The End of a Legend

Several days ago, we lost a legendary performer, who happens to be a favorite of mine. Lux Interior, front-man for the iconoclastic, scary, and just plain strange band; The Cramps. The Cramps were Punk Rock before there was a name for it. Their sound combined the sounds of surf and rockabilly, with the shtick of Roger Corman B-Movies. They made being Dead cool, and helped usher in the Horror Punk and Death Rock movements. Lux and his dominatrix wife, Poison Ivy, started the band as a side project to her Domina work. They were actually funded by this work in the early years. They did not just act or dress the part; they WERE the part. They were truly strange and different people. They were also a huge influence on me, being a guitarist and general weird person myself.

Lux Interior was known for being the most chaotic, unpredictable, and just plain scary weird singer you would ever see live. Everyone else are pale imitations. There is a bass drum in the Rock n Roll Hall of Fame that he put his head through during a performance. How cool is that? He was known for wearing women's high heels, and lot's of latex. He played sort of an aggressive male tart, while Poison Ivy played the evil Succubus pulling the strings. The roles were definitely reversed from the typical "cock" rock of the era (and our era as well). Lux Interior was 62 and kept playing and touring to the bitter end; The Cramps being one of the few bands to have never broken up, ever. He fronted the band from 1972 until his death on February 4th, of a pre-existing heart condition.

This is a true loss for REAL MUSIC.

Read more here...