Lux Interior, co-founder of seminal punk band, dies at 60

By CITY NEWS SERVICE

Story Created: Feb 5, 2009 at 7:01 PM PST

Story Updated: Feb 5, 2009 at 7:02 PM PST

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Lux Interior, the singer, songwriter and founding member of the pioneering New York City horror-punk band the Cramps, has died. He was 60.

Interior, whose real name was Erick Lee Purkhiser, died at Glendale Memorial Hospital of a heart condition, according to a statement from his publicist cited by the Los Angeles Times.

With his wife, guitarist "Poison" Ivy Rorschach, Interior formed the Cramps in 1976, pairing lyrics that expressed their love of B-movie camp with ferocious rockabilly and surf-inspired instrumentation, The Times reported.

The band became a staple of the late '70s Manhattan punk scene emerging from clubs such as Max's Kansas City and CBGB, and was one of the first acts to realize the potential of punk rock as theater and spectacle, according to the newspaper.

Often dressed in macabre, gender-bending costumes onstage, Interior evoked a lanky, proto-goth Elvis Presley, and his band quickly became notorious for volatile and decadent live performances, The Times reported.

The Cramps recorded early singles at Sun Records with producer Alex Chilton of the band Big Star and had their first critical breakthrough on their debut EP ``Gravest Hits."

The group was asked to open for the Police on a major tour of Britain in 1979 and reached its critical apex in the early '80s with such albums as "Psychedelic Jungle" and ``Songs the Lord Taught Us," The Times reported.

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