LOS ANGELES, CA – Lux Interior, lead singer and founding member of psychobilly punk band The Cramps passed away on February 4th, 2009 at his Glendale, CA home from a pre-existing heart ailment. He was 62.
Born Erick Lee Purkheiser, Lux Interior founded The Cramps in 1973, trekking with his band from their Ohio roots to California, and finally to New York. It was in NYC where they burst onto the CBGB punk scene alongside bands like The Ramones, Blondie, and Talking Heads. Playing a unique brand of horror-themed punk overlaid with rockabilly and surf-rock overtones, The Cramps revolutionized the genre of “psychobilly.” Heavily influenced by ’50s b-movies and all things trashy, the band is best known for songs such as “Bikini Girls With Machine Guns,” “Can Your Pussy Do the Dog,” “What’s Inside a Girl” and “Goo Goo Muck.”
Looking like a goth-ed out Iggy Pop with his lanky, gangly frame, Lux Interior’s stage antics included spastic dancing, wailing howl, and occasionally putting his head through a bass drum and projectile vomiting into the audience.
Lux is survived by his wife of 37 years, Kristy Wallace — better known by her stage name, Poison Ivy — his fellow founding member and guitarist of The Cramps.
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