Fans of Andy Warhol could be forgiven for doing a double take on reading the upcoming gig listings in the music press because of the very familiar name there. They might even adopt the pop artist's famously ghostly pallor on seeing the name of Edie Sedgwick, the actress and model whose name will always be associated with his. Their shock would, of course, be because Sedgwick died of a drugs overdose in 1971; though not before she had become famous for being famous, mostly as a result of her roles in Warhol's art films such as Kitchen, Space and Beauty No2. She was recently portrayed by Sienna Miller in the biopic Factory Girl.

Those following up the concert notices will be in for a further surprise when they see this reincarnated Sedgwick perform. The neat blonde hair seems right, as does the tight-fitting dress. But would Edie really be rocking out to the kind of left-field guitar noise that fuses Grace Jones, Sparks and the Pixies? And what about that beard?

“Edie” is, in fact, the Washington DC-based musician Justin Moyer, who has taken Sedgwick's persona as his own. Evolving his act from a kind of video karaoke to a full band, Moyer as Sedgwick is on his third album, with the latest finding a home on the unconventionally cool DC punk label Dischord, the home of Fugazi.

“About ten years ago I read a biography of Andy Warhol and read about Edie Sedgwick,” Moyer says. “She was a model and actress who was not an actress and she just seemed, as Warhol found her, like an interesting cipher that you could hang a lot of ideas on. At the time I was writing a lot of songs about politics and I decided to write these songs about ridiculous celebrity.”

Warhol would doubtless have approved of these short, often abrasive, takes on celebrity culture, which have grown from arty haiku to more vitriolic attacks, though the music's repetitive groove means that they are more punk-funk-disco than caustic aural broadsides.

Nearly all the songs bear the name of the celebrity that inspired them, with Angelina Jolie, from the new album Things Are Getting Sinister and Sinisterer, taking on celebrity adoption. “Thinking about a baby. Working on a baby. Let's go get a baby. A black baby,” sings Moyer as Sedgwick, pondering what happens to the less attractive, more sickly orphans. The album also includes tracks about Sissy Spacek and Mary-Kate Olsen.

Moyer says that his transformation into Sedgwick came about at the turn of the century, largely because of a growing disillusion with the way things were on the rock circuit. “I have been a touring musician for about a decade now and I have seen so many bands with these bearded guys in flannel shirts who get on stage and play their guitar-fuelled music and exit stage right and that is it,” he says. “I wanted to make something that was a bit more exciting and have some big ideas behind it.”

Moyer in drag as Sedgwick should not be too big a leap for Warhol fans, as Warhol was a big fan of drag queens. But what have Sedgwick's family made of the resurrection of their deceased relation?

“For a time I was in touch with a cousin of hers and he said that the family know what I am doing and that they are really cool with it,” Moyer says. “I think people are more receptive when I am wearing this very small sparkly dress and a pair of ripped pantyhose. I like to think that Edie would get a kick out of it.”

Moyer insists that he is not in Sedgwick mode all the time, but does increasingly find himself looking through her eyes, or the eyes of the character he has created.

“I saw Duplicity the other day and for me it is more interesting to think: ‘What if I had to write a song about the film Duplicity?' To me that is interesting, like when Warhol took a photo of Elvis and blew it up, making an iconic image from a generic photograph. I hope I am participating in the same process. I am using things that people are familiar with to express an idea that is larger than whoever the song is named after.”

You may think that Moyer is dressing as Sedgwick and taking her name in an attempt to revive her legacy. But he believes that she doesn't really have one, which is precisely why he took her name.

“After she left the Factory thing in the mid-1960s, I don't think she was really thought of at all,” he says. “I borrowed her for my own ideas as she is kind of a forgettable character in popular culture history. The fact that Edie does not have a strong identity makes the whole project work.”

As odd or cruel as that sounds, it is what makes the project work, providing an unusual focal point for an act that might otherwise pass many by, which would be a great shame. Moyer and Sedgwick have a lot to say, and that it is best done in a wig and a dress is in little doubt.

Edie Sedgwick plays Brixton Windmill, SW2 (020-8671 0700) tomorrow, then Glasgow, Nottingham, Leeds and Exeter (www.ediesedgwick.biz). Things Are Getting Sinister and Sinisterer is out now on Dischord

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