Buffy The Vampire Slayer

I am a huge Buffy fan and after seeing their performance in Sunnydale I became a Velvet Chain fan as well. I conducted the following interview with two of the band for the Summer 2001 issue of Buffy The Fangzine:

I was lucky to get an exclusive interview with Erika Amato and Jeff Stacy the driving forces behind the ultra-talented fan favourite Velvet Chain who appeared in the first season episode ‘Never Kill A Boy On The First Date’ performing ‘Strong’ (which is available on the Buffy OST) and ’Treason’, played at posting board parties and almost gave us the theme to Angel. Oh yeah and not to mention they’re really talented.

Can you give us an account of your time on the set?

JEFF: We had a really good time that day. Everybody was friendly, and everybody really liked the band. The cast and crew kept coming to us and asking if we had any CDs for sale. We sold about thirty CDs that day.

ERIKA: Yeah, it was great. The cast and crew were so nice to us. Charisma (Carpenter, the actress who played Cordelia) even ate lunch with us. We ended up making a really strong connection with the show that day…quite a few of the cast and crew have come to see the band a lot in the years since then. And of course, we’re big fans of the show, as well. Total mutual admiration society stuff.

Why do you think your Angel theme was not picked up? Were you given a reason?

ERIKA: I’ll let Jeff answer that…

JEFF: Because there was another theme submitted that they liked better. It is my understanding that the decision was very close, but in the end, they opted for something a little more classically gothic, with a cello lead. Our theme was a bit more ‘street’ sounding, and was actually quite a bit less traditional than what they chose. I do think, however that the theme they chose (by Darling Violetta) is an outstanding one and very suitable for the show, perhaps even more suitable than ours. It’s kind of hit-and-miss with something like this. You get some basic parameters of what the show is about and the overall vibe, and then you take a shot at it. You make a piece of music that is your interpretation of what the show is probably going to feel like. Whoever creates a theme that is closest to what the show’s creators are looking for is going to get the placement. That’s how it works. As an artist, it’s actually a really fun thing to do, and I really had a good time making it.

How did the collaboration with Seth Green (who played Oz) come about? What did you think of his musical ability?

JEFF: The collaboration with Seth came about primarily because Seth liked the band quite a bit, and because we hit it off on a personal level. Seth is a very cool, down-to-earth, and funny guy. We thought it would be fun if he showed up on stage with us. That idea lead to the idea that I would record him on one of our songs for The Buffy EP so we could have Seth on one of our albums, and Seth would have a legitimate album credit, even though he can barely play. It was all done for fun because we wanted to do it and it was something a little different. As a guitarist, Seth is really just a beginner, but he enjoys playing and actually has a lot of fundamental musical talent. If he had time to play a lot there’s no doubt he could become very good.

ERIKA: He has an amazing sense of rhythm, and is a very musical cat. He could have pursued music instead of acting, I’m sure but he ‘ain’t doing too shabby in the acting department, so it seems like he made a good decision!

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