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Liner Notes

A weekly column by Tampa Tribune pop music critic Curtis Ross

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By CURTIS ROSS | The Tampa Tribune

Published: February 12, 2009

Lux Interior took the stage wearing a black vinyl jacket and slacks ensemble, with a pair of women's red, low-heel pumps adding a splash of color.

By the end of the concert, Interior was down to the pumps and black vinyl bikini briefs. He was lying prone atop a stack of speaker cabinets, thrusting his hips and growling with the microphone stuffed in his mouth.

This was one of the best rock 'n' roll concerts I've ever seen.

I saw The Cramps in the Cuban Club courtyard in May 1990. It's one of the only times I went into a show with high expectations and not only didn't have them dashed, but also had them exceeded.

Interior's partner in crime, life and music, guitarist Poison Ivy, was The Cramps' musical force, combining rockabilly, surf and fuzztone psychedelia into a buzzing swarm of sick riffs.

Well past six feet tall, Interior looked like Dr. Frankenstein's attempt to create Elvis; or maybe The Addams Family's Lurch as a '50s juvenile delinquent. His voice combined every sneer, leer and yelp ever hiccupped in the name of rock 'n' roll.

The Cramps emerged during the punk period, but Interior and Ivy's influences went well beyond The Stooges and The New York Dolls.

The two shared a love and knowledge of primal rock 'n' roll and R&B, especially the records made by obscure one-shots with nothing to lose and no reason not to spew their madness all over a slab of 7-inch plastic.

Cramps albums were indoctrination into rock 'n' roll's seamy underbelly, full of sex, violence, chills and thrills. The Cramps were EC Comics ghouls armed with slapback echo and the big beat.

Interior passed away last week at the age of 60. Of course, as WMNF's Laura Taylor asked, "How can the undead pass away?"

Listen to Lux sing "Rockin' Bones" for an eerie premonition of his own afterlife. Roll on, Lux.

Curtis Ross can be reached at (813) 259-7568.

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