Howie Beck song on Buffy spinoff

TORONTO - When Angel, the much-anticipated spin-off to popular teen television series Buffy The Vampire Slayer, premieres tonight, the soundtrack will feature a song by unsigned Toronto singer-songwriter Howie Beck.

"Maybe I Belong," from Beck's second album, Hollow, was passed along to the show's music supervisor by the brother of former Warner Music Canada artist Jason Beck (aka Son), who is no relation to Howie. Jason's brother composes music for television in Los Angeles, including Buffy The Vampire Slayer, says Howie.

The moving "Maybe I Belong", reminscent of John Lennon, appears to be a deafest lyric, but Beck would rather not get into it's meaning. "It's pretty obvious, I think," he says, then adds: "I don't know what scene it's in, so I have no idea how it's tied in to the story."

Beck's music has never appeared in a TV show before, but there will be no pizza party this evening to celebrate. The low-key musician is not even certain he'll be home. "I'll tape it, if I miss it," he says, calling the coup "funny."

He has no publishing deal or management, yet is receiving airplay for the same song at non-commercial radio station KCRW, in Santa Monica. A video for "The Chance Is Gone" is currently in rotation at Canadian video stations MuchMusic and MuchMoreMusic.

Meanwhile, Beck has three solo dates scheduled -- Oct. 17 at Scubas in Chicago; Oct. 26 at The Fez in New York and Nov. 11 at The Rivoli in Toronto.