tell me things about The Cramps (RIP Lux Interior)

They were fantastic live right up until the end imo. Never saw a bad show from them.

True; I didn’t see them live until 1996, but when I did they were amazing.

Amazing live band who I first saw around 1979. Nick sitting in the back effortlessly drumming away with shades on, while Lux prowled the front edge of the stage.

Could do with an official dvd mopping up them at their early 80s peak in best quality reproduction.
THere are a number of near professionally filmed bits and pieces for things like NYC cable TV.

Looks like what is available is about 20 years later with the exception of the Napa State Hospital thing from 78

1979 NYC cable thing is going around, and of course there's the footage from Urgh!

would definitely love a live DVD of that era

Revisiting Stay Sick! (the last album with Nick Knox on drums) today. I remember not liking it much at the time, but now it sounds great.

There was definitely a weird...I don't want to say 'narcissism of small differences,' but I'd argue that a slew of bands (not just the Cramps) who came up from the underground in the mid-late 70s did a lot of work that, when it was released in the late 80s/early 90s just as I was learning about them, got a relentless dumping of 'not as good as the past'/'clear sellouts'/'bad production' comments in rockcritworld at the time. And then you listen to that era's stuff, you know, *now* and it's like 'what the hell, they barely changed at all, or just didn't!'

Our own nabisco with some truths in this thread

You know who you’d think would be treated as an iconic hero and it’s weird that she’s not? Kristy Wallace aka Poison Ivy Rorschach of the Cramps! Fantastic guitar player and songwriter! Produced the Cramps’ records for years! Nobody talked about that! pic.twitter.com/HV1BEImPVE

— Nitsuh Abebe (@ntabebe) August 23, 2018

She’s godlike imo

agreed

Hm, I was going to say that in some circles I move in she is revered, but honestly I think a lot of it is more about her being hot/cool than actually giving her artistry the respect it deserves. So, nabisco otm.

yeah I think that's fair. she's def revered but it's as much for her style/looks as anything. tbh I always loved her guitar playing but I didn't realise she was producing as well

yeah she is the primary architect of the band's sound imo

Yup

Would love to read a deep-dive Mojo/Red Bull Music Academy interview with Ivy, really going through the development of the whole Cramps project/sound/worldview, but I'm not sure there's an outlet out there that would pay what it would take to do it right.

This photo, which I've never seen before, is absolutely amazing (Ivy's pants!):

http://www.bombedoutpunk.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/bombed-out-punk-memoir-peter-alan-lloyd-1970s-1980s-punk-new-wave-erics-club-liverpool-the-cramps-pink-military-support-nightmares-in-wax-support-leeds-fan-club-erics-club-brian-gregory-12.jpg

I know he's wearing something very similar on the Tube performance, can't remember what she's wearing on that.

Wonder if Ugly Things or somebody would be into doing an in depth with her?

I love how you can hear Ivy learning on the job as she moves from the two-note twang of her early riffs to "Cornfed Dames" just a few years later, where she's doing intensely wiggly stuff with tremelo, crazy runs and bombs of controlled feedback.

on another note, is it my imagination or are all of these records out of print? all I see in stores are shitty pirate copies with the telltale loose shrinkwrap.

Never noticed Ivy's production credits either--don't think I ever thought about their producers after Chilton--so that's a good point.

Last time I looked them up on spotify, very little of their catalog was available. Looks like most of it is there today, so good news.

Never noticed Ivy's production credits either--don't think I ever thought about their producers after Chilton--so that's a good point.

Would love to read a deep-dive Mojo/Red Bull Music Academy interview with Ivy, really going through the development of the whole Cramps project/sound/worldview, but I'm not sure there's an outlet out there that would pay what it would take to do it right.

The Incredibly Strange Music interview does a lot of that, so I'd recommend it. But a further piece with her now looking back at all of it would be great. My understanding is that she's very happy to keep things private, and especially after losing her life partner in all senses, AFAIC she makes the call.

wow those pants are AMAZING

So there's about a bazillion of these sorts of strange music / Lux & Ivy's favorites compilations out there, here's a new one on the way, titled appropriately:

https://www.cherryred.co.uk/product/records-records-records-drowning-in-a-sea-of-cramps-cd/

Which of these sorts of compilations are the top of the heap?

The "Born Bad" comps. Also highly recommended is "The Songs The Cramps Taught Us" series.

And, "Purple Knif Show" which is a demented Lux radio show is 10/10.

https://www.ispot.tv/ad/tjDn/michelob-ultra-nba-2021-grand-entrances-feat-jimmy-butler-song-by-the-cramps

The Cramps doing “The Way I Walk” in a beer commercial featuring nba basketball player Jimmy Butler

Wow! i hope Ivy was well compensated.

Hopefully

Wow it's been 12 years already :(

Reposting this as the last IMG is gone

https://dangerousminds.net/content/uploads/images/made/content/uploads/images/luxivyhippies1bb_465_469_int.jpg

From https://dangerousminds.net/comments/the_cramps_lux_interior_and_poison_ivy_photographed_in_1972

good old Vip Vop, RIP

wait - High Res? is the discography being remastered after all?

https://www.qobuz.com/album/bad-music-for-bad-people-the-cramps/qwb0vculr7unc

Wednesday 1x04 - Wednesday Addams Dance Scene (1080p)

369K Likes
31,410,943 Views

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AE2bY2gOBhk

can't decide if this is despicable, lame or funny.

is the discography being remastered after all?

[...]

― StanM, Samstag, 31. Dezember 2022 07:54 (eight hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

good timing i'd say.

Камила Валиева. Чемпионат России по фигурному катанию 2023

(Kamila Valieva. Russian Figure Skating Championship 2023)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=78k-OTHoTtM

can't decide if this is despicable, lame or funny.

I love it! I know having protective feelings about your favourite bands is normal, and if they'd botched it, I'd probably hate it too. But I think it totally honors the Cramps.

100% a highlight of the year.

First time I've seen the figure-skating clip--as someone who saw the Cramps in a small club in 1980, inspirational beyond words.

This makes me happy.

God, Lux's vocal takes are a perfect as perfect can be. Every syllable exactly where it belongs, every tone precisely measured but natural, easy.

extremely otm

Which is kind of ironic, as his persona was that of the crazed, id-driven, out-of-control rockabilly freak.

That Wednesday clip made me smile.

Yeah, Lux was a great singer but so were so many of his role models, hello Gene Vincent!

On December 31, 1988 I saw The Cramps, Butthole Surfers, and Dead Milkmen at the 2,000 seat Warner Theatre in Washington DC . Had seen the Cramps before and they were great each time .

The Warner Theatre doesn't seem like a place for any of those bands! Sorry I missed that era.

I saw the Cramps twice - once was the first time I'd ever said "well, fuck it, I have a driver's license and L.A.'s only 40 minutes away, what if I drove in to see a show tonight" -- they were astonishing, they were touring Smell of Female. second time they were headlining the first Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds US tour. They were good, but Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds had chewed up all the scenery, the Cramps played for 90+ minutes and it didn't stun the way Cave & Co. had in 40 scant minutes. OTOH Lux actually took off his pants toward the end of the set, so, you know, naked Lux.

i could have sworn that i saw the cramps paired with john cale at cbgb, but i can't find any positive confirmation of that pairing on the internet. maybe it's that john cale happened to be there in the audience the night i saw the cramps? i also saw the cramps / bo diddley / clash show at the palladium.

the wednesday dance is the highlight of the show (which I hated at first but grew to like despite myself). that figure skating routine is really fun.

nice! (my life history sux and i’ve done it wrong sadmoji)

I wish I saw them a couple decades before I finally did - but the one show I saw (2006 at Sunset Junction) is on YouTube in its entirety. (this was a few months before their last show ever)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c0OG68n8Pb4

This wasn't the show I saw, but this was the tour I saw, in 1994, promoting Flamejob. It was a bigger club — the Academy on 42nd Street in Manhattan. I think Gas Huffer opened.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TyV5_IQKU3o