Born on October 21st: Lux Interior, singer of the Cramps and Human Fly

Like the group Devo and Chrissie Hynde of the Pretenders, Lux Interior was born (in 1946) in the city of Akron (Ohio) in the United States. Needless to say, Lux Interior is just a pseudonym, but Erik Lee Purkhiser sounded like a much less punchy name for fronting his crazy psychobilly band, the Cramps.

At the risk of summarizing somewhat, we could say that Lux only had two loves in his life. His partner, the flamboyant redhead Kristy Wallace, who would later turn heads playing her imposing 1958 Gretsch guitar. Because Poison Ivy, as she is known in the Cramps, and Lux Interior formed an incandescent duo both on stage and off.

His other passion was obviously the Cramps.  For want of a better label, they were lumped with the punk movement at the end of the 70s. As well as using pictorial nicknames, they also saw fit to create their own labels in order to best define their style: psychobilly (taken from the lyrics of a Johnny Cash song) and gothbilly. “Goo Goo Muck” or “I Was a Teenager Werewolf”, to name but two, are examples of a harsh and dangerous rock that Iggy Pop’s Stooges would be proud of.

Lux Interior: the art of provocation

While the Iguana (Iggy’s nickname) has always taken a malicious pleasure in slipping his microphone into his pants, Lux didn’t hesitate to simulate a fellatio between two sometimes incomprehensible growls. Willingly exhibitionist, the two louts were also masters in the art of provocation. Without a second thought, they would go bare-chested from the first notes. Unlike Iggy, Lux also enjoyed scribbling crosses on his chest and regularly staggered across the stage in stiletto heels.

The Cramps only recorded about ten albums between 1980 and 2003. Their sound was eminently recognizable but ultimately a little repetitive in the long run. Their song titles, however, are worth their weight in peanuts: “Songs the Lord Taught Us” (1980), “Psychedlic Jungle” (1981), the emblematic live “Smell of Female” (1983), “A Date With Elvis” (1986) and compilations with equally tasty titles, such as “Bad Music For Bad People” (1984) or “How To Make A Monster” (2004).

The Cramps were unique and will remain so for eternity! Lux Interior passed away on February 4, 2009, at the age of 62.