It is with great sadness that we mark the passing of one of music’s most original & inspiring performers, Lux Interior. Front man of The Cramps from 1972, Lux passed away from an existing heart condition on February 4th, 2009 at the age of 62.
Speaking on behalf of all the staff and volunteers at the Janie Jones Archive, we find ourselves consumed by a particularly deep sadness. Her journals indicate that Janie Jones was hugely influenced by the unbridled perfomative madness that The Cramps embodied. In the punk rock, alternative music milieu, Lux Interior stood out as a true original amongst many trying desperately to appear original.
Humour, horror, kitsch & sex were essential to all of The Cramps music and Lux Interior lived what he performed. As authentic as they come, it is impossible to imagine Lux could ever be anything less than he was onstage.
“Interior maintained that The Cramps wanted "to bring back some sick humour to rock'n'roll. It's way too healthy these days. It's horrible, it's obnoxious. All these rock stars doing good all over the world. At first, I thought it was kind of funny. But then it started to give me a creepy feeling."
The Independent Feb. 6, 2009
The Janie Jones Archive would like to extend our deepest condolences to Lux’s longtime creative collaborator and wife, Poison Ivy (Rorschach). Janie wrote about how the relationship between Lux & Poison Ivy represented the possibility of finding a true soul mate for life, something she personally never experienced. Poison Ivy remains one of the most empowering female role models to come out of the punk rock/psychobilly music scene. She rocks the lead guitar like no other, wears her sexuality proudly and performed stone faced as Lux Interior hurled himself about the stage in liquid rubber & high heels, deep throating the mic in his theatre of psycopathia sexualis. No one is cooler than Poison Ivy. Our thoughts are with her now.
R.I.P. Lux
silent, super 8 film ofunknown origin of The Cramps performing
