RIP Lux Interior and the Cramps.....

Cramps Singer Lux Interior Dead At 62


Singer died early Wednesday of an existing heart condition.



By James Montgomery and Jem Aswad






Lux Interior, lead singer of influential garage-punk act the Cramps,
died Wednesday morning (February 4) due to an existing heart condition,
according to a statement from the band's publicist. He was 62.
Born Erick Lee Purkhiser, Interior started the Cramps in 1972
with guitarist Poison Ivy (born Kristy Wallace, later his wife) — whom,
as legend has it, he picked up as a hitchhiker in California. By 1975,
they had moved to New York, where they became an integral part of the
burgeoning punk scene surrounding CBGBs.
Their music differed from most of the scene's other acts in
that it was heavily steeped in camp, with Interior's lyrics frequently
drawing from schlocky B-movies, sexual kink and deceptively clever
puns. (J.H. Sasfy's liner notes to their debut EP memorably noted: "The
Cramps don't pummel and you won't pogo. They ooze; you'll throb.")
Sonically, the band drew from blues and rockabilly, and a key element
of their sound was the trashy, dueling guitars of Poison Ivy and Bryan
Gregory (and later Kid Congo Powers), played with maximal scuzz and
minimal drumming.
Because of that — not to mention Interior's deranged, Iggy
Pop-inspired onstage antics and deep, sexualized singing voice (which
one reviewer described as "the psychosexual werewolf/ Elvis hybrid from
hell") — the Cramps are often cited as pioneers of "psychobilly" and
"horror rock," and can count bands like the Black Lips, the Jon Spencer
Blues Explosion, the Reverend Horton Heat, the Horrors and even the
White Stripes as their musical progeny.
Over the course of more than 30 years, the Interior and Ivy
surrounded themselves with an ever-changing lineup of drummers,
guitarists and bassists, and released 13 studio albums (the last being
2003's Fiends of Dope Island). They also famously performed a concert for patients at the Napa State Mental Hospital
in 1978 (which was recorded on grainy VHS and has since become a cult
classic) and appeared on a Halloween episode of "Beverly Hills, 90210."
Their video for the song "Bikini Girls With Machine Guns" also drew
rave reviews from Beavis and Butt-head on a memorable episode of the
show.
Despite the band's long history, fans generally agree that the group's peak was in the early '80s, with the albums Songs the Lord Taught Us and Psychedelic Jungle.
Many clips of the Cramps' chaotic live shows from the era can be found
online; look for their version of "Tear It Up" from the 1980 film
"URGH! A Music War." One memorable (and typical) show in Boston in 1986
found Interior, clad only in leopard-skin briefs, drinking red wine
from an audience member's shoe, and ended with him French-kissing a
woman (who wasn't his wife) for 10 full minutes with his microphone in
their mouths.
Due to their imagery, obsession with kitsch and dogged
dedication to touring — they wrapped up their latest jaunt across
Europe and the U.S. this past November — the Cramps commanded a loyal
fanbase, and even earned a spot in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, in
the form of a shattered bass drum that Interior had shoved his head
through.



I'm beside myself, i don't know what to say

Some nice photos and linked video clips on this site:

http://www.thedailyswarm.com/headlines/cramps-lux-interior-rip/

I hope you got to see him perform anyway. It's really sad when one of these people dies and I never saw them in concert. I never got to see Alex Harvey, for example. RIP.

No i never did, the Cramps last toured here in '95 or something. But they were strongly tipped to return this year which makes it even sadder on a personal level.

Guys like Lux and Alex come around once in a lifetime.


"....now when i die don't ya bury me at all, just nail my bones up on the
wall. beneath these bones let these words be seen, here's the bloody
gears of a boppin' machine...."

That sucks I loved The Cramps. I never got to see em live either RP.

That sucks I am huge Cramps fan, the first album I bought by them " A Date with Elvis' is a classic. Never got to see them live which is my loss, a very unique band and he will be missed.

The only Cramps album I currently have on CD will get a spun tonight in tribute to his memory.

Sad sad news indeed....

Yea, sad news. Out of all of my cd's, I have very little percentage-wise dedicated to the punk genre. The Cramps was one that made the cut. I love their rock-a-billy music and the insane lyrics. And there was something very sexy about Poison Ivy. I'm surprised that Lux was 62. I will spin some Cramps tonight.

Geez, there's a name I haven't heard in a while. When I was in high school, the girl who had the locker next to mine was a HUGE punk rock fan (she was an "arty" type, kinda cute too) and she was always telling me to check out the Cramps. She loaned me a tape at one time (I forget which one it was) and I listened to it a few times but it was too weird for me back then (as I was still firmly in my all-thrash, all-the-time phase). I'd probably dig it if I heard it now, though. Wherever that girl is today I betcha she's bummed.

Fat Freddy wrote:

Geez, there's a name I haven't heard in a while. When I was in high school, the girl who had the locker next to mine was a HUGE punk rock fan (she was an "arty" type, kinda cute too) and she was always telling me to check out the Cramps. She loaned me a tape at one time (I forget which one it was) and I listened to it a few times but it was too weird for me back then (as I was still firmly in my all-thrash, all-the-time phase). I'd probably dig it if I heard it now, though. Wherever that girl is today I betcha she's bummed.

I went to art school with a guy that introduced me to these guys. I told him I liked rock-a-billy music and he told me to check 'em out. I thought they were awesome from the 1st note I heard. I had a comp tape that he made me, but only 1 cd. I'd should get more. I remeber them getting airplay on Beavis & Butthead once too. I think it was the song 'Bikini Girls with Machine Guns'.

RIP

rattpoison wrote:

No i never did, the Cramps last toured here in '95 or something. But they were strongly tipped to return this year which makes it even sadder on a personal level.

That's really awful. My best friend is a big Cramps fan, and I'm fairly certain she got to see them live in the early 80's at least.

The thing i loved about the Cramps the most more so than the Rockabilly and B-Movie schtick was the destructo fuzz guitar, that guitar sound was so frickin' huge. Also Lux's hick Elvis/Hasil Adkins preachin' and croon.

Psychedelic Jungle (1981) is the album were they hit on it perfect, love it's twilight zone 60's punk vibe.

One of the best movie scenes imo is the bar scene out of Near Dark soundtracked by the Cramps rendition of Fever, classic....

Drag. Saw the Cramps at least half a dozen times in the 80's. Them and the Butthole Surfers used to place the Ave 2 or 3 times a year, sometimes together. Lux and PI worked off each amazingly. They were definately kindred spirits. Sympathies to PI.

I have been listening to alot Cramps since the news of Lux's passing, and even upgraded my tapes to CD over the weekend. They had not been on my radar in years and I had forgotten how much I loved their combo of hillbilly/rockabilly meets punk, songs about sexual fetish and other socially unacceptable behaviour all done in Lux's own tongue in cheek fashion and Poison Ivy's Eddie Cochran meets Steve Jones in dark alley guitar sound. R.I.P. Lux Interior.

Sad news, I never got to see them play, but I wish I did.

I was never much of a fan, but I did like their music

RIP