Trance to the Sun are a really good "ethereal gothic" band. they played several shows with Lycia this summer. they are neat & really good to zone out to. this interview was conducted by mailing a tape & questions, the weaknesses of this method are becoming more evident. Ashkelon plays guitars. Zoë sings. Lucian plays keyboards. Israel played bass on the 1995 tour.

Zoë – well, we decided we’d already given ourselves a label & that’s Trance to the Sun.

Ashkelon – I like gothic, that label.

QRD – what country are you most popular in?

Zoë – we don’t know.

QRD – you just finished a 23 show tour of the united states, do you have any cool tour stories from it? did you think Convergence sucked?

Zoë – when we were in new york we got shoes & we ate at this place in soho twice & did heroin & got scared. well, Ashkelon got scared by gangsters & stuff. & what else happened? hmm?

Ashkelon – ... wait, no no we’re not doing this right. maybe Brian should ask the questions.

Zoë – okay. why? cause you’re not getting to lead the interview like you usually do? "well, blah-blah-blah-blah-blah.

Lucian – I think we should start over.

Zoë – I don’t want to start over, why should we start over?

Ashkelon – cause you rushed it along through the first few questions & didn’t give me a chance to answer & stuff....

Zoë – well you were interrupting me from the get go.

Ashkelon – I was not....

QRD – I assume you’re normally referred to as "gothic;" do you like that label or would you prefer to give yourself another one?

Zoë – as I said, we’ve labeled ourselves the name of the band.

Ashkelon – I like gothic clubs & I think goth is the flames through which all good evil music must pass.

Zoë – I don’t think goth is that glorious. I think that there are some chiks who are cute & stuff, but I don’t really think that gothic is that amazing.

Ashkelon – you shouldn’t slam gothic in an interview.

Zoë – I’m not slamming gothic. people who yell at me for trying to put my cd’s on a table to sell them & then later steal them, just because they have black hair & do all this stupid shit with their fucking clothes I don’t think they’re really cool. I think they’re insulting gothic anyway, by being that way.

Ashkelon – I like you Zoë. we’re a gothic band sorta....

Zoë – well, I don’t think that. I think We’re Trance to the Sun. I think gothic is fine & everything, but I never plan to be gothic or anything. I never thought, "oh, that’s the scene" or "how I want to make my band fit into that one," you know. I’d much rather gangsters be into it & stuff.

Ashkelon – yeah, what Zoë said.

QRD – what country are you most popular in?

Zoë – we don’t know.

Ashkelon – well, the US. that’s the one we toured in.

QRD – you just finished a 23 show tour of the US....

Zoë – actually, how many shows was it?

Ashkelon – well, 23 is that trip, 29 since april.

QRD – do you have any cool stories from it?

Zoë – we almost got killed by this person who fell asleep when they were driving....

Ashkelon – when you think back on it, there were so many things that we did. there were all these things that you’re like "oh my god, that was when we were on tour." when we were in virginia the dates in colorado seemed like they’d been forever ago. & I had so much fun. we went swimming at the beach in florida. when we got to the beach in florida Zoë ran in.... we got to the beach & Zoë jumped out of the car & ran straight across the beach & went straight into her water with her dress.

Zoë – well, Ashkelon was being all influenced by that other person.

Ashkelon – I was not.

Zoë – well you were like, "Zoë, come on!"

Ashkelon – I was collecting shells, it was fun.

Zoë – no no. you’re leaving out the part where I ran into the water & then you guys are like, "oh, great." you guys were like, "oh my god, I can’t believe she’s doing that." & then you’re like, "Zoë, come on! you’re going to smell like fish! you stupid bitch!"

Ashkelon – I did not!

Zoë – you did too!

Ashkelon – I did not!

Zoë – yes you did. & so you guys were like, "oh my god, I can’t believe there’s someone actually swimming & stuff."

Ashkelon – I was not! god damn it! why’re you saying that?! you’re being so mean! you’re being a total bitch!

Zoë – you said, "you’re gonna smell like fish."

Ashkelon – I know, because that’s what the water smelled like.

Zoë – you were being so mean.

Ashkelon – I was not. I was just trying to get you out of the water because Israel was being such an asshole. he was giving me the evil eye because he didn’t want to be there waiting for you to swim.

Zoë – so you were like, "come on Zoë," & I was like, "no, you come in...."

Ashkelon – well, I was stuck there on the beach with Israel making me miserable.

Zoë – Israel was like, "I’m going to the car."

Ashkelon – he was such a prick.

Zoë – & then I was swimming for forever.

Ashkelon – I didn’t drag you in or anything. I was like, "come on," for like a minute & then I gave up.

Zoë – then you guys started collecting shells & stuff & that was cool.

Ashkelon – but it was like, you understand, we talked about this.

Zoë – I understand. Ashkelon is cool.

Ashkelon – Israel was giving me such a hard time & I didn’t want to put him in any situation where he would get all unhappy & start to take it out on me.

Zoë – so you were like, "Zoë’s so freaky."

Ashkelon – I would never say anything like that.

Zoë – you did too. you were like, "crazy girl." you were acting like that. you were like "you’re going to smell like fish...." but then you stopped acting like that, so that’s fine.

Ashkelon – but you know why....

Zoë – I know why, but I just want to let you know that you did it. but Ashkelon is really cool; I would never say anything & he likes to swim.

Ashkelon – & I like to let you swim & I like to watch you swim.

Zoë – but you also get under the influence....

Ashkelon – the only reason I was calling you to come in was I didn’t want Israel to give me shit.

Zoë – oh yeah, that’s right.

Ashkelon – that’s the only reason. we already talked about that. if Israel wasn’t there I would’ve let you swim to fucking cuba & back & I would’ve stood there & waited.

Zoë – you’re right, you would’ve. Ashkelon is the one who stopped at the coloado river & who made us swim & we jumped off of stuff.

Ashkelon – & also at that hot spring in montana where we went naked. we went naked & that was great & Israel went & hid by that waterfall.

Zoë – we jumped in & it was beautiful & Israel was like, "oh my god."

Ashkelon – he couldn’t believe that we disrobed right there next to the interstate. that was fun though.

Zoë – yeah, it was. & let’s see, what else happened?

Ashkelon – so much fun stuff. we went to niagra falls & there was a rainbow at the falls & we’d never seen niagra falls of course.

Zoë – & we saw an alligator in alligator alley.

Ashkelon – I wish I’d seen that.

Zoë – & then nothing else happened.

Ashkelon – so much stuff happened.

QRD – did you think Convergence sucked?

Ashkelon – it sucked for you Brian, because you didn’t get in & I feel bad. cause you paid for your tickets & I don’t think they refunded your money & I feel really bad for you.

QRD – what do you think about extraterrestrial biological entities?

Zoë – well, I happen to think Ashkelon has a steel plate in his head, because he has had many dreams where aliens are grabbing his head & dancing on the back of the couch & stuff. so I know that he was abducted in thousand oaks. & I know he has a steel plate in his head because he was abducted.

Ashkelon – okay, we can go on.... they follow us around, the aliens, & they give us totally indicative messages that they’re hanging out.

Zoë – & there’s also an alien sitting wearing dark glasses right here & he’s not saying anything.

QRD – how much of your next release is already written?

Zoë – all of it almost.

Ashkelon – we write in the studio, & so everything is written as we’re recording it. & we’re on the ninth song for the new album.

Zoë – which is not going to be announced until it comes out ? the name of.

Ashkelon – the name of the album we’re not telling anyone until it comes out.

Zoë – because it’s a secret & people plagiarize all the time & we know many of them. so that’s why.

Lucian – what is it?

Ashkelon – heh, you know what the name of the new album is. but it’s almost done & also we’ve made up a whole bunch of other songs which aren’t going to be on the album, but are gonna be on compilations. & still others that we don’t know what we’re going to do with, but they’re there. because we’re going to make a tour souvenir cd for our next tour that you can only get on tour & it’s gonna have some of them too. & it’s gonna be in bright yellow plastic with stickers on it & stuff.

Zoë – & our long long missed, long forgotten, long absent keyboard player is going on tour with us next time. because the true band is getting back together.

Ashkelon – well, Lucian is our keyboardist on all the new songs. but his parts were all sequenced for the tour because he couldn’t go on tour, which is so unfortunate.

QRD – what kind of pants do you normally wear?

Zoë – well, I usually wear these black pants.

Ashkelon – I wear my pajama pants a lot. Zoë gave me these cool pajama pants.

Zoë – they’re like satin. fuzzy inside & satiny outside & black with little red checks on them.

Ashkelon – I have two different pairs.

Zoë – yeah, he has maroon with little red checks & black with little red checks.

Ashkelon – & I wear my black pants with the zippers.

Zoë – um-hmm.

Ashkelon – so I guess normally... like right now I’m wearing my black pants with the zippers & my steel belt & my Ungodly t-shirt.

QRD – what’s your favorite Trance to the Sun song?

Zoë – let’s see....

Ashkelon – of our new set "Far Flung Saturnine," that’s going to be on the new album. & Zoë’s favorite one, during the tour I know, was "You Have Escaped Me," which is also on the new album.

Lucian – "The Nun V.V."

Ashkelon – & you heard all of them on the tour. & as far as from our albums, our favorite is "Spider Like."

QRD – what bands/music has been most influential & which most inspirational?

Zoë – well, let’s see. I’m just gonna say my favorite bands because I don’t know which ones are most influential. my favorite bands right now are Southern Culture on the Skids, St. Etienne, & Snoop Doggy Dog.

Ashkelon – I like Lycia & die Form & St. Etienne & Siouxsie & the Banshees & Black Sabbath.

Zoë – I like Black Sabbath too.

Lucian – & I like Skinny Puppy.

Zoë – yeah. & I like Fantasia & tricky Disco too.

Ashkelon – & I like And Also the Trees.

Lucian – & I like Skinny Puppy.

Zoë – & yeah, there’s a new one. who else do I like?

Ashkelon – I like the Swans.

Zoë – I like the Swans too.

Ashkelon – we went to the Swans concert the other day; it was really fun.

Zoë – I like the Swans, St. Etienne, Snoop Doggy Dog, & Southern Culture on the Skids, & the Specials.

Ashkelon – the Swans gave me that feeling like, they gave me this really weird feeling. like sometimes when it was really intense it felt like somebody you really love receding off into the distance going away. like when the music was really cooking it had this feeling like everything was going away.

Zoë – & I like Lycia too. & I like Neurosis.

Ashkelon – Neurosis was so rad in concert.

Zoë – yeah. I am personally responsible for getting them to play that show. well, kind of. you see their singer ran off stage & I was like "go back up there, you are so rad." & his face totally changed because he was so pissed off about the sound. & I followed him to where he’d run away & he was like, "ah! this club fucking sucks!" & he ran off stage & I followed him & I was like, "I can hear you, go up there & sing, go up there & play; it’s rad." & then he went back up there & he did the raddest show. it was the raddest show I’d ever been to practically. it was so intense.

Ashkelon – that was totally inspirational to me about playing, the intensity of being up there.

Zoë – they were so crazy. they totally had you locked into their craziness. & I like other bands too, but I can’t remember who. oh, I like Christian Death Only Theater of Pain &....

Ashkelon – you like Moby.

Zoë – I like Moby. I don’t like everything, but I like lots.

Ashkelon – I like Omalla from sweden.

Zoë – I like them too. well, we could just go on & on & on. but we really like Black Sabbath & Snoop Doggy Dog the best.

Ashkelon – Black Sabbath with Ozzy, none of this Dio shit.

QRD – are there any particular authors that influence you or your music?

Zoë – I don’t know. here’s some I like: Barry Gifford, Richard Brautigan, & H.P. Lovecraft.

Ashkelon – the only author that ever really influenced my music was William Gibson. he gave me a new look at how music might be created in the future & what it might be important about & stuff. you’d have to read it to get the idea.

QRD – do you have a chemical influence of choice?

Zoë – yes, I do & I just discovered it & that is heroin.

Ashkelon – bullshit. you better not mean that. you did heroin once & you threw up & stuff. I don’t want to hear you saying you have some drug of choice & it’s heroin, because that’s bullshit & heroin is total bullshit.

Zoë – no it’s not.

Ashkelon – Zoë, don’t be dumb.

Zoë – I’m not. I’m just saying that if I was gonna do drugs a lot, that’s what I’d do
Ashkelon – you see your friend out there like totally wasting her life on heroin. she’s so messed up on heroin.

Zoë – if I was gonna do drugs all the time, that would be the one I want to do.

Ashkelon – but you’re not gonna do drugs all the time.

Zoë – well, obviously. if I was gonna do drugs all the time I’d be in new york with Temma scratching my arms, right?

Ashkelon – right. okay, I like coffee & honey.

QRD – are you involved in any side projects?

Zoë – no, side projects are stupid.

Ashkelon – heh, heh, heh...

Zoë – except side projects we’re in.

Ashkelon – me & Lucian are, well it’s not really a side project, it’s another project.

Zoë – it’s not a side project. it has nothing to do with the side. the only direction it goes is forward.

Ashkelon – it’s Studio Necropols & we’ll leave it at that. & it hasn’t come out yet.

Zoë – & it’s going to kill you when it comes out so you won’t even notice.

QRD – had any neat dreams lately you’d like to tell us about?

Zoë – I usually have dreams about getting into really bad fights with people. because I don’t get along with many people & that’s basically what my dreams are about. Sometimes I have good dreams too. I mean, they’re all good, just kinda weird.

Ashkelon – I haven’t really had any interesting dreams.

Zoë – the stuff that happens to me is I will sense that people are about to fuck me over & then I have a dream about them doing the worst possible thing they could do. so it’s kinda like me making sure I know they’re not to be...

Ashkelon – ...trusted. Zoë has a lot of conflict with people.

QRD – if you were a cold medicine, what kind would you be?

Zoë – well, we both decided & we’ll say it in unison that we would be (w/Ashkelon) 666 cold.

Ashkelon – send your cold straight to hell.

Zoë – & to the people who made that video, we are not plagiarizing. we think you are the coolest fucking goths we’ve ever seen.

Ashkelon – yeah, because our friends in charlotte sent us a video of the show & a documentary of the whole day & thank you.

Zoë – that’s what I wanted to say. charlotte is the most kick ass city that puts witch hats on skunks & does really rad stuff. & we had the best show practically.

Ashkelon – & we have a documentary of the whole thing & remember how kickin ass the whole thing was. second to last show of the tour & it just made everything seem so worth it & right on.

QRD – if you were the child of god, what line would you use to get a date?

Zoë – I can’t answer that, because I’m not & I don’t know what I would do.

Ashkelon – I’d say, "if you like my ass, you should see my dad’s."
 

QRD – anything else we should know about? Ashkelon – Lycia was the best thing that could have happened to our tour & it was difficult to part ways in richmond the next morning. Zoë – I guess that’s it. Ashkelon – we love you, Brian. Zoë – well, Ashkelon happens to love you. so that means I’m going to have to kill you out of jealousy. you can’t see, but he’s kissing the speaker & stuff. thanks for interviewing us & stuff & sending us lace the same color as your lips.