TRIBUTE

Enormous thanks to Patrick Bainée for sending me the following tribute to Lux Interior. Patrick assembled this collection of memories from Cramps friends and fans, and it originally appeared in French in "Dig It!" Magazine. I am very pleased to be able to pass it along to you now in English.

-- Chuck


LUX TRIBUTE VIA FANS' MEMORIES

The Cramps are dead (The Cramps had a song named like that in 1977), Lux Interior became Lux Exterior, after his departure for another world on February 4th 2009. This same day was issued a brand new (French) and highly recommended book on the Cramps: (http://www.myspace.com/julieprod).

"Hey I’m on my way, on a journey outta this world" is the epitaph that Ivy chose to announce her soul mate death on the Cramps page.

I can imagine Ivy's emotion when she had to choose Lux epitaph and photo for the Cramps page... Poor Ivy. Two weeks later, it was her birthday, the first one without Lux since 1972!

On February 21st; the day after her B-bay, Ivy organized the ultimate ceremony – Astral ascensione – of the "singer, author, artist, 3D photographer, daredevil, shape shifter, Mojo man From Mars ; Ding Dong Daddy from Diddy Wah Diddy", like Ivy liked to name her other half. God bless you for ever, Ivy.

That was the necrology part. But the main idea of this is to celebrate Lux & Ivy (how can you say one name without the other one?) with anecdotes from real fans that are collected here. Most of them being Netpals members of the stay sick yahoo group, dedicated to the Cramps.

Kogar the Swinging Ape (Boston) – this guy had the genius to compile the famous “Lux & Ivy’s faves”, 11 voumes so far, number 12 coming soon):

My first Cramps show :I first saw the cramps on the “Look Mom, No Head” tour (being too young to see the STAY SICK tour). Needless to say, I was very excited. My friends and I got there early, and stood dead center, right down front.

When they hit the stage, Lux had a wine bottle in his hand. He strode to the mic, bit the cork out of the bottle, and spit it out towards the audience! Me being well over 6 feet tall, the cork was ALL mine! I quickly caught it, much to the crowd's chagrin, and shoved it into my pocket!
For the rest of that show, Lux proceeded to use me as a "lean-post" to get closer to the audience! I spent the bulk of that show staring up at him, as he used my shoulder(s) to lean towards the crowd. It was an experience I will never forget!

Two nights later, at another venue, after an equally sweaty, bloody show, as the crowd was filing out, I asked the bouncer up front if I could have the wine bottle Lux had left sitting there. It had "FUKIN-A WINE" scrawled on it in magic marker. After some haggling, he let me have it, as long as I put into my coat pocket.

I squirreled it out of the club and cherish it to this day.

The night I almost chauffeured The Cramps : Back on one of the last full tours by The Cramps, my friends and I headed down to Philidelphia to see The Sickidz open for The Cramps at the Trocadero. We were all pretty excited, because not only did we get to see The Cramps, we got to see the Sickidz, a band who played with The Cramps "back in the day."

Having become close to Sickidz member, Rich Lustre, over the years on the internet, I was looking forward to actually meeting him, and seeing his band play. My friends and I bopped around Philly all day, later i gave him a call (he did NOT have my cell number!).

He was glad I had called, but sadly informed me that if I had called earlier, I might have been able to drive the band from their hotel, to the club for the show that night! They had called Rich to see if they knew anybody who could drive them to the club. He immediately thought of me, but did not have my number.

So I was "that" close to being able to chauffeur The Cramps to a gig....

Sigh...


Lindsay Hutton, our other man from Scotland, Mr The Legion Of The Cramped and The Next Big Thing, reminded his first contact with Lux and the Cramps :

It’ll be 30 years this May 31st since the band did their first show at the Glasgow Apollo. They were opening for The Police and walking down the street not far from the gig were the two most exotic creatures that I had ever seen.

I think they were a little taken aback about being recognised but they went along with it. When “Songs The Lord Taught Us” came out, their show at the Astoria in Edinburgh was just astounding. I’m not sure what led me to believe that I could run their fan club but for some reason it happened.

That opened up a whole ‘nother world for me there and then and I can’t even begin to tell you what an honour it was to run the LOTC. Even though it ceased to be in 1983, it’s never really went away. It just simmered away in the ether.

Did you know that the award for the most members in one town/city is held by Inverness here in Scotland? Absolutely true. And they all came down to the Auld Reekie (Edinburgh) Nite Club shows in May 1981. If you have that show, Lux dedicates a song to them.

He was one of the sweetest people I ever met and at least 150 % for real at any given moment.

The man holds up a bar of his name brand soap at their UK debut show. Camera shake could be attributed to the effect of what was just witnessed. A life changing experience
L-man also kindly sent those unissued photos from June 7th 1984 in Paris (Eldorado), taken by Dominique Freslon-Saillard.


Margaret Doll Rod(s) – of the famous Demolition Doll Rods who toured with the Cramps during their last tour (Autumn 2006), and now on her own one woman band:

I wanna get in your pants ….(Margaret and Ivy like the same kind of clothes, that they swap, sometimes) I gave Ivy a completely see through Elvis style body stocking (see photo above). I will never forget the sound of the audience. it was like the buzzz buzz buzz just because. She looked so beautiful. She gave me her stage ring.

Incognito:

Lux and Ivy both are so precious to me. They would put me on their lap, and I felt like the littlest big kid ever. I have such a big love for them. They played one night in Detroit, and it was one of those nights that I just wanted to blend in with the crowd and just enjoy the show. So I dressed like a greaser boy. I rolled up my jeans put on a black leather, and greased my hair back, wore a white t-shirt. Really I was pretty unrecognizable, and Ivy stopped the show did her sultry little walk over to Lux and whispered in his ear, and they both did this little prance over to where I was standing and said look it's Margaret. Then Lux slammed the microphone stand down and started the concert again. I will love him forever no matter what planet he chooses to be on.


Isabelle Chelley is a French writer. As soon as she opens the door of her apartment, you know you enter in the Cramps universe. If I add that Thierry C and Isabelle got married in Glendale Memorial Park and that one of their cats was named coincidentally Cleo, like one of Lux & Ivy's, you probably get the picture:

A date with the Cramps : anyone who's read Rock’n’Folk magazine undoubtedly knows the monthly 5-page spread, “My records collection”, in which VIP’s (or NSVIP’s) are interviewed about their collection and assert with a straight face that by the tender age of 3, they were already listening to the Velvet Underground on their Fisher Price turntable.

For years, Lux and Ivy were, of course, at the top of my list. And I'd volunteered to take care of that dirty job… I had tried to set up a meeting during my holidays in Los Angeles in 1999, coinciding (by chance, I almost swear) with their mini Halloween tour. But they were too busy and I had dropped the whole thing...

I waited until they came back to France in September 2003…

A few days before their arrival in Paris, the record label confirmed me that the summit meeting would take place before the gig at the Elysee Montmartre. They would call me that same day to set a time.

D-day arrives. I keep my mobile phone at hand constantly for fear of missing the all important phone call. Hey, it’s ringing right now !

A very upset PR girl informs me that everything is cancelled. The night before, after many a sleepless night in their tour bus, the Cramps, desperate for a real bed, have checked into a hotel. And the PR girl has had the brilliant idea of calling them early in the morning to let them know they've got a full day of promotion ahead. Before hanging up on her, Ivy has replied that it'd be nice to let her enjoy her beauty sleep and sorry, but they were too tired to give interviews.

Mayhem erupts at Rock & Folk headquarters while I'm trying to cope with my major disappointment. We decide to wait until Ivy has finished her catnap and then, Phil Man, the editor in chief, calls the band himself to explain the interview is a big deal, a cover story for that matter, etc. Ivy, who really doesn't like to be awaken and I can sympathize, vaguely agrees. Phil Man then calls me and declares that once they see me, all resistance on Lux and Ivy's part will be futile. Yeah, right… [note from Patrick : Isabelle is as cute as Bettie Page]. I had already met them at the House of Blues after a gig a few years ago, we have mutual friends, but it's not like we're bosom buddies.

Five minutes after I've arrived at the Elysee Montmartre, the PR girl takes me backstage to meet Lux and Ivy. The poor girl is scared, probably convinced she's going to get spanked by the ex-dominatrix and uses me as a human shield. When Ivy emerges of her dressing room, I'm literally pushed in front of her by the poor girl who says : "it's Isabelle from Rock’n’Folk, she comes for the interview" before disappearing, leaving me here, still tottering on my stilettos.
Ivy's bad mood has obviously evaporated. She's all smiles and calls Lux to meet me. We exchange a few words, I explain them that my interview will be all about their record collection and in five minutes, everything is settled. She asks me to come back in a half-hour before heading towards the Sacre Cœur in search of something to eat (ah, the sweet memories they must have given to all those Japanese tourists !).

And at last, I'm sitting in front of Lux and Ivy in a dressing the size of a big cupboard.
They’re still wearing their civilian clothes (a mini skirt and high heeled boots for Ivy, black vinyl trousers for Lux), but are already flaunting heavier make-up than groovy Las Vegas showgirls. They look as happy as kids at a birthday party at the idea of speaking of their records collection …

They are fascinating, of course, curious about everything, they could talk about their passion for hours and I start to feel crushed at the thought of cutting this or that part of the interview in order to make it fit into my alloted space. There's something very touching about their closeness, about the way Ivy rolls her eyes when Lux declares he bought one of his first singles "because there was a girl in shorts on the sleeve" [I like short shorts], in the way he looks at her when she talks and swoons about the '68 Comeback Special Elvis.

After something like ten minutes, their drummer (Jungle Jim) pops into the dressing room. Lux asks him to go and pick up his 3-D camera. And during the rest of the interview, he starts clicking away madly at me in 3-D. My ego quivers with delight. I'm usually rather blasé, but right now, I secretely exult. I'm on cloud 9 (or 10, or 11) – wow, my heroes have been captivating, I have a hell of a story in the works, Lux photographed me, they invited me backstage, lalalala ! – during the whole show. And after.

It's only once I'm back home that I realize that, considering the length of my mini-skirt and the way I was sitting, Lux had a panoramic view of my red thong… But all things considered, I'm delighted to know that my undies, in 3-D to boot, have been immortalised by this ageless rascal…

Mondosean:
Click on pictures to enlarge:




Gildas Cosperec (Toulouse) - This guy runs “Dig It!” best French fanzine and radio show.

"to Jildas, who taught me everything I know." Ok, Lux wrote it with a “J” (instead of G) but well ... I glance at him to guess if he is pulling my leg. But he laughs kindly ... I feel secure ... We spent the last hour together doing an interview in a very good mood, with L & I responding with humour and availability to the stream of passionate questions put down by the staff of the Dig It! Radio show (Sylvain, Tommy Boy and your servitor).

We had to make a deal a few weeks earlier : we gotta swear we’re not going to tell anyboby about L & I’s visit, or they won’t come. The Cramps just finished an European tour - the last show was in Greece (Rodon), and before going back to LA, L & I accepted the suggestion of their French label (Vogue) to promote their brand new album Look Mom No Head in some chosen parts of France (Paris, Bordeaux, Toulouse, Montpellier, etc...). Most of the meetings with the indie medias took place in hotels living rooms or FNAC (big “culture” shop in France) ... Except in Toulouse where the whole stuff happened in rockin’ as hell studios of Radio FMR. Live in Dig It ! radio show, to be more precise.


The couple arrived at the fixed hour. Lux, of course, had his splendid cane with a silver knob, and Ivy was wearing her leopard coat. They were both a little sick (influenza). Well, it was in fact a little crowdy around the studio, as we couldn’t manage to tell a few Cramps-maniacs … buddies that would never have excused us otherwise … The interview lasted about an hour, we spoke about the new album, of course, including Iggy’s visit in the studio during the recording, about B-movies too, and also about Bordeaux wines which L & I had tasted the day before, including a special vatful of the Vampire selection that they particularly appreciated. "A 13 degrees wine" specified Ivy. And the girl who was taking care of phone calls at the radio told us that listeners were calling from all the region to ask it was REALLY L & I there in the studio ...
After the show, L & I stayed to drink a few glasses of wine to the bar of the radio. "This place looks like one of those radio stations of the 50’s where you could enter to see the DJ and speak with him" said Lux to the journalist of La Dépêche du Midi (a newspaper) before dedicating me, the way you know now, a copy of the single "Eyeball In My Martini". Ivy wrote a more neutral but very decorative "Wipe Out"... And the couple left ... We stayed to drink a few more bottles and our eyes suddenly shone a litle more.

After the show, they stayed to drink a few glasses of good wine at the bar from the radio.


“Garbage” Juan Tellez, (Spain):

One of my favourite experiences on a concert was seeing after The Cramps´Gig The Addams Familly of R´n´R smiling to the Iggy and The Stooges show on the backstage on Azkena Rock 2003.

Somebody told me they should play after Mr. Gimme Danger but they asked the organization pay tribute to their idol and play before...I don´t know how true is that, but i can only remember their smiling faces...

Martin Percival (England) – remind me how many times you saw the Cramps live, Martin? As Martin coulnd’t come on Halloween 2006 in Frisco, we planned to spend a full week in California during the Cramps next Autumn tour … This is an interview of the Rezillos by Martin a couple of years ago :

Martin – When did you first meet the Cramps?

Jo – We went to one of their gigs. Someone had told us that the Dictators were doing a guest spot at this gig at CBGBs and the Cramps played later the same night and we stayed on for their set. It was a fantastic night.

Fay – They really knocked me out, even now it’s like a flash bulb memory.

Eugene – We went back stage afterwards and I introduced us to Lux and Ivy. I was amazed when Lux said “Yes. We know who you are. The Rezillos music is so cool” and Ivy said “We love your “I Can’t stand my baby” single. We were shocked that they knew us. They then invited us back to their apartment. They had an ENORMOUS record collection of 45s.

Martin – Did they feel like kindred spirits?

Fay – Yes, absolutely.

Martin – What was the story about Lux giving you the master recordings to “Human Fly” and “Domino”?

Eugene – Lux said “Can’t stand my baby” is great and we’d love to be released on that label in the UK” and he gave us the tapes and said “Can you give these to the label and ask them to release it?” so we took them back to Scotland. I played them to Lenny Love who ran the Sensible label and he said “I don’t like it”. I told him he was making a BIG mistake by not releasing it. When they visited the UK the next year I remember giving Bryan Gregory a ride in my Messerschmitt bubble car and he said “This is the best ride I’ve ever had in my whole life and when I die I will remember this day.”

Jo - Bryan was quite influential on Phil from the Human League. He saw the Cramps live and was especially blown away by Bryan.

Martin – Was there anyone else from that era that you had an affinity to? There are a few bands that, superficially at least, people might link to you like the Dickies or B52s.

Eugene – Lux HATED the B52s. Lux and Ivy really walked it like they talked it. Ivy said “The thing about the B52s is they turn up to their gigs in……ANORAKS! Then they later change into their wigs”.

Craig W (England) the Cramps saved his life:

Well it all started in 1983……….I had heard about a band called the Cramps but not any of their music, loved the name and on the back of that alone got STLTU. Placed the vinyl on my deck and was immediately transported by the pounding beat of TV Set. My Dad shouting ‘turn that fucking hillbilly crap off’. I turned it up and danced around the room! Been dancing these last 26 years.

1984 – Many nights at Ziggy’s subterranean bar in my home town in Wales dancing to the whole of Smell of Female (the DJ was a mad Cramps fan) – eventually the Cramps were banned from being played in every bar and nightclub in that godforsaken shithole 'cos they caused a riot every time their records were played (I left shortly afterwards).

1986 – the Tube, first time I had seen them perform live on TV – My Dad ‘What the fuck is this!’ Me – ‘Wow’. On the way to Liverpool for my first Cramps gig – so excited I would not let the coach we hired (for 60 of us) to stop for a break – everyone had to piss into empty beer cans. The gig was everything I imagined and more. Lux swinging from the balcony in his leopard skin underwear, the crowd open mouthed – not exactly Mersey beat!

1990 – Brixton and the Town & Country Club– Candy del Mar & Ivy, lots of shiny clothes, Lux tearing it up atop the speakers - never seen anything like it. Reading festival – Lux punched the squares right in the face that night - ukhan kizmiaz - wearing nothing but a heart shaped g-string, steam rising off his skin and vomiting red wine all over the stage – way too cool.

1991 – 5 nights at the Town & Country – yeehar! – Ivy chucking goats eyes back into the audience, Lux in a coffin, a riot every night, Lux pouring red wine into my mouth singing ’drink some bad wine’ and filming the Mae West drag artist from the stage wings.

1995 – Like the song says ‘Let’s get fucked up’ and I did. Best goddamn version of She Said I ever did hear (listen to ‘Trash is Neat 2’), Lux dropping every pill thrown at him on stage and eventually losing it mid song and forgetting where he was – or was that me?

1998 – Astoria – first night took my wife – very impressed especially with Ivy’s flame hot pants, not so impressed with Lux waving his dick at her. Second night – bedlam – Lux rolling in the glass and ripping up the floorboards, why is it I always lose my voice for days after these events?

2003 – Astoria - 5 long years to wait – they just get better – 1st night Lux has a bra on his head, 2nd night all hell breaks loose - Lux smashing bottles over the audience and drinking sweat from Ivy’s boots – Ivy picking glass from her hair, Lux ends up wearing Ivy’s red hairpiece, screaming at the audience like a demented maniac with his block and tackle hanging out. Ivy flashes her knickers at the crowd and smiles. Lux escorted off the stage gibbering like a madman. Me - speechless

2006 – Astoria – The most amazing night. Lux all blond and Ivy beautiful and me drunk. Hanky Panky, Caveman, “See you Jimmy” Hats (Google it) and me crowd surfin’ (I know sad at my age). The last time I'll see them - 26 years of unadulterated madness, pleasure and liberation – Bad taste is good taste and it never mattered however many times I saw them, it could never and will never be enough. It’s only now that Lux is gone that I realise what unique celebrations the gigs were - like stepping into another dimension of libertine lunacy. I always got irritated when people said it was pantomime. There was nothing pantomime about Lux's performances - deranged yes, confrontational yes, funny yes, rock’n’roll yes, pantomime no. If you got what the Cramps were about then you really got it - like an incurable disease, you understood something beyond the wit of other less perceptive mortals - for me Cramps fans are like something out of the Children of the Damned, different from others - I think Lux & Ivy would like that.
Thank you Lux, you were and always will be my hero.


My own anecdote with the Cramps is when I saw them in 1990, they were very kind and laugh when they saw that my son (Jonathan was 6) and me dressed with the same perfecto (leather jacket).
They dedicated my test press of STLTU (and congratulated me for having a copy) etc. I gave them a dedicated single by Jackie Lee Cochran "Georgia Lee Brown". Lux said "hey, but that must be very pricey" - I answered it's nothing compared to all the treasures they made me discover, in music, or else (H G Lewis, J Waters, Bettie Page ...) then had to leave place for the other guys waiting to get autographs.

--Patrick Bainée

THE CRAMPS: SPACE MADNESS!!!

The Italian Job II

The Cramps: il rock'n'roll come terapia
From "Be Nice To Mommy," an Italian "punkzine," 2003

http://www.benicetomommy.com/cramps_inter.html

Cinquantasette anni lui, cinquanta lei. Ed una disperata voglia di andare ancora in giro a far casino. Sempre così, un po' da perdenti, nonostante un nome ed una carriera che autorizzerebbero a pensare a ben altri successi e ben altri palcoscenici. E invece eccoli di nuovo qui a farsi insultare dal pubblico del solito gruppo "molto" punk californiano appena sbarcato su major (ma finiscono tutti così? C'è un copione già scritto?) sullo stage più sbagliato del momento, almeno per loro. Una sorta di deja-vu per chi ebbe l'occasione di vederli più di vent'anni fa aprire i concerti (e beccarsi raffiche di sputi) per i Police in una delle accoppiate più bizzarre della storia. Sting e soci, nel frattempo, sono molto invecchiati e giocano a fare i musicisti seri, fra jazz, tarantelle e comparsate pseudo-sociali, che non so perché, ma quando le fanno i miliardari mi viene sempre l'orticaria. Magari succederà anche ai Rancid, chissà. I Cramps no, i Cramps sono sempre gli stessi e sono tornati.
Rispolverata la loro Vengeance Records, hanno dato alle stampe un nuovo album, "Fiends of Dope Island", e sono partiti per un tour europeo che in Italia, purtroppo, ha toccato solo Bologna all'Indipendent festival. Di scandalo, non ci si crede, ne continuano a dare. Basta farsi un giro per le message board delle decine di webzine o siti "punk" per incontrare un fiorir di commenti di bambini spaventati: "Il cantante è frocio", "Era strafatto", "Cantava malissimo", "Cazzo... si è addirittura spogliato!". Le movenze di Lux Interior sul palco e l'ossessivo psycho-billy della loro musica hanno squarciato il velo di una "scena" un po' omofobica (tanto per cambiare) e degna del circolo delle Suore Benedettine. Chi lo avrebbe mai detto, da due vecchiacci così?

Ma com'è stato tornare in sala dopo tanti anni?
"Come una terapia intensiva", mi rispondono Lux e Ivy, contattati per un rapido scambio di mail prima della loro partenza per il tour. "C'è tanta gente che in studio ci passa la vita, per noi è sempre stato un po' come entrare in ospedale. Beh, insomma... vai lì per farti curare e poi ti senti meglio. Ma non c'è niente di divertente".
Come mai avete riesumato il marchio Vengeance dopo 25 anni e come si è chiusa la vostra esperienza con la Epitaph?
"La Epitaph in America fa schifo. E questo ci è sembrato un ottimo modo per non avere più a che fare con etichette che fanno schifo. Inoltre siamo rientrati in possesso dei diritto dei titoli precedenti".
Nel frattempo ci sono state novità anche nella formazione.
"Beh", risponde Lux, "Drumdini non è nuovo! E' con noi da più di dieci anni, ormai. Quello nuovo è il bassista, Chopper Franlin. Li abbiamo scelti entrambi perché sono dei pericolosi sbandati che sanno cos'è il rock'n'roll. Del resto, il rock'n'roll è sempre stato una cosa pericolosa".

La carriera di Erick Purkisher e Kristy Wallace, i veri nomi di Lux e Ivy, è iniziata piuttosto tardi e prima del sodalizio musicale ci fu senza dubbio quello sessuale. La storia vuole che i due si incontrino nel '72 in California, quando lui dà un passaggio a lei. Ancora insieme, oltre trent'anni dopo. E' più facile stare in una band quando si fa coppia anche nella vita? E' più facile trovare ispirazione per scrivere canzoni?
"Più facile? Più facile di cosa? E' solo facile. Le nostre canzoni possono nascere in milioni di modi diversi e comunque noi siamo sempre stati una coppia rock'n'roll, anche prima di formare una band".
E come vi è venuto in mente il nome del gruppo?
"Cramp è una parola che in slang significa erezione. Ci piaceva qualche cosa che avesse risvolti sessuali, ma in realtà volevamo un nome che assomigliasse a The Kinks".
La svolta arriva con la scena newyorchese e il Cbgb che a quel tempo ospitava i Ramones, ma anche i Television, piuttosto che i Talking Heads e i Blondie. Ai nostri sembrò un'idea vincente proporre il rockabilly nella Grande Mela, dove in effetti questo genere non aveva di sicuro lo stesso appeal che invece mostrava nella provincia. Ed è li che esordiscono, con due chitarristi e... niente basso. Oggi sembra quasi una moda. E i Cramps da parecchio tempo non adottano più questa soluzione un po' radicale. Meglio una band col basso o senza?
"Meglio i Cramps. Noi abbiamo sempre dettato il ritmo. Gli altri sono solo venuti dietro".

Qui in Italia vedervi suonare senza basso di spalla ai Police fu uno shock. E vi siete presi un sacco di insulti. Come fu la tournee?
"Per noi fu una grande esperienza. Ma non abbiamo niente di divertente da raccontare. Sono passati anche troppi anni".
Da parecchio tempo, tuttavia, Lux e Ivy, hanno lasciato New York per far ritorno in California. Come mai questa scelta?
"Volevamo diventare minatori! No... in realtà siamo persone a cui piace starsene per i fatti loro e New York non era semplicemente il posto giusto".
Siete sempre stati innamorati dei vecchi dischi ed avete contribuito alla riscoperta di tanti artisti del passato. Ma c'è qualche gruppo attuale che vi piace ascoltare?
"Possiamo dirti i dischi che abbiamo acquistato di recente: Dexter Romwebber, Hank Williams 3 e Johnny Cash".
Com'è vivere negli Usa al giorno d'oggi? Un sacco di musicisti esprimono parecchio sdegno per l'amministrazione Bush...
"Un sacco di musicisti farebbero meglio a concentrarsi di più sul rock'n'roll".
E i vostri progetti futuri?
"Causare problemi e divertirci... per ancora molto tempo".

Be Nice to Mommy - ottobre 2003
(Le foto dei Cramps all'Indipendent sono di Luigi Bagatella per Pogopop)

For the Love of Ivy

(Not a terribly original title, I know. But what the hell else was I gonna call it?)

By Chuck Miller
September 24, 2009

Like a lot of people I know, I took the death of Lux Interior pretty hard. The thing about Lux is, you either GET him or you don't. In order to really GET him, you have to be a certain kind of person, and there just ain't that many of us. If you're reading this at all, chances are you know exactly what I'm talking about. To say that Lux was my favorite singer would be like a Christian saying Jesus was their favorite guy that got nailed up on a cross. Technically true, but missing almost all of the emotional subtext.

We mourn his passing, and rightly so, for he was a rare bird whose like will never be seen again.

But leave us always remember and never forget: What Lux was to a set of vocal chords, Ivy was/is to an electric guitar.

The Cramps without Lux Interior would be like Elvis Presley without Elvis Presley. However, as Lux himself knew full well, there is no "I" in Cramps but if there were, it would stand for "Ivy." That doesn't make much sense, but sense is not what I'm shooting for. I'm trying, in the most roundabout way possible, to say that the Cramps were, essentially, a duo. Drummers and bassists and second guitarists could come and go-- and there were some great ones-- but in order to have the Cramps, you hve to have Lux AND Ivy.

Now, we only have Ivy. And we must continue to cherish her. The Cramps are no more and will never be again. But we still have a kick-ass nasty red-headed guitar heroine by the name of Poison Ivy Rorschach.

Back in about 1990, I had the very great good fortune to interview Poison Ivy for a little entertainment paper I worked for at the time. When I say "little," I mean just that. It was extremely local, given away for free at libraries, laundromats, college campuses, etc., in Mobile Alabama. Not exactly Vanity Fair, it was almost as prestigious as the Thrifty Nickel. Most of the writing was as boring and crappy as the small, parochial "music scene" it covered. (I also played guitar in a band called the Church of the Chainsaw, which might just as well have been a Cramps tribute band.)

So, I had a grandiose idea. I was going to try and get an interview with someone who was actually famous. I selected a few artists I really liked and wrote to their record companies or publicists. The Cramps, of course, were on the list. The very top, in fact. Some time went by and I heard nothing from anyone, which I had more or less expected. I had almost forgotten the whole business when one day, while I was at work, the phone rang. I answered, a female voice asked to speak to Chuck Miller, I admitted I was him. The caller said, "This is Poison Ivy of the Cramps."

Since reaching adulthood, I have never once shit in my pants. But if I had, that would have been it. I knew It was not a joke because any of my friends would know that they'd be signing their own death warrant with such a stunt. I got my shit together, got a tape recorder, and we talked for more than an hour. It was the highlight of my journalistic career, if not my whole fucking life. I wish I still had that tape.

Another thing I've never done is have a religious experience, but, again, that came very close.

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.

Years later, I got to meet both Lux and Ivy face-to-face, for all of about 15 seconds, at a club in New Orleans while they were making their way to the stage. I seriously doubt she actually remembered me, but she very sweetly pretended that she did.












I always had the impression that Ivy was the brains of the outfit. But not in a creepy Colonel Tom kind of way. 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. She built and maintained the framework that allowed Lux to be the magnificent beast that he was. She was his foundation. Had there not been an Ivy, right now there might be only a handful of people mourning the death of that weird old Mister Purkhiser who ran that used record store out by the airport. Would young Eric ever have found the freedom to gleefully bounce around nearly naked on a stage in a pair of high heels? Maybe, maybe not. And had he not, how much poorer our lives would have been.

Now, I am not seriously suggesting that anyone here is likely to forget or even discount her. But with everything that has been written about Lux, a lot of it by me, I want to take the opportunity, now that some time has passed, to express my gratitude, admiration and appreciation to the Cramps' other half.

I have a friend in California with three daughters, all under the age of 15. They are lucky kids indeed because they all got to see the Cramps in 2006. The youngest was less than a year old. The two older girls were enthralled with Ivy. She touched something deep inside them. There is still a lot more sexism in the music world than anyone wants to admit. There are a few basic molds into which most female performers squeeze themselves. There are way more Pussycat Dolls than there are Girlschools or Runaways. Where can a young girl look to find a guitar heroine of her own? Not many places. But one of those places was the stage before which those girls stood on that day. And they will carry that with them for the rest of their lives.

IVY on MEETING LUX:

"We met in 1974 in college in Sacramento, California. Under the guise of the Art Department there were classes like "Art and Shamanism," which was really a study of amanita muscaria; the textbook was The Sacred Mushroom and the Cross. The class was real loose; the teacher would ask you, "What grade do you want, an A?" He would gravitate toward certain students and invite them to "heavier" classes at his home--he had this fabulous spread. Lux and I met in his class, although actually we met hitchhiking. We talked and discovered we were going to see each other again in this teacher's class. Actually, the first kiss was in this instructor's house--we'd taken mushrooms, I think."
(From Incredibly Strange Music Vol. I)

Poison Ivy- Kristy Wallace (born Kristy Marlana Wallace February 20, 1953, San Bernardino, California), better known as Poison Ivy (or Poison Ivy Rorschach), is a founding member of the American garage punk band The Cramps. Wallace was married to Cramps' singer Lux Interior (Eric Purkhiser), with whom she had been for 37 years, until his death on February 4, 2009. Instruments played: guitars, echo-theremin. The band was formed when Lux Interior and Poison Ivy met during a college course on art and shamanism. The name originated in a dream and was initially "Poison Ivy Rorschach", the Rorschach referring to the Rorschach ink-blot test, however over the years it has been contracted to plain and simple "Poison Ivy". Her stage persona is best defined by as being the bad-girl vixen from next door; this is underlined by the sexually explicit cover-art which she has frequently posed for the band's albums. (Wikipedia)


From the KILLER KITTENS FROM BEYOND THE GRAVE Blog:
http://killer--kittens.blogspot.com/2009/02/happy-birthday-poison-ivy-rorschach.html

February 20, 2009-- A very special baby girl was delivered unto this Earth in Sacramento, California on this day in 1953. The babe's parents named her Kristina Marlana Wallace, but you can call her Poison Ivy.

Poison Ivy Rorschach is easily one of the hottest women in music. For the last 3 decades, she has been rockin' n' shockin' onstage with psychobilly pioneers The Cramps, alongside her larger than life husband, Lux Interior. Sadly, when Lux departed this mortal coil on February 4, 2009, he took the future of The Cramps with him. Now that the irreplaceable frontman is gone (but never forgotten), the amplifiers have fallen silent, the drum beat no longer keeps time, and the adoring fans stand perfectly still before the stage.

Thank gods for the 15 album legacy The Cramps were thoughtful enough to leave behind.

Bonne fête, Poison Ivy... Rock n' Roll Goddess.


AN INTERVIEW WITH IVY FROM
http://www.geocities.com/jackyardbackoff/ivyguitarinterview.html

Stay Sick!, the first Cramps album to come near the mainstream, positively slithers with the procreante urge. Poison Ivy's distorted rockabilly riffs cover Lux Interior's monstrous, monotone vocals like cool Calamine, maximum reverb and tremolo, please. While Lux lampoons images of smoking poodles, drag racers on acid, and women swimmin' in chilli, Poison Ivy plays the straightwoman, creating 50s-approved guitar parts that pay tribute to the likes of Link Wray, Paul Burlison, and friends. Seldom has psychobilly been so appealingly packaged.

The Cramps finally seem to be crossing over into the mainstream.

Or are they crossing over to us?

Has your image or over-the-top performances style caused you trouble?

Not too much. Not anymore than most bands. In fact, lately not too much at all. We used to get in fights and stuff; people tried to pick fights with us. We haven�t been arrested . I think we've been pretty fortunate. It's great that this band has been a success for us on whatever level its been at. I don't think Lux and I can do anything else (laughs). I'm not sure we're even employable doing something else, so it's good we're allowed to do it.

Has your audience evolved?

Every time we play there are newer, younger people. When we started out in New York at CBGB's and Max's Kansas City, fixtures would always be at the show, but since then its changed. I actually see more variety at our shows than I do at other people's shows. I think there's these facets that reach different kinds of people. Some people like us for the instrumental aspects and someone else will like us because we're dangerous or scary.

How do your shows compare to the records?

They're different. Some people think that we don't get that thing we have live onto our records, and I don't agree. They'd feel different if they heasrd a tape of a show which I do a lot of times, because we tape all our shows. They don't always sound that great, and I think people get confused by the visual things that are going on. You have to be there. But when they talk about the wild aspect not being on the record, I think they're just wrong. They're just remembering how they felt, or maybe they were loaded at the show when all that stuff was going on. It's different. It's not sloppier live, but even if we play the same songs every night, they're never the same way twice. I suppose with recording, we do try to concentrate on the ultimate arrangement, the ultimate impact.

Do you record live?
Some songs on the new album had to be recorded live - Muleskinner Blues, Shortnin Bread and Her Love Rubbed Off couldnt be recorded any other way because of the way we have to interact with each other and Lux singing. Other ones, though, were tracked with drums and bass first, although we do that together. We try to track the rythym together; it makes it easier to record songs.

Where did your idea of the marrige of rockabilly and punk originate?

Well we didn't think of it as that; others call it that. What happened was that Lux and I were living in Ohio, just finding wild records. At the time, the only way you could find rockabilly was on the original 45s; there weren't any reissues of it. We were finding some incredible records around the Akron area because a lot of people from the South had moved up North to work in the factories and dumped their records. So we were hearing all this stuff, and at the same time there were contemporary bands we liked. We loved the New York Dolls and the Stooges, so we were excited by that. We had boring jobs, we were taking speed, and with the combination of those things, we ended up going to New York. There was no place in Ohio where you could have an original band, and we knew that CBGBs was starting to happen. We even bought a P.A. -- we thought you needed to own your own P.A. in New York. I mean we didn't know anything about having a band. We'd written songs, so we got together with several various configurations before we actually played CBGBs. When we moved to New York, we saw the Ramones several times and it was all a combination of our excitement. We knew that rockabilly and the kind of music we were listening to was what everybody in the world wanted to hear! At the same time we were really moved and inspired by punk-rock bands that were happening in New York at the time. We didn't have any concept about putting it together; it just happened kind of naturally. Who we were was more out of control than some of the music we were listening to, and we were just shoved on in there.

What are the essential elements of the Poison Ivy sound?

Live it's always pretty much the same. My main live guitar is a 1958 Gretsch 6120 with the pre-patent Filter-Tron pickups. I play it through a Fender Pro Reverb with a blackface that's kind of unique - it has one 15� JBL that appears to have been done at the factory. I don�t know if someone had it custom ordered or what. I found it that way as a used amp. The big speaker sounds really great with that hollowbody guitar. I've started using a modern pedal, an Ibanez delay computer. It's pretty cool. And then I use two distortion units, A Univox Super Fuzz, that's the fuzz sound of the Cramps, and a pedal called (Tube Works) Real tube, whuich supposedly simulates overdrive, but it doesn't really. I don't use it on many songs.

Do you play any styles that might surprise your fans?

Not anything unusual, like, you know, classical.

You're not a closet bluegrasser?

Well, actually maybe some of the more country styles - you know some fingerpicking country that's not quite bluegrass. It's a simple, pure country style just when I'm foolin' around. I do straighter blues stuff too.

Do you practice?

I should. Not as much as I like. Most of the practice I get is onstage. Seems like I get spread thin doing other things. I'd be happy if all I did was play guitar, but I don't get an opportunity to. I'm not working on improving anything specific about my playing. I'm always listening to records and watching people. As I go along, things kind of become unveiled or revealed to me. After years of wondering what was gong on, things that seemed unfathomable sometimes become clear. It's kind of fun, and I guess that happens with any guitar player. That's going to happen for the rest of my life.

Do you always have a guitar around at home?

Oh yeah. The one I have at home-- I never play it live-- is a 1952 Gibson ES295. It's gold guitar and even has ivy on the pickguard. It's that famous Ersel Hickey guitar that everyone copies for the classic rock profile. It's a really great guitar. The neck is hard for me to play; it's really big and bulky, but it's a great-sounding guitar.

What's the best way to get a visceral tone in the studio?
Mainly just try to get the recorded sound as close to what you're gonna want it to be before you mix, just through miking it. I play loudly on really small amps; almost the whole Stay Sick album was recorded on a Valco amp from 1959 or '60. This one has a tiny 10' speaker. The less processing the better.

You seem to have a tougher sound this time.

Yeah, well it worked (laughs).

Where did rockabilly guitar come from?

Oh, God, I don't know. I don�t know why rock and roll even happened. I mean, it was a product of the '50s, even though people will argue it was invented in the '20s and '30s. Well, it wasn't. It was a phenomenom of the '50s. I don't know if it had something to do with the atom bomb or Sputnik or what. I just think people were thinking really big. Electric guitar came to life in the '50s. It was just like dynamite in the hands of these players who were mainly teenagers. They were capturing electricity, making this music out of it. Have you ever seen this movie, Carnival Rock? James Burton is backing up both David Houston and Bob Luman, who were both Louisiana acts. Burton is just a kid, but oh, man, he's incredible.

Besides Cliff Gallup, James Burton, and Scotty Moore, who are some of the must-hear 50s cats?
Link Wray. Even though he's known, he's not credited well enough. He had the most apocalyptic, monumental sound I ever heard-- real emotional and so simple and so violent. That stands for rock and roll, which is supposed to be violent and dangerous, and have this dangerous sound. Ike Turner isn't that well-known for his guitar playing -- he's more known for his associations with Tina, I guess. But he had an incredibly wild, unique guitar style, and he was also responsible for being a producer and an A&R man in the '50s.

Have you encountered much sexism in the business?

Anything negative has been pretty much trivial, like, I go into a guitar store and they call me sweetheart and tell me how to hold the guitar. I actually haven't had any obstacles. The main thing that's been sexist, I guess, is that if I am recognized or credited, people will say I play as tough as a guy. In a way that's insulting, because for one thing, I play different. It's got nothing to do with guys. No guy taught me how to play. I taught myself. And you,d be surprised how much you can learn yourself, just listening to a lot of records and watching people play and hanging out with a lot of players, rather than having someone show you his cliched way of playing. Try something original. And I'm sure there's even something about being a girl that has an original flair to it, and women should try to allow that to come out in their playing. And that can be something pretty scary, too. People expect us to be timid, and it can be the other way around.

Do you do anything special to keep your sanity on the road?

No, I'm hopelessly insane. It's too late now.

Any special messages for guitarists?

Just stay sick and turn blue!