THEY OOZE, YOU’LL THROB! The Devil Inside The Cramps!
Thursday, March 11th, 2010 by Nos
Last month held a rather sad anniversary for the underground … the one year mark for THE CRAMPS front man Lux Interior’s death. (Oct.21st 1946 – Feb.4th 2009) To say he was an inspiration is a gross understatement. For many of us he was the father of an incredible subculture.
So today Chad Cherry and I would like to delicate THE DEVIL INSIDE to some of the things that made THE CRAMPS truly great!
“Hey I’m on my way, on a journey outta this world” -LUX-
CHAD:
“In the spring of 1976, The Cramps began to fester in a NYC apartment. With out fresh air or natural light, the group developed it’s uniquely mutant strain of rock-n-roll aided only by the sickly blue rays of late night t.v. While jackhammer rhythms of punk were proliferating in NYC, The Cramps dove into the deepest recesses of the rock-n-roll psyche for the most primal of all rhythmic impulses -Rockabilly- The sound of southern culture falling apart in a blaze of shudders and hiccups. As late night sci-fi reruns colored the room, The Cramps also picked and chose amongst eras – surf, instrumental rock, psychedelia, and 60′s punk.
And then they added the junkiest element of all…. Themselves”.
It would be almost impossible to have not heard of The Cramps. But there are those who live under candy coated rubble that love to get force fed whatever media says is cool at the watered down moment…. Which is mostly shit… This article is for you.. So you can learn.
Their career has been the stuff of legend. Dangerously bizarre but most of all cool, The Cramps represent everything that is truly reprehensible about rock-n-roll. Founding members Lux Interior ( The psycho-sexual Elvis/Werewolf hybrid from hellfire) and the guitar slingin’ soul-mate Poison Ivy ( The ultimate bad girl vixen that I still have a crush on. So sexy evil!) are the architects of a wicked sound that distills a cross of swamp water, moonshine and nitro down to a dangerous and unstable musical substance. (I’ll have a couple shots of that!!!) Their cultural impact has spawned a legion of devil cults and dance floor catfights, and created in it’s wake a cavalcade of cave-stompin’ imitators.
As punk rock pioneers in the late 70′s they cut their teeth on the stages of CBGB and Max’s kansas City and recorded their first record at Sam Phillip’s legendary Sun Studios, funded mainly by Ivy’s income as a dominatrix in NYC. They coined the now ever so popular term “psychobilly” on gig their posters. Their hair raising live performances where a total, no-holds-barred rock-n-roll assault. After a quarter centry of mayhem, they’re too far gone to even consider any other course.
The Cramps were the garage band that fueled everything nasty about the way my mind developed as a kid. I would skateboard for hours listening to my master comp that I put together via 7inch/12inch vinyl record to cassette. (old skool muthaf#@kas) I still have that tape… Somewhere…. I would destroy my body with my terrible skateboard tricks and The Cramps would be right there in my ears telling me that I’m suppose to be in pain and bleeding like a stuck pig . Now enjoy it punk………….. And i did.
Nos:
I was first exposed to THE CRAMPS somewhere around 15 years old at a Christian school. I had long since been obsessed with music of the late 50′s/early 60′s but hadn’t been properly introduced to the modern take on it. Needless to say it was love at first listen… Such rebellion! Such filth! And at the heart of it all was the ultimate rock and roll love story … Lux and Ivy.
There are countless Psychobilly bands in THE CRAMPS’ wake but none have even come close to matching the raw energy that dripped from Lux’s stage. This man was beyond committed to his bit! At 50 he was still touring and STILL cutting himself up in front of the audience. He wasn’t afraid to unleash his demons ….
Chad:
The band has had several line up changes but the whole deal was always Lux and Poison Ivy. The greatest couple to ever come from Hell. That is why I was crushed when I heard the news last year (while I was on tour with the Crue and partying in new Orleans) that Lux had died after suffering an aortic dissection. Out of nowhere.. He was 62. The first thing I thought about was Poison Ivy. He was her Frankenstein. Second thing I did was finish up the bottle of Jack with TLV as a toast to a great rock-n-roll monster who will be undead in my heart until I hit sunlight and as long as I keep blazing The Cramps evil groove to the rhymes of the devils blues.
Nos:
I remember reading an interview with Lux and Ivy just a few years before he passed. They still seemed so in love and still so in tune with each other. – That’s hard for “normal” couple to do after several decades together … let alone rock n roll pairing! Ivy was the first one I thought of too after I heard about his death…
But the legacy will always live on! And so will their passion for things bizarre and horror related.
One of my all time favorite concert videos is THE CRAMPS live at Napa State Mental Hospital. If you haven’t seen this yet you’re SO missing out! During a 1978 tour THE CRAMPS paid a little visit to a metal institute for a concert and someone captured the results on camera. The patients scream, jump around, and even sing along with Lux …. utter madness.
I’m sure you can pick up a copy via Amazon.
The music of THE CRAMPS was also no stranger to horror films (as Chad Cherry will get into in a minute) and they’ve even been known to make an elusive cameo or two in a horror film. FOR EXAMPLE: Did you know they dressed like zombies and ran around in tunnels for Romero’s DAY OF THE DEAD? It ‘s true … watch the behind the scenes on the DVD!
Chad:
Their music is in some of my favorite movies (Return of the Living Dead -”Surfin’ Dead” and The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 – “Goo Goo Muck”) and they were in the greatest Halloween episode of Beverly Hills 90210. Look out Dillon! Lux comes out and say’s “Hey boys and ghouls, are you ready to raise the dead?” then they played “Mean Machine” and Strange Love.” Yeah! I’ll never forget that. I always wondered how the vibe was on the 90210 set having real Vampires around Kelly and Brandon……
Anyway…….. If you don’t have any of The Cramps music (your excused if you were born yesterday) and you love the creepy, then buy these record right now.
- Songs the Lord taught us- 80
- Psychedelic Jungle- 81
- Smell of Female- -live- 83
- A date with Elvis- 86
- Stay Sick- 90
- Look Mom, No Head- 91
- Flame Job- 94
- Big beat from Badsville- 97
- Fiends of Dope Island- 02
If you are looking for “best of”s and compilations… Here ya go.
- Off the Bone – 83
- Bad Music for Bad people- 84 (Still have my t-shirt from this record………….Smells awesome)
- How to make a Monster- 04
- The Secret of The Cramps- 06
If you’re into high production and glossy fluff (who isn’t) then stick with American Idol stuff.
Enter at your own risk lovelies.
Another thing that is undeniable about THE CRAMPS is their impeccable fashion sense! Lux could make tights look hot on a man and he wasn’t afraid to wear lipstick with large sunglasses either. Ivy was the queen of animal print and reconstructed vintage … with a touch a dungeon gear added in for good measure. Even in their later years they looked fucking amazing and fashionable.
Lip Service has some very CRAMPS esc items and I’ve put together a list of my personal favorites …
[Ghost town cigarette fit jean] Time to channel your inner Lux with this fabulous jeans from the Ghost Town collection.
[Branch foil print leggings] It takes a bad rocker girl to pull these bitches off!
[Patent Vinyl bra w/o-ring details] ‘Cause who really wants to wear clothes on stage?
[Gangsta Pranksta Knee length dress] This little number has a real vintage appeal with an updated rock n roll edge!
[pocket hipster straight leg] Great for sweating yer balls off!
[Caged skirt] This Caged skirt is fucking crazy and would look wicked hot on both girls and boys.
Chad:
LONG LIVE ROCK-N-ROLL HORROR! The mold was broke when the B-movie sci-fi outer space neanderthal sex vamps called The Cramps landed back in the late 70′s. This is a one of kind rare band that you will never see the likes of again. You can still hear their music coming from graveyards in the evening, and I guarantee that they will keep you rockin’ with the un-dead all night long……….
So I just got back from the middle of nowhere Michigan, a.k.a – no-mans land -………. The Last Vegas set up a recording studio in a lake house with our engineer and started flushing out song ideas that we’ve had floating around inside our wicked little minds from the last couple of tours (and some from a lot earlier as well). The location was so isolated that phone reception was non exsistant and there was zero internet the whole week we were up there. Creepy and beautiful, cold and very snowy. Picture the movie ‘The Shining’…. But replace the sweet shrubbery maze with a frozen lake. Very scary at night. It was so quite and peaceful too… Until we got there that is. “ALL WORK AND NO PLAY, MAKES CHERRY A DULL BOY”!!!!! Check out The Last Vegas on tour this March. THE TEXAS C.C MASSACRE is coming!!!!! Cheers from your favorite Vampire creep…. -Chad Cherry- xxx
Nos:
No doubt THE CRAMPS will continue to inspire generations … both musically and with their legendary style.
In the Nos world I’ve been busy shooting new content for my website: goddessofgorenos.com and posing for magazines! I’m gracing the cover this month of ST.LOUIS SINNER and two of my photos made it into issue 31 of GOTHIC BEAUTY … which will be on newsstands March 12th! I’ve also been cast in a new horror film called AFTER PARTY MASSACRE and I’ll be shooting in glamorous Ohio next month.
Here’s some more great Cramps eye candy:
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