There are bands that have launched a sound, and bands that have launched a scene or two, but very rare indeed are the bands that can lay claim to fomenting a global subculture. Prior to the August 1979 release of the first Bauhaus single, "Bela Lugosi's Dead," there was no such thing as a goth, per se—just a bunch of brooding misfits who liked to slump around to a dissonance-covered beat and call it dancing. Après Bauhaus, le deluge. Anyone who spent his or her teenage years clad in black and covered in pressed powder the color of flour has Bauhaus members Daniel Ash, Peter Murphy, Kevin Haskins, and David J to thank for giving their adolescence an overarching mood, community, and aesthetic. This week, the Bauhausers are saying "you're welcome" in a few different ways. Tuesday saw the release of the band's first studio album in 25 years, "Go Away White," a swan song conceived during the group's brief reunion in 2005. Details are leaking out about the forthcoming reunion of Love and Rockets, the group that formed out of the Bauhaus ashes. And tonight, ex-Bauhaus bassist Daniel J opens "Silver for Gold," his musical rumination on the life of Edie Sedgwick, at the Met Theatre in Los Angeles. Here, J takes a break from tech rehearsals to talk to Style.com about money, mythology, and, of course, music.

Wow, lots to talk about! Let's start with "Go Away White." Is that really it for Bauhaus?

That's it. The fact that there's a new record at all is down to coincidence and good timing. When the Coachella organizers came to us in 2005 and asked us to do a reunion show, the only reason we said yes was they were offering us a rather fantastic sum of money. Frankly. But when the time came to get together and rehearse, we found that we were really, really into it…So we did a few more dates, and snuck into a studio for a few days not having any idea if a record would come out of the sessions. We're all quite pleased with "Go Away White," but it seems best not to push it.

But now there's a Love and Rockets reunion on the docket…

Once again, I have to admit that money played a role in the decision. Those Coachella folks, they're irresistible. But, you know, the Bauhaus reunion was such a positive experience that in a way, getting Love and Rockets back onstage seemed like the natural next step. It helped convince us, too, that Love and Rockets seems to be name-checked by quite a few young bands lately; there's something in the ether—we're relevant again.

Any set-list hints?

The song I'm really into is our old cover of "Ball of Confusion." It seems quite appropriate to the world these days, dystopia and so on. We're playing early stuff, nothing from after '89.

And in the meantime, you're staging "Silver for Gold." Is this your first experience doing musical theater?

Yes and no. A little after 9/11, I did a kind of experimental thing at the Knitting Factory here, riffing off a solo song of mine, and there was a 12-minute play I wrote for a theater company in Atlanta about my teenage years as a punk. But this is the first time I've attempted anything on this scale. Ten songs, two instrumentals, monologues, costumes… real show, in other words. It's funny, because I was never one of those people obsessed with Edie Sedgwick—in fact, I'd always assumed she was uninteresting. But I happened to see this script about her, called "Girl on Fire," and I liked the title and stole it for a song. Didn't think there was much more in it for me than that, but one thing led to another thing, and here we are.

Is "Silver for Gold" based on that screenplay?

No, I gave Edie's story my own spin. I did a fair amount of research on her, and what I wound up seeing is that she's sort of like a modern-day Persephone, the girl who journeys to the underworld. He's not in the show, but Andy is Hades, obviously, and "Silver" stands for the silver at the Factory, to some degree. Bob Dylan comes in as Orpheus, and Paul Morrissey, Ondine, and Chuck Wein are the three heads of Cerberus, the dog guarding the gates of hell. Monique Jenkinson plays Edie, the girl who doesn't know she's living in a myth. We're all having a lot of fun.