Buffy's Anthony Stewart head ventures into electronic teritory with his debut album Music For Elevators.

While fans know him as Giles the Watcher on UPN's Buffy the Vampire Slayer, most are unaware that Anthony Stewart Head once pondered a different career path - one that would have led him down the road to musical stardom. With a number of London stage musicals under his belt, a rock star for a brother (One Night in Bangkok's Murray Head) and a high-profile role in this season's Buffy musical episode, the actor has returned to his roots, partnering up with composer/arranger George Sarah to produce Music for Elevators. Whereas the thought of yet another television star turned musician makes the stomach turn, in Head's case this just may be the real deal.

"[Working together on this album] was just a wild idea that [the record label] had," explains Sarah. "When [Anthony] got wind of the idea, it just turns out he's a huge fan of music. He's been a musician for a long time. His brother's in the music industry and it was something that was always buring inside of him. It wasn't like anyone needed to persuade him or talk him into it. He was just anticipating the right kind of moment and this just happened to be it."

Described as "down-tempo electronica with soulful backing vocals and acoustic guitar," Music for Elevators also features guest appearances by Buffy cast members Amber Benson, James Marsters, Alyson Hannigan and a track written by series creator Joss Whedon.

"As we were [recording the album, Anthony] would play the songs to various cast members and they just thought it was really cool and they wanted to be a part of it," says Sarah of the Buffy cast/crew participation. "It was never planned - everything was a spontaneous step-by-step kind of thing. Then at one point, Joss, who himself is a songwriter, asked if he could write a song for the album. He had given us a cassette that was just piano and vocals recorded on a Walkman, so it was up to us to interpret it. I wrote some beats around it and we just threw a lot of different elements into the bag."

Sarah emphasizes the artistic sincerity behind his collaboration with Head, which will be available in stores (or online at www.musicforelevators.com [Liz's note: site no longer up, but you can order the album here]) this month.

"To us, it was irrelevant if we sold anything now," says Sarah. "The fact that 20 years from now you could put it on and it'll still sound fresh, that was the idea going into it. And also just to be creative and explore new ground and use different instruments and invite friends in on the recording sessions."

by Eric Moro

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