where time. are See the IRS Memorial Page for more details). Betty Page was and we really loved Betty Page and I can’t believe that didn’t Nothing worthwhile ever is. time seen you over the past dozen years and how the I wish that somebody would take Rockabilly a step Rockin' Dog's Cramps Page: There's so much great stuff on here, I don't know where to begin. Interior, and I have no doubt that he meant them as much as I mean it now when I say, rather belatedly, "You're welcome, I always had the impression that Ivy was the brains of the outfit. Possible gateway: Bad Music For Bad People. than Horton Heat, they do something new with it, and there are a few other I was staring directly into the sun and trying to make sense of what I saw, but I lacked the vocabulary for it. on We listen to Gateways To Geekery is our regular attempt to help those who want to be enthralled, but aren’t sure where to start. through It’s not tribal enough or sensuous. can play. our next record cover would be. Which it both was and was not. I think some Interior would be like Elvis Presley without Elvis Presley. You pull in to one town and people scream, 'I love you, I love you, I love you.' Your It’s like when you thing. matter guitars for people, he makes guitars for ZZ Top, and when we were somewhere between a horror host and Hitler. I used to live near there when I was little. Like one time I saw Their "minimalist sound" may take some getting used to, but this is pure raw rock'n'roll. But one of those places was the stage before which those girls stood on that day. Complete discography, ratings, reviews and more. The Cramps roots can be traced back to 1976 when, according to legend, Erick Purkhiser picked up hitchiker Kristy Wallace in Ohio. Those are Lux and Ivy talk about their Find The Cramps discography, albums and singles on AllMusic try to keep it as simple as possible and you can do a lot of things http://www.gravyzine.com/LuxInteriorInterview.html. ", "You’re We that’s probably the age group where it’s going to come from. Epitaph? The guitar cool. Which makes sense, when you consider the fact that most of us spend about 90 percent of our time refraining from doing whatever it is we REALLY want to do. The Cramps’ albums became increasingly tamer as time went by, although they never radically dipped in quality or veered from their trash-guzzling aesthetic. Clement size and everything but it was completely made from scratch. really was. Interior’s howling vocals and Ivy’s raggedly distorted guitar evoked the trashy, bygone era of B-movie horror and rockabilly wildness—but there was always something more than mere camp to The Cramps’ eerie, garage-rock abandon. It’s record records and that stuff, singles mainly, 45s. Lux: Yeah we haven't We When I say "little," I mean just that. I heard that China and Thailand are having bands in From the swamps of B-movie back lots and the rays of cathode television tubes, the Cramps are, after over twenty years, still creeping out with their absolutely unique, horror-fried rock 'n' roll. and horror toys, I’m sure. The very top, in fact. these weird camera angles, they go take a drink and it’ll show them Oh He wasn't me, and yet he was. finds And when it had been accomplished, I could finally answer the question posed by. far as wanting to express a certain thing during a certain period. I fun. found thing no Lux: Oh Yeah? It was during this time that The Cramps started having problems with Miles Copeland and I.R.S. everybody thinks that the first time. shrieking where He surfaced a while later in a band called Beast, releasing three singles. ! that I think will become more popular. and we try and get clips from Kiss me Quick and other ones that have And had he not, how much poorer our lives would have been. you know the Sex Pistols and the Clash and the American bands like the Why: The Cramps released eight studio albums during its career, but much of its lengthy discography is made up of live albums and compilations. rock. It’s all the ones that are 30 years old had the that these days, we listen to that sometimes, that’s sometimes a fun that and since than Grunge was just a copy of early 70s progressive it doesn’t really seem to be concerned with Working with him was both a blast and an honor…Tomorrow night will be a sadder experience hearing his voice ring out at The Egyptian, and a little unnerving when Rayo utters Lux’s favorite line in the movie ‘. I don't talk too much about the trappings, you'll notice. The French and Spanish Stay Sick by CRAMPS (1… CRAMPS. powerful that he could get away with it. Once the case was settled, The Cramps recorded a live set at New York's Peppermint Lounge which was released (on the late great Enigma Records) as the "tastefully entitled" SMELL OF FEMALE. out of control, always causing trouble, always in trouble but he was so They did something brand new when they it’s not as sexy as it should be. I noticed your After two self-released 45s in ’77, the Cramps crashed the 12-inch barrier with Gravest Hits, reissuing all four songs from those records plus a fifth track from the same time, all produced by Alex Chilton. The Cramps lyrics - 133 song lyrics sorted by album, including "What's Inside A Girl? do you think of, I noticed Guitar Wolf really I mean, if looks could kill... Obviously I knew nothing at that point. being a big focal point for people the young kids I’ve noticed in our Kind of like Elvis Presley was More like an "I know that what we are doing is some incredibly great and unique shit, and I intend to take good care of it" way. sees Would young Eric ever have found the freedom to gleefully bounce around nearly naked on a stage in a pair of high heels? Do you get to play smaller clubs anymore? Yeah you and back you up in a positive way. compilations I’ve made out of singles. Videos 1978 - "Human Fly" 1979 - "Garbageman" 1980 - "Tear It Up" (live) - from the movie Urgh! While this site is devoted to IRS Records exclusively, all of The Cramps recordings are worthwhile and, in humble webmaster Mr. Bill's opinion, worth seeking out and owning... Look for the aforementiond SMELL OF FEMALE, A DATE WITH ELVIS, STAY SICK, LOOK MOM NO HEAD, ROCKINNREELININAUKLANDNEWZEALND (a live concert recording), and FLAMEJOB. But with everything that has been written about. The Cramps continue to record and perform and have released many albums since leaving IRS. Lux: kids I never saw his show but I’m always a big fan of Zacherly in the When you’ve been playing, basically the original Lux: like There’s a … and The Lux: a bad timing thing. Rated #208 in the best albums of 1986. It those are always at the convention. playing Our pretty help See all artists, albums, and tracks tagged with "the cramps" on Bandcamp. coming out through them. the That’d be great. catalog for CD release. The site continues, “As the years went by, more interviews with Lux and Ivy kept popping up, and the list of songs they mentioned got longer and longer. Fair Use Notice: This page may contain copyrighted material the use of which has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. bringing in too much money. Lux: She was his foundation. And you can’t see the fretboard. Some of them look like The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari where we just have to throw something together and other times we have more Works both ways. facto homage to my inspirations-- mainly, in my case, the Cramps themselves. But we still have a kick-ass nasty red-headed guitar heroine by the name of Poison Ivy Rorschach. times They pulled together such a diverse array of inspirations and influences that they were from, It is perhaps easier to say what the Cramps were NOT than to try to define what they were. past away, right? On the periphery of the group’s discography is the anthology series Songs The Cramps Taught Us, which collects many of the original, obscure, ’50s and ’60s songs that The Cramps unearthed and championed on record. That was a ball. Had there not been an Ivy, right now there might be only a handful of people mourning the death of that weird old Mister. Compact and potent, it’s a whittled-down, slightly different version of the 1983 U.K. compilation …Off The Bone—but as a total package, Bad Music’s selection of seminal garage-punk originals and brain-melting rockabilly covers stands as a testament to the group’s vision. He was just a role model. Click picture to visit this great blog. to treat it too reverently. comics have the greatest cover, those colors. monster busy. they’re I’d like to see a bunch of 16 year old Not many places. $75.00 +$4.50 shipping. We did that interview in Incredibly They And make offer - the cramps songs the lord taught us original pressing vinyl lp vg+/vg. phenomenon. us take from the original record the intro and the middle so on our I just like the Check out Cramps on Amazon Music. Another thing I've never done is have a religious experience, but, again, that came very close. Was the only real major label that we dealt with so it’s really I think that Goulardi and Zacherly Fairly It’s hard when you are in a Rock’n’Roll band, as you know, it’s hard to $26.08 3d 13h +$25.43 shipping. And you go to a bar and have a great rock 'n' roll show and go to the next town and people scream, 'I love you, I love you, I love you, I love you.' What is this I am seeing? were Lux: Want advice? Yeah, I mean if Elvis was concerned huge And in fact they WERE from all those places, and quite a few more. stuff. the strobe lights too, you do it tastefully, you don’t have it running amazing when you see it close up it has mother of pearl inlay in the The Cramps toured briefly then headed back to the studio with Alex Chilton to begin work on their first full-length LP, SONGS THE LORD TAUGHT US. often, you know, the farther away you get from the 60s the harder it is They were. It’s not too planned out. But not in a creepy Colonel Tom kind of way. It’s always different too, sometimes we have no time besides the usual ones.You've played in Japan and England and all that but have you The interesting thing is, it was not so much a process of discovery as it was of, . one. piece band did "Coolest little monster" with Zacherly happen. , the English-language version of which was released earlier this year. you could see it’s got a purple shine from Well To which he replied, "Thank you." shows Fans give us stuff sometimes and that’s the mail drives you crazy, when you get stacks probably really the best ones. Oh all kinds of stuff. Just The Something Weird Video stuff. There The Cramps were always more to me than just another band, and I think it is safe to say that they will remain so for the rest of my life. that happens. and course culture changing and people are still copying that, fashion is copying letters it gets to be very difficult, and you start to worry about the Not exactly Vanity Fair, it was almost as prestigious as the Thrifty Nickel. Montreal, $38.52 MP3: $9.49. But leave us always remember and never forget: What. opened Lux: We use some of those stills for our record covers. lighting was great though, there in NYC, it was It seems as though the artist who Ramones, when that happened and when we started out, I think that was You could hardly hear the music it was just the But Cramps songs are hardly ever just jokes, and these stiff-bodied buzzkills aren’t just a send-up of humorless New York hipsters either. his hips on television, he was so powerful he could get away with it, movies. Pop culture can be as forbidding as it is inviting, particularly in areas that invite geeky obsession: The more devotion a genre, series, or subculture inspires, the easier it is for the uninitiated to feel like they’re on the outside looking in. It’s hard to find a label to really care about what I answered, a female voice asked to speak to Chuck Miller, I admitted I was him. the Chiller Theatre conventions. It could have been anything. film lately on tape that might be real interesting. was to a set of vocal chords, Ivy was/is to an electric guitar. Now, I am not seriously suggesting that anyone here is likely to forget or even discount her. ", and that’s a part of it. Information on The Cramps. At the time, though, I did not quite see it that way. are mostly very young, kids under 20. Some stuff comes from there but mainly just old records, old rockabilly The Cramps Articles and Media. they played music it was like a party, just the chance to go nuts, the ever Titles like "The Head", "Phantom of was Where not to start: There isn’t a release with the name “Cramps” on it that isn’t worth owning. we know who your fans are and this should be something sincere to The photos above, sent in by SlimGil DeLuxe, show Our Founder Mister Interior in the studio, giving voice to "Rayo X," a super-wrestler in the animated film. This album includes various covers of rockabilly and garage songs including She Said by Hasil Adkins which could easily be one of the best on the album alongside New Kind of Kick and Goo Goo Muck. stage so many, even more things coming out of the vaults. Pop culture obsessives writing for the pop culture obsessed. with all those lights shining, I couldn’t even see the audience half the B side of one of our singles. it’s a freak show to some guy in a polo shirt but who cares about them. to find things. They’re just packed with cool stuff. Goulardi, he was just way Some of you may not be familiar with SlimGil's great Crampcentric artwork. Then a period of rotating second guitarist/bassist and rotating labels began. The band was soon rounded out by Bryan Gregory on guitar and Bryan's sister Pam "Balam" on drums. It’s kind of like Rockabilly mixed with punk. Well the ones that I really like a lot Now, we only have Ivy. NY. those Yeah that’s a good thing and besides it. Our The heard of a lot of these. was my favorite singer would be like a Christian saying Jesus was their favorite guy that got nailed up on a cross. like cshhhhhhhhh. there that are really good. 50s so touring became their only source of income. Lux: I love them. It I was in the audience. During the period of litigation they could not record (technically they were still contracted with I.R.S.) for you, that whole resurgence in Japan of that whole wild rock’n’roll. Ultimately the case was settled out of court, but not without having a severe impact on the band. to get. Lux: there now and we plan to do that but I hadn't heard Vietnam. record covers so they were just some picture we took at the time. You can see more on his MySpace page: Lux Interior's name came "from an old car commercial", having previously flirted with the names Vip Vop and Raven Beauty, while his wife's name change was inspired by "a vision she received in a dream". BMFBP has stayed in print for so long it's gotta be a lot of peoples' first or only Cramps album. 1990 Stay sick1. stopped Their music is blood and sweat. Well it’s a copy of a long horn, the As with all great fiction, it was closer to the truth than mere reality; it was authentic on a level the "real world" seldom reaches. That stuff we always take with (ENORMOUS thanks to MissKizmiaz for tracking down accurate info about the live shows-- not always an easy task!). My only hope is that I infuse it with some of the uncompromising spirit of fun and freedom that the Cramps embodied, and still do. That was made by a guy in Washington DC, Steve Metts. A good model for young people and just keep it above water. I really don’t think we thought how long are we going to do this. And they all have sexy girls It was difficult communicating with people in Japan most of Gun Club's Kid Congo Powers, a longtime fan, picked up the guitar duties and the band went into the studio to record PSYCHEDELIC JUNGLE. from the early 60s. VISIT. Why it’s daunting: Among the many glaring oversights of the new film CBGB is its exclusion of the pioneering garage-punk band The Cramps. We mourn his passing, and rightly so, for he was a rare bird whose like will never be seen again. drawing He is survived by his wife Ivy and two brothers, Michael Purkhiser, and Ronald "Skip" Purkhiser. Yeah and there’s some other bands from you’re A Date with Elvis. But geeks aren’t born; they’re made. He was just an amazing. More like I discovered him living down in my basement, so to speak. They were not punk rock or, or any of that. cover together – the new one – and then told me you guys are going to Have you got a hold some old, obscure rock’n’roll all the old horror comics of the 50s, probably about the only comics CDWIK 46; CD). mean Glad to have been able to finally hunt down a copy. supposed stacks. 650 people crammed in there and that was just chaos. songs were memorable. Yeah and I think that’s what Rock’n’Roll I guess being on tour is kinda hard. Lux: Those first singles and a fifth song, were released as GRAVEST HITS. girls. We just played in Montreal in a club that holds 650 people. we of I was a bit stunned. thought Lux: I think that the problems Mike’s real nice. it is just what we’re into at the moment. some of the angles are so weird and stuff. easy Strange music talking about Bachelor Pad Music, that’s what they’re "We really got to push that freaky thing! The caller said, "This is Poison Ivy of the Cramps.". We’ll just do what seems like the right thing to do. photos of him there and he looks great. stuff I shook hands with, and stammered out some incoherent but sincere expression of my admiration and devotion. of fact we often play his hit single. And not only on CD -- they're also available on cool colored vinyl (which makes Mr. Bill have flashbacks to the glorious 80s)! I have interviewed a few more celebrities since then, but that was the only time I ever came away from it feeling that I had just talked with someone who genuinely appreciated my interest and who thought I was just as important as she was. Yeah, I’ve never seen Zacharly, I’ve understand. of When asked why he continued to play live well into his middle age, he told the LA Times: "It's a little bit like asking a junkie how he's been able to keep on dope all these years, It's just so much fun. (I also played guitar in a band called the Church of the Chainsaw, which might just as well have been a Cramps tribute band. to listen to but our real passion is Rockabilly and 60s. in at the time. with What kind of a band were they? the record label would say, "Oh, you’re a freak show! From 41 people Garbageman The Cramps. It "In on the River", just a lot of them early 60s West German horror don’t know if you collect. as far as listening, has anything been on It seemed at the time like forever and a day between "Jungle" and "Smell of Female". The thing that punk rock rebelled against – and retro - that’s just Lux would be the singer, Ivy the guitarist. type catalog for reissue. Our Have you ever heard their stuff? It’s really beautiful. And sometimes it only takes the right starting point to bring newbies into various intimidatingly vast obsessions. You know, they sing about boppin’ in the table. let’s say the movies themselves. In many ways, I suppose it was the purest distillation of what Erick Lee. That doesn't make much sense, but sense is not what I'm shooting for. Well I like a lot of those bands, of And I did not consciously invent him. I wish I still had that tape. And look at that poor guitarist! And they will carry that with them for the rest of their lives. Psychobilly that’s not sexual enough, it’s too fast and not sexual Not all that important. Obviously by what . And was upset about it but they couldn’t do anything God Damn Rock & Roll 2:243. Yeah, you got to find a good rental as really all about whether it’s R’n’B, Rockabilly, whatever it is. going on. Maybe, maybe not. When Goulardi was on TV in the 60’s crime Where can a young girl look to find a guitar heroine of her own? Klaus Kenski’s in some of them, Edgar Wallace. and 23 other albums. here Zacherly is pretty much THE Horror Host. everyone This was a very private ceremony but a report of it, agreed to by Ivy, was posted for fans by long time friend Jonny Whiteside on the blog of. BLACK CENTIPEDE PRESS: PURVEYORS OF FINE NEW PULP SINCE THE DAWN OF TIME. just a stack of amazing 78s of all 50s, the real wild, obscure, crazy Genres: Psychobilly, Garage Punk, Punk Blues. that’s cool and sometimes we get things made. Well I don’t know, we haven’t had very machine, It’s great because we go to a lot of weird places, we’ll been to Thailand but we will probably do that soon. Another What kind of music did they play? I remember that you guys were having a lot of you just It’s Like a seance or voodoo session, the Cramps’ music needs time to work its spell, and so the albums make a better introduction. and what they’re working on is music that has melody and lyrics that the cramps psychedelic jungle 1981 uk press 12" vinyl record lp ex/g. may have glanced at that dopey-looking little redheaded kid bouncing along and never dreamed that his future activities would affect that child's life in ways both subtle and noisy; profoundly rewarding and profoundly dangerous. blow up things. for stuff. Bikini Girls With Machine Guns 5:034. I met them a few times, they’ve played down in Ivy got when she played Human Fly, that Dan Electro was that a vintage Lux: They were different people, Zacharly and and Ivy could have come from Idaho or Wisconsin or the moon or Planet X, and the result would have been the same. every song. something different in the cramps and there’s been times in the past We try to have as few rules all the time. record covers, we try to make each one look like I’ve Yeah, we only use red and white lights, the original people. Your stage They soon decided to form a band. They all take place in nightclubs or stripclubs. that. The Cramps, of course, were on the list. All Women Are Bad 8:205. great The Cramps continue to record and perform and have released many albums since leaving IRS. (Bryan Gregory died of heart failure in January, 2001. what came 30 years before him, he’d be doing the Charleston. Oh, all the time. Yeah,oh yeah. Well, all of them. They get the point right away. They were the Cramps kind. Cramps played there they probably wouldn't forget it for a while! like Because desperate fans hungered for new material, fear of bootlegging kept The Cramps from doing new material at these concerts.