Out the Sun is another band that hates labels.

"That's the hardest question we've ever been asked," said Monique Ortiz, the band's fretless bass player.

"We used to call ourselves alternative, but that's so wide open, it's so cliched that we try to avoid it," she said. "Some people call us 'pop gothic' -- so far we like that label the best."

Perhaps it's easier to define what they are not. "We have some songs that people bop around to, but we're definitely not a dance band," Ortiz said. That point she wanted made very clear.

The band, with the exception of second guitarist Paul Keazney, has been playing together for five years. Although Out the Sun is playing this evening at the Monk's Tunic, a downtown coffeehouse, it is probably better known from sharper-edged venues like the Chameleon Club, Uptown Club and Historic Blue Star, or from benefit shows for Amnesty International and That There Art. They've also been playing clubs in Harrisburg, Philadelphia and New York City.

"Our music has a lot of power to it," Ortiz said. "People come up to the stage and just listen."

Musically, she said, the band has been compared favorably to early David Bowie and Bauhaus. However, their tunes are all originals, coming mostly from the pens of singer Mark Daniels and guitarist Brant Groff.

"If anything out music is very psychological," Ortiz said. "We're not a teen angst band. We don't just do angry songs.

"Our music is very much about emotions. It's about non-acceptance, and people not really taking us for what we are."

Two demo tapes have sold fairly well, Ortiz said, and the band is hoping to put a CD out soon.

"I just want people to like our music. I want them to get into it," she added. "If one person thinks there's a deep meaning to it and another just likes the guitar part, that's still good. We still accomplished something."