Men in black The return of goth masters Bauhaus BY MATT ASHARE

Daniel Ash’s musical career began when he and bassist David J. — both in their early 20s — wrote a spooky little song called "Bela Lugosi’s Dead," the first single in an England teeming with the post-punk energy of the late ’70s for a then four-week-old band called Bauhaus. J.’s brother Kevin Haskins played drums, and Peter Murphy, a handsome rake of a singer, added Bowie-esque flair to a drama that lasted just four years. Ash, J., and Haskins would go on to greater success, with Tones on Tail and then Love and Rockets, while Murphy sustained a solo career. For a time, it seemed as Bauhaus would go down in history for a faithful recording of "Ziggy Stardust." But by 2004, when Coachella went looking for a big reunion headliner à la the Pixies in 2003, it was Bauhaus, not Love and Rockets, who got the call. And for good reason: in the years that had passed, Ash, J., Murphy, and Haskins had been crowned as the creators of goth. Yeah, Siouxsie and the Banshees, the early Cure, and maybe even the vampiric Dave Vanian of the Damned all had roles to play in goth’s conception. But it was Bauhaus who started their career with "Bela Legosi’s Dead." As Nigel Tufnel might say, there’s none more gother.

"I remember reading this thing in an English mag that goth was invented by Bauhaus in 1978 in Northampton, England," Ash recalls when I catch him in Denver on a Bauhaus tour that comes to the Orpheum this Sunday. "We didn’t know we were inventing it. It wasn’t something we talked about it. We just happened to start wearing black. All the rest just evolved naturally."

Ash and J. didn’t have anything particularly sinister in mind with "Bela Lugosi’s Dead." "I remember I had this riff that I thought was really haunting, and I was talking to Dave on the phone and he said he had a lyric called ‘Bela Lugosi’s Dead.’ When we got to the rehearsal room the next day, it was instant: I started playing the riff, Dave gave the lyrics to Pete, he started singing, and that song came out straight away. Kevin did the bossa nova beat without us even talking about it. It was one of those instant things. I suppose our goth fate was sealed."

Yet along with the Bowie cover, the band’s recording of T-Rex’s "Telegram Sam" offers an indication of Bauhaus’s true inspiration: glam-rock. "Oh yeah, big time," Ash responds immediately. "That’s where all of those punk bands came from. Without Bowie there would never have been any punk. We were all Bowie freaks — the Pistols, the Banshees, the Cure. It all came from a strict diet of Bowie, T-Rex, Lou Reed, and Iggy Pop. I know. I was there. And I can guarantee that was the case."

What’s more, Ash remains wary of the goth label. "When this thing started out, the Cure, the Banshees, Joy Division, and, well, let’s just take those three — no way were they considered goth. No way. Maybe in America. But in England, goth meant too much make-up and no talent — bands like Alien Sex Fiend and Sex Gang Children. Unfortunately, we were lumped in with them. But now it’s become apparent that, just like the Banshees and Joy Division and the Cure, we were all just doing our own thing that had nothing to do with that awful goth stuff."

That’s not to suggest that Bauhaus are any less theatrical or intense two decades later. "I think you’d have to be pretty brainless to be in your 40s and still be obsessed with how you look all the time. But on stage we have to look like Bauhaus. In San Francisco I bought this great long leather coat that goes right down to the floor. It looks like something out of The Matrix. So I grabbed it, and I wear it when we first come on stage. So, yeah, we still love dressing up. It’s part of what the band’s about. I’ll never go on in jeans and T-shirt. That would be ridiculous."

Bauhaus | Orpheum Theatre, 1 Hamilton Pl, Boston | Nov 13 | 617.228.6000