The Cramps

The Cramps are a punk rock/rockabilly band, whos only permanent members have been Lux Interior (Erick Purkhiser) and Poison Ivy (Kristy Wallace) the lead singer and lead guitarist respectively. Their musical style is fuzzy, stripped rockabilly, mostly in twelve bar blues form, whether fast or slow (but usually fast), played on two guitars, vocals and a very minimal drumkit (they have only recently added a bass player). The content of their songs and image is sleaze, trashy americana, sexual fetishism and a lot of cheap horror B-movie cliche.

Influences on the sound are early rockabilly and proto-rock n roll like Eddie Cochran, Chuck Berry and Hasil Adkins, as well as 60s garage rock people like The Seeds, The Gants, The Sonics and The Monks, as well as the early punk scene from which they emerged. They also owe a lot to Screamin Jay Hawkins for inventing the theatrical horror-blues stage act thang.

In turn, they have had incredible influence on subsequent punk and rockabilly revival bands, even creating a little genre in their wake - 'Psychobilly' (bands such as The Meteors and the Sharks), a term coined by the Cramps, although Lux Interior maintains that the word does not reflect their style.

Brief Biography

Lux Interior and Poison Ivy met in Ohio in 1976...they obviously had interests in common, and decided to form the band. Lux took his stage name from a car ad, and Ivy claims to have received hers in a dream (she was first Poison Ivy Rorschach, Rorschach being the inventor of the Rorschach inkblot test). Anyway, they moved to New York, straight into the CBGB's early punk scene that made The Ramones, Patti Smith, Television etc. The lineup in 1976 was Poison Ivy Rorschach, Lux Interior, Bryan Gregory (guitar) and his sister Pam 'Ballam' (drums) They quickly changed drummers twice, Miriam Linna (later of Nervous Rex) replacing Pam Ballam, and then Nick Knox (Nicholas Stephanoff) replacing her in September 1977. In the late 70s the Cramps gigged New York - places like CBGB's and Max's Kansas City and released two indie singles before being signed by Miles Copeland to the little-at-the-time I.R.S records. They released the two singles again as Gravest Hits, before going into Sun Studios (made famous by the Memphis set - Johnny Cash, Elvis Presley, Jerry Lee Lewis) to record their first album, 'Songs The Lord Taught Us'. Kid Congo Powers of The Gun Club joined the band on guitar, but while recording their second LP, 'Psychedelic Jungle', the band began to fall out with Miles Copeland over royalties and creative rights etc. The ensuing court case prevented them from releasing anything until 1983, when they recorded 'Smell of Female' live at New York's