Go West, Young Wizards is the summer wizard rock tour featuring Kirstyn Hippe (winner of the 2012 LeakyStars competition!), Justin Finch-Fletchley (pizza king), and Steph Anderson (everyone’s favorite rocking metamorphmagus). They are funding their tour through a kickstarter campaign of the same name.

Scheduled around LeakyCon Portland, the trio are heading out on an epic 12-day, 9-show adventure! They’re following Lewis & Clark’s trail from Ohio to Oregon, which is so nerdy and awesome that I can’t even stand it.

Steph says that the goal of the tour was to give fans that couldn’t make it to LeakyCon a chance to still get their summer wiz-rock on. The kickstarter ties into that, too: the rewards are tailored to give backers a glimpse into the on-the-road life of many wizard rockers. There will be a live CD recorded and distributed to backers, mix CDs created by tour members, a backer-exclusive t-shirt, and even a collection of on-tour artifacts compiled by merch girl Monica.

Steph and Justin are two of our favorite Hufflepuff wizard rockers, and they’ve always talked about touring together, so when she realized that she, Justin AND Kirstyn were all playing LeakyCon Portland, everything fell into place. They planned the dates around traveling to and from Portland, and specific cities were chosen based on venue availability and proximity to far-flung friends.

Steph has always enjoyed taking new talent under her wing, and after getting to know Kirstyn while she was preparing for the 2012 LeakyStars competition, Steph knew she would be a great addition. As a graduating senior attending Belmont University in the fall, this summer tour is a perfect time for Kirstyn to experience the life of a touring musician.

The kickstarter campaign was on fire from the minute it was posted. It took approximately 10 hours to get 100% funded, and it’s still going strong. Go West, Young Wizards has over 40 backers and $1,200 raised. Steph says, “The continued support is incredible, and we love being able to prove the fandom nay-sayers wrong.” Hear, hear.

Even though the project is already fully funded, don’t stop donating, wizards! There are still a bunch of awesome rewards left. The kickstarter ends on Friday, May 17, giving you plenty of time to further fund an awesome wizard rock adventure.