Sunglasses After Dark: A tribute to Lux Interior

"When the sun goes down and the moon comes up, I turn into a teenage Goo Goo Muck"

"Cramped"

A little late in coming this one but thought I`d bang out my thoughts on the passing of the legendary Lux Interior, lead singer of the even more legendary and ground breaking Cramps as it comes up to what would have been his 63rd birthday on October 21st.

Real name Erick Lee Purkhiser, Lux as everyone else knew him (or Vip Vop or Raven Beauty to those in the know) was born in Ohio in 1946 and sadly passed away in February this year due to aortic dissection (heart problems to me and you). He is survived by his wife, lifetime friend and confidante in trash, Poison Ivy and our thoughts are with her at this time as Lux`s birthday nears as well as Halloween.

Lux met Ivy apparently while she was hitchhiking in 1972 in Sacramento. They formed The Cramps and moved to California in 1973 then on to, what I reckon is their spiritual home, New York in 1975.

"Demons are a girls best friend"

Everybody says the The Cramps were the first `psychobilly` band, which the band denied and claimed that they only used the term to drum up business.

A lot of myths surround The Cramps career and I guess that this is their appeal, I mean do you believe that their gig at Napa Sate Mental Hospital in 1978 was real?

"Napa State of mind"

Do you care? What a fookin story that is, I mean come on who else would do that, real or not? Me and my girlfriend kinda don`t believe it was real but we also don`t really care, we still love Lux and Ivy equally (also the rest of the gang but it`s Lux and Ivy all the way)

I personally wouldn`t call them psychobilly but I can see where people get that from and it`s quite easy to lump a band into a genre when you can`t really pigeon-hole them anywhere else and this is what happened all through the bands career.

Too rockin for punk, too weird for surf, too wild for rockabilly and too scuzzy for garage the bands look and sound was out of this world!!

Drawing on his musical and film influences Lux created a unique persona which will stand the test of time in`rock` and will never be emulated!

"Songs The Cramps Taught Us"

The music of The Cramps pilfers from the back woods rockabilly stylings of artists such as The Rumblers, Charlie Feathers, Link Wray, Jack Scott etc, sci-fi surf garage twangers like Dale Hawkins, The Trashmen, The Busters etc.
I mean, every band that influenced Lux were made up of the types of people you really wouldn`t wanna meet on a deserted highway when you`d caught a flat or ran out of gas and that`s exactly how the mainstream media probably saw Lux and The Cramps.

"Come back, you`ve not finished my make up"

Horror movies and b movies obviously influenced the style and sound, with tracks such as I Was A Teenage Werewolf, Goo Goo Muck, Human Fly, Surfin` Dead, Dinner With Dracula, Creature From The Black Leather Lagoon etc.

"I'm going to TRANSFORM him, and unleash the savage instincts that lie hidden within..."

Lux and The Cramps will remain in our memories forever and every Halloween we will ask your momma how to make a monster in tribute!!

You can catch Johnny Trash and Polly Esther raisng the dead this Halloween in Manchester @ Zombie Pride on Friday October 30th:

http://www.facebook.com/search/?q=zombie+pride&init=quick#/event.php?eid=156357172408&index=1