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WARNING
FIENDS! THIS IS NOT YOUR ORDINARY
ROCK AND
ROLL…
By mr. bill
The Cramps warn: proceed with caution...
This is not ordinary music!
That is the idea when you are taking in the Cramps.
Going beneath the surface of standard radio airplay, of the usual everyday
culture that saturates our lifestyles. For the Cramps, its delving beyond
to the taboo, to the subcultures that make life more interesting to those
wild at heart. It's a place in rock history, despite all the hearsay
and folklore, of getting the story straight. It's digging into real culture.
Like no other band in this world, the Cramps
delve into b movie mania with their new LP Fiends of Dope Island.
The Cramps have been performing in a unique style
of rock and roll / psychobilly that dates back to 1975. Starting in Akron,
Ohio, and making immediate success in NY City, the Cramps have been on
a fervent road to success. Over the years they have aged like fine
wine, gained world-wide acclaim, and maintain more energy and fevor than
ever as they continue to create wild stage performances and new albums
that maintain the edge they are renowned for. In 1998, the Cramps
released Big Beat from Badsville on Epitaph records, which included a world
tour and in 1999 features a new greatest hits release. The Cramps
have returned with a fresh serving of their edgey psychotic rock and roll
in 2003 as they have unleashed Fiends of Dope Island on Vengence
Records. The Cramps are back in the flesh with a tour spreading across
the United States in April and May. And for those who can relate
to the 50's trash culture they portray, they are a must see experience.
For those who don't know what to expect, proceed with caution....but proceed
ASAP.
The Cramps have gone through different line-ups
over the years, with Lux Interior and Poison Ivy as the fixtures (and creators)
of the band, have had the line-up over the past four years that includes
Scott Chopper Franklin on bass and Harry Drumdini on drums. While
on their last tour of the US, Lux Interior spoke with us on an interview
from Chapel Hill, North Carolina.
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photo-Mr Bill
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Staying true to their roots, the Cramps have been
one band that doesn't follow the latest trend. They follow their
heart, and it shows in the music they perform. Lux Interior said,
“We often get criticized for being retro and things like that, but I think
of us as being people that are more intelligent than other people because
we appreciate the things of value no matter what year that they happen
to come from. A lot of people seem to like only what is popular right
now and they won't like it six months from now because they will like what
is popular then. That just seems to be so limiting; yet we often get accused
of being limited to our retro tastes or something like that. It's very
weird. People say we stay the same and things like that, but I think we
expand and broaden our horizons constantly, but we still love rock and
roll and think of it as a blues based folk music and as something that
is real and bigger than just a popular music culture. That's the
thing that makes it different: actually something real made by real people
expressing a message that has to do with where they come from, who they
are, besides just being people that want to make money which seems like
is going on in the music industry today. It is full of people in
the music industry who want to make money and are trying to figure out
how to do that instead of people who are passionate about music.”
photo- Ron Mullens
The Cramps draw on trash culture, highball music,
vintage hot rods, b-movie mania and digging into the cultural fabric of
Americana, 1950’s –60’s. Although some might not understand what
that is all about, the Cramps have blown up with a huge following and continue
to attract new fans. “There are a lot of people that get everything
there is to get about the Cramps,” said Lux. “There are a lot of Cramps
fans around and I think that was why we started a band in the first place.
To meet people like us. That is probably why anybody starts a band
unless they are starting it for the shallow reasons of making money, but
there are a lot of people who understand us completely, but, it's the old
saying you know, in the fifties there were the cool people and the hipsters
and the square people. Nothing ever changes, I really think, and
I think the people who don't understand the Cramps are square, uptight,
repressed people, and I don't know, there are probably so many things they
don't understand that it's just sad for them. The thing that gets
me today is I think the people to blame for lousy music today is all of
the young people that are not making a scene and are not being passionate
about music. They just seem to be shallow. There are a lot
of bands that aren't that way. There are bands like, last time we
went out on tour with the Demolition Doll Rods, who are a great band.
There are a lot of really great underground bands that exist that work
really hard and drive around the country in their van and they get a little
success, but very little, but it just seems that most of youth today is
not interested in having an exciting underground type of scene. There
isn't going to be too much excitement happening until there is some kind
of underground scene, like what happened in Soho in the 70’s, and London
and New York in the 70’s.
photo- Mr Bill
I don't think much has happened since then that
is anything but a bunch of rehash of anything that has happened before.”
And as the Akron music scene took place during the late 70’s, Lux said,
“All those bands got so much better because they were influencing each
other and knew each other and were passionate bout music. That is
what is missing today. There is just no scene. It really makes it
hard for young kids to know what could be.” And advice to those looking
to follow in similar footsteps? “Well, I would say get excited about something
and get into what seems natural to you. Don't for a minute think
to yourself what is going to make money, or what can I do for a living,
because you are only going to be unhappy and end up unhappy by doing something
you don't want to do. Think about the fun things you enjoy the most
and get passionate about it and you can make a living from doing that.
If you really work at it, it will work.”
photo-Mr Bill |
It was during the early 1970’s that the Cramps
began in Akron, Ohio. It was during the mid to late 70’s that Akron
exploded with a scene of it's own that included the likes of Devo, Tin
Huey, the Bizarro’s and others who landed record deals. The Cramps were
in the mix before moving to NY City. Lux said, “I have always loved Akron.
I loved growing up there and there was always something fun or cool going
on there. |
I remember back in ’68 there was a nightclub
on South Main street called the Birth. I remember going to it one time
and it was like the first psychedelic nightclub in Akron. It was
strange because the kids who were going to it were all like the Goth kids
but they had no idea they were the Goth kids because there was no such
term, but I remember going there one night and I was there for like four
hours and all night long they would play like “Land of 1,000 Dances” and
no other record. They played that record all night long and the kids
were dancing like crazy and they had a psychedelic light show and it was
a really cool club. We used to live right by the Highland Theatre
in ’74, and then we lived on Vesper Street right over where you go up the
hill on Howard Street. It was a house. That place is burned down now.
When we lived there we used to go to those theatres and it's really great,
my brother was just telling me that they have stuff there (Highland Theatre)
all the time and I think that is great that they have shows there.”
| From the 70’s music has certainly taken on different
twists into the 90’s. As on their Big Beat from Badsville in 1998,
Sheena has gone from a punk rocker (Sheena is a punk Rocker by the Ramones)
to a Goth gang, “Sheena’s in A Goth Gang” off the new LP. Lux
explained, “That particular song was from hanging around Johnny Ramone. |
photo-Mr Bill
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He moved out to LA and is retiring now and I was
just talking to him on the phone and we were watching the news on TV and
nothing particularly scandalous had happened that week, and some kids had
gone into some old deserted graveyard out by where we live in LA and dug
up a corpse and put a cigarette in its mouth. Just some Goth kids
you know, and all of a sudden the started having this big expose on Goth
gangs in LA, you know, they started making them sound like the crooks and
the blood and the Goth, and like it was going to be like Clockwork Orange
scaring all of these adults into thinking that it was going to be like
there were all these bands of roving Goths that are out there.
Like you could be cornered in a mall parking lot one day by a bunch of
Goths. And having descriptions of the cloths they wear and stuff
and it all came from this one little incident of these four high school
kids whose probably biggest crime was to write some lousy poems.
But, it was a big thing on the news and then the next thing was somebody
shot somebody on the freeway and all of a sudden there was road rage, so
it didn't last that long, but it inspired us to write that song.”
Danger, Danger! It's the attack of the Cramps
from outer space!!! And, what about the Cramps in their own B movie complete
with soundtrack? “Oh, I’d love to!” Lux said. “I think if it happens,
which I hope it does, we are just going to have to do it and have ourselves
write it and everything else because we get approached by some people and
it's always something horrible and I don't think I could ever be an actor
and say really stupid lines. They wanted me to be in the first Crow
movie. It's funny because I would have been the guy who shot Brandon
Lee, but in the first draft, I don't know, because I haven't seen that
movie and how it ended up, but in the first draft it had me saying all
kinds of fart jokes. Just horrible, and I could never say that.
We love movies and are into the film lour and movies and all that kind
of stuff and we can't imagine being in a bad movie. We would love to make
movies, so if somebody doesn't come along and put us in movies that's any
good, we will just have to do it ourselves.”
photo- mr. bill
The Cramps too head into the new millennium and
have more in the works for fans to look ahead to. Lux said, “We want to
release a long run video. We have all of these videos that nobody
ever sees, because nobody will show them. We are going to put them
all together on a long-term video along with some live footage and put
that out. We are thinking about writing a book because there are
several books which are completely incorrect and quote each other, so we
never really felt like writing a book about ourselves except that there
is so much misinformation and untruths going around, it seems like somebody
wants to know the truth and we would like it to be known instead of a bunch
of stuff that is incorrect. The stuff is all made by fans that mean
well and everything, like we do an interview for somebody and they get
it wrong and then they write the interview and then they write a book and
somebody else reads it and they get it wrong and it just gets compounded
over the years, so that's another thing we would like to do to get the
record straight. Not that I would ever like to write a book, but
we have an idea for a kind of funny one with lots of pictures.”
The Cramps will hopefully continue to release
new material and tour. A live show is one you will not go away from disappointed.
Neither is a listen to one of their LP’s. And the best part is to
taste the passion they have for their music and lifestyle. It's addicting.
And they do live and love their passion for music; Lux still gets
it from mom. “That is what mom always told me. Even when I
was in national magazines, she was saying I wasn't a success because I
didn't have a job. (laughs) She goes,’gee, that's great. You are
in all of these national magazines and everything, but it's too bad you
are never going to use your college education!”
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