Lux Interior (real name: Erick Lee Purkhiser), singer for the legendary band The Cramps passed away today at the age of 62. The cause of death was some sort of existing heart condition. The Cramps were a musical institution for the past 30 years and inspired countless bands in those three decades.
The Cramps were one of those bands I always put off seeing for one reason or another and I was hoping they’d come back this way so I could shoot photos at one of their shows. Sadly I’ll never get that chance now.
Though their best work was in the early 1980s, the band never stopped playing and recording and collecting Cramps records could be one of those losing battles as there are just so many (especially if you are collecting variations and foreign pressings) that it may not be possible to own it all. Regardless they were a band who stuck to what they did best and as a result I’m not sure there’s such a thing as a bad Cramps record.
Lux Interior was one in a million, and his presence will be sorely missed.
For those of you who like myself never witnessed The Cramps live, I leave you with this clip of their amazing performance from the long unavailable movie, Urgh a Music War.
