The first time that I met Jay Ashton, lead singer and co-founder with his twin brother Michael of Gene Loves Jezebel, I ended up nearly exhausting him with my ignorance about the band. Morella had seen an ad in the Village Voice about the band performing and wanted me to try to tape them. I had never heard of them, but she was very eager to have them on the show.

So I walked into the VIP lounge at the club Life, located at 158 Bleeker St., and I saw these long haired guys lying there exhausted. They had just flown in from London for their American tour. I walked up to the tall blonde guy and asked him if they were Gene Loves Jezebel. I then proceeded to ask such insipid questions (like how long had they been playing) that he soon upbraided me for my lack of preparation.

Well, I guess I had it coming. Jay patiently explained to me that if I had done my homework, I would already know the answers to my questions. When I confessed that I really didn't know anything about the band, but my partner Morella was a devoted fan, he was kind enough to let me tape their performance despite my lack of preparation. And so began my first meeting with Jay Ashton and Gene Loves Jezebel. They put on a great show, and as I was taping them (standing on a chair and being questioned by security a couple of times about whether I had permission to tape), I realized that I was watching something quite extraordinary.



A few months later when I saw Jay again, this time at Webster Hall, he looked a little surprised to see me. Morella and I had done our homework the night before, visiting the band's website for up to date information and the history of this legendary band. We had gone over what questions to ask, and I was all set to have a great interview (with a bit of help from my partner... Ok, a lot of help from my partner!) But it wasn't just Morella's long-standing love for the band, or their fame, that had brought me to see and tape Gene Loves Jezebel a second time; it was their incredible eclectic music! When I told Jay how much I had fallen in love with his music, he kindly repaid the compliment with a candid interview about his band and the early Gothic Music movement.

Jay explained how the goth scene got started: "All the fans out there, they picked me, (along with) Southern Death Cult and Bauhuas. None of us bands walked out there and said 'yeah, there is an audience for this, let's play to them'; we did our own thing and the audience was bigger than us....they identified with what we were doing".

Jay also talked about the persona of the vampyre; he said that his song "Who Wants to Go to Heaven" was initially written for the movie of Anne Rice's "Interview With a Vampire". For some insane reason, it was dropped in favor of Guns and Roses' version of "Sympathy for the Devil". You only need to hear the dark lyrics of "Who Wants to Go to Heaven" to appreciate the insight and elegance with which this band pays homage to the vampire. What a shame that the song was not used for the film! So many fans are poorer for it not being there; but you can hear it on their cd, and on our show! It was the first song by GLJ that we aired.... Thank you Jay, not just for the music, but for your generosity as well.

Let Jay take you to the genelovesjezebel.com website; while you're there, you can post on their message board..... tell them Morella sent you...


More bands soon to come: Caledonia, the Brick Bats, Sofia Run, Margot Day, Rhea's Obsession, Jerico of the Angels, Bella Morte, Myke Hideous, Alien Sex Fiend, Godhead, Braindance, Cult of the Psychic Fetus, Chris Stein & Debbie Harry, and the one and only Gothfather,Voltaire....




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