BAKERSFIELD, Calif. -- “It’s ‘Hots for Hermione,’ not ‘hot’,” says 15-year-old Landen Belardes.

He’s with bandmates Shaun Alaniz, Kristopher Smith, and Nick Alvarado in a Bakersfield recording studio. Alaniz just finished laying down a track, singing, “We think all the girls are pretty. But we’ve got the hots for Hermione.” Minutes later, Belardes and the rest of Dirty Spanglish listen to a mix of the song. He decides to add another layer of guitars. This is serious work for young rockers who are busy building their new radio-friendly three-minute song, “Hots For Hermione.”

(Listen to the song - ABC 23 not responsible for MySpace content) (Read the lyrics: they're fun!)

Several months ago, Dirty Spanglish was asked to perform at Vromans Bookstore in Pasadena, the oldest and largest bookstore in Southern California. It’s the biggest book night of all time: July 20, celebrating the release of “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows” by J.K. Rowling.

Right away a Hermione love song was in the making.

Although a pop punk collaboration, such wizard-rock music in the world of Harry Potter is known as a “wrock song”.

But don’t get the band wrong. One Harry Potter song doesn’t mean a full-fledged transformation into Harry Potter and the Potterettes. Dirty Spanglish isn’t one of the nearly 200 themed Harry Potter bands sweeping the planet’s libraries and bookstores with entire sets of wizard-rock inspired music. (Harry and the Potters, Whomping Willows, Hungarian Horntails and Draco and the Malfoys are just a few of the many wrock bands).

Dirty Spanglish (www.myspace.com/dirtyspanglish) is a Bakersfield, California area pop punk band that just happens to have a Harry Potter wrock song that was released on MySpace this week.

A gimmick? Sure.

Just don’t call them a gimmick band. They don’t have to put on wizard hats and a Harry Potter hairdo to get their message across. “The song we wrote is definitely a gimmick,” said Belardes. “We wrote it for the show. Gimmicks aren’t bad and not all of our stuff are gimmicks.”

Dirty Spanglish has appeared on three compilations: "Growing Up Fighting: Bakersfield Hockey Vol. 1", "Bakotopia Music Compilation Vol. 1", and the all-kids compilation, "Magnetic Bunny Seaside Summer Compilation".

And what might their message be if not full of spells and open love letters to Hermione Granger?

“We make everything we do fun,” said Belardes. “Just being around each other is fun for us.”

Serious about their art, they take a light-hearted tone to their musical themes, singing about hockey, band practices, secret songs, and now Hermione.

While the effect of Harry Potter influenced pop culture on today’s youth has some kids dressing up for movie premieres and book release parties, Dirty Spanglish has a more “be yourself” attitude.

“We don’t have to go out of our way and dress up for the event,” Belardes said. “The song is written in our style. We don’t play only Harry Potter stuff. It’s a Dirty Spanglish song, and would be if we changed the lyrics.”

Of course that means controversy in the world of wrock, because full-fledged wrock bands do dress up and do perform all Harry Potter songs. Nicole Greenhouse, of the popular Harry Potter music site, Wizrocklopedia.com, doesn’t necessarily consider the band as wizard rock. She suggested that “if Dirty Spanglish decides to delve in deeper to the fandom, I would definitely feature them on the Web site. Right now, I would write a news post about a muggle band who released a song about Harry Potter and that they are performing at a book party.”

Lizz Clements, also from Wizrocklopedia, claims that bands like Dirty Spanglish deserve a special place in Harry Potter music culture. She considers “bands with one or two wizard rock songs to be honorary wizard rock bands, including those who write about Lord of the Rings or other fantasy novels or just being wizards in general.”

And that’s likely because the people at Wizrocklopedia are very aware of the influence of Harry Potter on pop culture. Where Greenhouse mentions Potter-related music making it on MTV, Clements said, “the Potter books have affected pop culture in too many ways to count. We're still in the midst of it.”

The Dirty Spanglish artist most affected by Harry Potter pop culture would be Belardes. Although not everyone in his band loves the Harry Potter books and movies, he does. He’s read most of the books and really loves the films. When asked by a Studio 99 technician if he thought “Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix” was a terrible movie, Belardes simply responded, “I liked it. I’m ready to see it again.”

The studio itself run by Periecee James in a small industrial space that stands a little closer to the heartland of Buck Owens than Hogwarts Castle.

Buck Owens Crystal Palace is just up the street. Tourists eat at the dinner theatre and often pore over country music memorabilia like Owens’ famous red, white and blue guitars and rhinestone suits.

Even though Dirty Spanglish has a rousing punked-out version of “Folsom Prison Blues” by Johnny Cash, Dirty Spanglish won’t be performing to country-lovin’ folks at Vromans.

Think more in the area of 10-year-old fans dressed up as wizards, and 12-year-old Potter fanatics with toys, books and kids’ clothes created by the Harry Potter pop culture craze. “Kids my age already love the song. I can’t imagine what all the little kid Harry Potter fans will think,” Belardes smiled.

Maybe these are just the kind of screaming fans Dirty Spanglish have been searching for.

“At the release of Book 6 we had ages ranging from 10 to 50-plus in attendance,” said Jennifer Ramos of Vromans bookstore. “We expect it to be the same this time.” And that’s a good sign, especially since she thinks “Hots For Hermione” is a “really great song.”

At Studio 99 on Antonino Boulevard, the members of Dirty Spanglish pause during their recording for a brief photo shoot at a graffiti-laden trash bin with the word “JUNC” painted on it. The kids all curiously open the lid as if one of Hogwarts’ hidden treasures could possibly rest inside. A few pictures are snapped.

It’s definitely not a place you’d think to see Hermione Granger. But then, who would have thought there would be a wrock world?

By the way, Belardes did have this to say about his band’s love song: “The whole band has had a discussion and we all agreed. We have the hots for Hermione.”

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