jarvis Cocker’s appearance in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire was meant to lead to more material from “The Weird Sisters,” but it never came to be.
Pulp frontman Cocker, alongside Radiohead’s Jonny Greenwood and All Seeing I’s Jason Buckle, were set to make more music together as part of a soundtrack release. One thing stopped the group from making any more songs together, though, with their portrayal of the popular band, which performed at Hogwarts, cut short. Cocker suggested they were set to make “a whole album of songs” but it came to an end after a legal fuss, which started when a group with a similar name to The Weird Sisters threatened to sue the production. The Weird Sisters appear briefly at the ball featured in the fourth movie, and songs from the group, including Magic Works, Do the Hippogriff, and This is the Night, were released on Spotify.
But more songs were meant to come from the group, Cocker claimed. Speaking to The Art of Noise writer Daniel Rachel, the Pulp frontman confirmed he had been keen to make a whole album of music inspired by the film and fictional band.
Cocker confirmed: “No, the sad thing about that was the group was meant to be called The Weird Sisters because that was what they were called in the book, but there was a slightly lezzy Canadian folk group who kicked up a fuss and tried to sue the film company saying that they’d stolen the name from them.
“So even though that was ridiculous and eventually that got thrown out of court, the film company cut down the amount the band was in the film. At one time they were talking about doing a whole album of songs and I thought that might have been funny, to have a go at that, but because of the threat of legal action, in the film the group aren’t referred to as The Weird Sisters, they are referred to as the group with no name. It’s a pity.”
To get around the naming of the group in the film, the Cocker-fronted Weird Sisters are introduced as “the band that needs no introduction.” Franz Ferdinand were also considered for the role of the Weird Sisters, but turned down the chance to feature in the Mike Newell-directed film. Cocker portrays Myron Wagtail, while Greenwood and Buckle play Kirley Duke and Heathcote Barbary.
Steve Mackey of Pulp appears as Donaghan Tremlett, Steven Claydon of Add N to (X) portrays Gideon Crumb and fellow Radiohead member Phil Selway features in the film as Orsino Thruston.
Cocker would work on film and television soundtracks later in his career, providing work for This is Going to Hurt and The French Dispatch, the latter being a series of French song covers.
