johnny punkster Posted February 5, 2009 Share Posted February 5, 2009 (edited) Man..another of my idols falls away. Today is sad day,tinged with mischievious happiness. Lux and The Cramps were innovators of that hybreed mix of punk,surf,garage and rockabilly. PSYCHOBILLY !!! "Dirty rock 'n' roll" I once labelled them ..a giant leap beyond from the Stones in the sixties...no! in fact a huge galaxy beyond..ultra risque at its best! The best living musical b-movie you'd ever want to hear! A Russ Mayer musical...Faster Pussycat! Kill! Kill!! They were just a brilliant band,with the most entertaining live frontman a band could want. One of the greatest ever gigs in my life, was seeing the Cramps 1986 at Manchester Apollo.He just wrecked it! Totally memorized,you couldn't look away for one second-he was just mad..bad..crazy..funny..feckin awesome...unreal....it was a forever memorable performance. Goodnight Gorehound...thanks for the music and happiness you shared........buzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz! Edited February 5, 2009 by johnny punkster Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oafc_ok Posted February 5, 2009 Share Posted February 5, 2009 (edited) Really sad news. Good tribute Johnny. A Date with Elvis is, imo, the best album of the 1980s bar none, and, as Johnny says, Lux was just a phenomenal frontman. He was like a more deranged version of Iggy Pop! My elbow still has to be cracked into place some mornings after an injury sustained at a Cramps gig, Birmingham Hummingbird, 1990. Have had a few conversations recently saying I hoped to see The Cramps live again at some point. Unfortunately that won't be happening now. I'm sure D_S will be along later to post some of his live photos of the great man. R.I.P. Edited February 5, 2009 by oafc_ok Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
leezyverpunk Posted February 5, 2009 Share Posted February 5, 2009 Bad noos man - never got to see them live - loved Date With Elvis - great album - gone to wear the Wighat in the Sky!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Diego_Sideburns Posted February 5, 2009 Share Posted February 5, 2009 (edited) I’m really shocked at the news! He was only 62 but apparently had a heart complaint. The Cramps - biography: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Cramps Mrs. Sideburns and I even missed a Latics match to see The Cramps at Brixton Academy - Bad Music for Bad People! We thought we might never see them again and then we did at the Birmingham Hummingbird gig referred to by oafc_ok, where I took these photos. For those who never saw The Cramps, it’s difficult to paint a true picture for you in words, and I can’t do better than quote this review of a gig at the Astoria, London in 2003: "Now, if you work in a record store, or you have a degree in Musicology," spits Lux Interior with an exaggerated sneer, "you might file us under post-punk-alternative-psycho-schizo-tronic..." For many years, before the advent of CD reissues, The Cramps were the sole living repository of the oral tradition of American garage rock. Which makes The Cramps sound like tweedy museum curators, which could not be further from the truth. Yes, a sense of history runs through everything they do, but so, crucially, does a sense of mischief. The Cramps have never swerved from their vision of a mondo/ trash/ B-movie aesthetic welded to primal shockabilly tunes. But suddenly, in their fourth decade of existence, they find themselves unexpectedly relevant. When I first saw The White Stripes, they reminded me of The Cramps. When I first saw The Hives, they reminded me of The Cramps... You get the picture. And so, when the Astoria throws open its doors, the usual tribe of Betty Page girls and Judder Men are here, but so are a younger, more dressed-down contingent, quietly checking out the Godfathers and Godmothers of the garage revival. But what on earth are they going to look like after so long? One fears that Lux Interior will resemble a zombie from one of his own songs. After all, he must be 100 years old by now. But when you're so pale and so thin, there comes a point when you don't look any older. You cryogenise. And Interior - real name Erick Purkhiser - looks like a walking cartoon of himself (which is exactly as it should be). Similarly, Poison Ivy Rorschach (born Kirsty Wallace) looks utterly fabulous for a woman pushing 50. In her vinyl miniskirt and red patent spike heel boots, a headband holding back her ginger explosion of curls, she looks like one of The Carrie Nations (the band from Beyond the Valley of the Dolls), casually twanging out surf riffs on her F-hole Gretsch. From the opening "Big Black Witchcraft Rock" (from the latest album Fiends of Dope Island) through ancient favourites like "Human Fly", "Surfin Bird" (given a hilariously over-wrought false ending) and "New Kind of Kick", they sound as timeless as they look. And good lord, they know how to entertain. Lux is the satanic clown, falling to his knees before Ivy and miming cunnilingus (while she glances down, unconcerned), bending his mic stand around his head like a pipecleaner, climbing Phantom Of The Opera-style around the speaker stacks, and shredding his trousers to reveal his meat and two veg. Ivy, meanwhile, whips off her hairpiece (to reveal, brilliantly, exactly the same real hair beneath), and hands it to Lux to wear. She takes off her boots, and uses the stiletto to play bottleneck. Lux grabs the spare boot, and sniffs it with a leer. Somehow to say “Rest in peace” doesn’t seem appropriate for Lux. Whether he’s made it “up there” or gone “down there“, he’ll be jostling for the lead singer role with many others fronting a band of music legends. Gone but never forgotten. Thanks for the great memories Lux. The Cramps video: Edited February 5, 2009 by Diego_Sideburns Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oafc_ok Posted February 5, 2009 Share Posted February 5, 2009 He was only 62. Whether he’s made it “up there” or gone “down there“, Reports of his age vary. Most reports seem to say he was 60. The book 'The Wild Wild World Of The Cramps', is no help. It just says "Lux Interior came into the world at some point during the forties." If he's "made it "up there"" I'm sure he'd consider himself a failure! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Diego_Sideburns Posted February 5, 2009 Share Posted February 5, 2009 Reports of his age vary. Most reports seem to say he was 60. The rarely wrong contactmusic.com (World Entertainment News Network) typo adds 10 years between the headline and first paragraph. http://www.contactmusic.com/news.nsf/artic...at%2052_1093913 Rock In Peace Lux and condolences to Poison Ivy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Diego_Sideburns Posted February 8, 2009 Share Posted February 8, 2009 One of my photos used by the writer of an article on Lux. http://www.dreamnotoftoday.com/?p=1978 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frankly Mr Shankly Posted February 9, 2009 Share Posted February 9, 2009 My favourite Cramps song. RIP Lux. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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