It
has to be said, Hepburn have the most tenuous link with Buffy The
Vampire Slayer and the truth be told, only had minor success in the
UK. Number eight with the song on this video and a couple of Top 20
hits for their most recent singles.
So why were they chosen
to be on the Buffy soundtrack and provisionally asked to be on the
show? For this a little backstory is needed.
Hepburn are four young
females. Jamie is the lead singer, Sarah and Lisa lead and bass
guitar and new recruit (Beverley left to become a TV presenter) Natasha
plays drums. Here in the UK, Hepburn shot to fame with their debut
single I Quit (which is the song in question) penned by the same
writers who wrote Natalie Imbruglia's Torn. A little known
fact is that this song was offered to several other artists before it was
offered to Hepburn. In my opinion they wouldn't have even been
successful if it wasn't for I Quit and Hepburn certainly wouldn't
have been on the Buffy soundtrack without it.
My connection with
Hepburn is that I have a supposed link with Lisa, the guitarist and know
her brother, sister, fiancé and her fiancé's sister. As a result,
I was one of the first to know of their involvement with Buffy and
to be honest was more than a little miffed as I happen to be a huge Buffy
excessive whereas Hepburn supposedly like watching the show, but are not
as big as fans as you or me who are reading this.
Hepburn came to be on the
soundtrack after Joss Whedon heard I Quit, loved the song and asked
them to be on the show. Now, there comes a time when even a genius
such as Joss makes mistakes like these (Alien Resurrection
anyone? Me: I'm thinking of changing it to, "Naming Ryan Sook
as his favourite Buffy comic artist," but I'm not sure how
many people would identity with that being a mistake!)
So Hepburn went to LA for
two weeks last September to allegedly film their parts in an episode of Buffy
The Vampire Slayer and record a new video of I Quit featuring Buffy
for a US release. As well as get that Sarah Michelle Gellar
autograph I asked for...
That was what was
supposed to have happened. Instead, they didn't appear in an
episode, they only made a new I Quit video which didn't even
contain any new Buffy footage. The video was just old clips
from the episodes Dead Man's Party and Doppelgangland with
Hepburn inserted into the action.
Instead of being
depressed about this, I've decided I should try and appreciate the outcome
of what was produced and cast a very critical view of the video featuring Buffy,
that Hepburn made for the US.
The basic outline of the
video involves the Hepburn girls are performing I Quit in places
within Sunnydale, mostly UC Sunnydale with Hepburn walking through the
halls interspersed with them playing the song in a classroom. The
video then cuts to a scene from the third season episode Dead Man's
Party when Buffy goes searching for her friends after she arrives back
from LA. In the original scene Buffy fights a vampire outside The
Bronze after finding Xander there. She gets into trouble with a
vampire and the rest of the Scooby Gang pull the vamp off her and slam him
against the wall. Buffy then stakes the vampire and the rest of the
gang fall to the ground, surprised and happy to see her.
In this version, the
Scooby Gang are replaced with Hepburn. The video then cuts to The
Bronze where Hepburn are performing the song. The place is taken
over by vampires - and Hepburn's vamp alter egos. Buffy runs in and
fights the vampires, killing several but seems to ignore the Hepburn
vampires because this is a scene from Doppelgangland.
Originally Buffy does exactly the same but the difference this time is one
gets away and runs off via the stage where the real Hepburn are
performing. Buffy runs off in the same direction. A slight
continuity error I'd like to point out is, in the Doppelgangland
scene, Buffy is wearing dark trousers but when she goes running after the
vamp that got away, she's wearing bright red trousers!
Continuing...the real
Hepburn don't seem to realise any of this is going on and carry on with
the song and the vamp Hepburn leave The Bronze. It then cuts back
several times to the classroom and The Bronze. Vamp Hepburn start to
appear at UC Sunnydale (during daylight??) and walk around the
halls. The video then ends with vampire Jamie snarling at the
camera.
The song: I loved the
song I Quit when it was released last year, but after a while it
really starts to grate and then you just want to smash the CD into tiny
little pieces! Jamie seems to have such a screechy and very annoying
voice. My dog is far better vocally trained! I'm also of the
opinion that Hepburn aren't really the kind of music to be on the Buffy
soundtrack, they're just a little bit too pop for the show, and
many other people I know agree with me on this. Whenever my friends
play the Buffy soundtrack, they always skip this track!
The video: From the
review I've given so far, I really haven't said anything nice at all about
this video. Rightly so, but one thing is worth mentioning that could
be seen as me giving praise! This is a fairly average music video,
certainly not award winning material. But I'd like to say that the
clips from Buffy inserted into the action are very well done.
It's hardly noticeable that the scenes didn't originally contain Hepburn.
I'd also llike to say that if anyone could tell me what it says on the
blackboard behind Hepburn in the classroom, then please tell me. I
can only make out that it says "Have you ever..." and it's been
bugging me ever since!
A final grumble from me
concerns Hepburn as vampires. Was Todd McIntosh on holiday or
something? There is no Buffy trademark vampire makeup but
what looks like makeup applied at a face painting session. The only
reasons you can tell they are vampires are the pale faces and fangs.
Clichéd or what? My overall view is if you're a casual Buffy
fan then don't waste your money or phone time on this. I'd only
recommend getting it if you're an obsessive and have to buy every piece of
merchandise ever available. Otherwise, don't bother.
Little known facts:
Contrary to belief, Hepburn did not, I repeat did not meet any of the cast
when they filmed this video, and only met Sarah's stunt double, Sophia
Crawford. They were surprised to find that Sarah no longer does any
of her own stunts and they confirmed both when they appeared on Channel
5's Exclusive. I was also disappointed as I never received my
SMG autograph.
Maybe I've been a little
harsh about this, but wouldn't you be, if you'd been told that they were
going to be in an episode and making a new video with the Buffy
cast?
As to whether Hepburn
will still be appearing in an episode is unlikely according to Jamie when
I asked this question on a webchat they participated in at dotmusic:
"I'm a huge fan of Buffy
and was disappointed to find out that the video you made didn't actually
contain any new Buffy material. What I'd like to know is,
will you still be appearing in a future episode of Buffy The Vampire
Slayer?"
Jamie replied: "Not
too sure yet - it's whether they pay us enough money. We'd love
to."
Which leads me to the
conclusion as that being a "no" then...
To see the video for
yourself, it is available in the UK on CD2 of Hepburn's most recent single
Deep, Deep Down.
Text copyright Rebecca
Kidman.
Used by permission.
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