Lux Interior

Born in Akron, Ohio, he grew up in its nearby suburb of Stow and graduated from Stow High School.{{cite news |title=Appreciation: Akron-born garage rocker Lux Interior was the king of trash-culture |url=http://blog.cleveland.com/entertainment/2009/02/appreciation_akronborn_garage.html |first=John |last=Petkovic |date=February 5, 2009 |newspaper=The Plain Dealer |access-date=October 16, 2009 |quote=But the Stow High School grad came up with the idea for the band while watching late-night TV in Northeast Ohio. |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090913000230/http://blog.cleveland.com/entertainment/2009/02/appreciation_akronborn_garage.html |archive-date=September 13, 2009 }}

He met his partner Kristy Wallace, better known as Poison Ivy, in Sacramento in 1972, when he and a friend picked her up while she was hitchhiking.{{cite news |url=http://www.sacbee.com/static/weblogs/ticket/archives/019288.html |title=Cramps singer Lux Interior dies at 60 |date=February 4, 2009 |first=Rachel |last=Leibrock |newspaper=The Sacramento Bee |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090208152157/http://sacbee.com/static/weblogs/ticket/archives/019288.html |archive-date=February 8, 2009}}{{cite news |url=http://www.laweekly.com/music/lux-interiors-astral-ascension-jonny-whitesides-report-from-the-ceremony-2411543 |title=Lux Interior's Astral Ascension |first=Jonny |last=Whiteside |newspaper=LA Weekly |date=March 12, 2009 |access-date=April 2, 2015}} The couple founded the band after they moved from California to Ohio in 1973, and then to New York in 1975, where they soon became part of the flourishing punk scene.

Lux Interior's name came "from an old car commercial", after he previously flirted with the names Vip Vop and Raven Beauty,{{cite book |first=Ian |last=Johnston |title=The Wild Wild World of The Cramps |publisher=Omnibus Press |year=1990}} while his wife's name change was inspired by "a vision she received in a dream". The couple called their musical style psychobilly, a word that appears in the lyrics of Johnny Cash's song, "One Piece at a Time", and gothabilly.{{cite news |last = Breen|first = Meagan|title = An Introspective into Gothabilly|publisher = Auxiliary Magazine|date = 2009-03-05|url = http://auxiliarymagazine.com/fashion/2009/03/an-introspective-into-gothabilly/|access-date = 2009-04-16}}{{cite news|last = Uutela|first = Deanna|title = Case of the Zombies|place = Eugene, Oregon|newspaper = Eugene Weekly|date = 2007-10-04|url = http://www.eugeneweekly.com/2007/10/04/music4.html|access-date = 2009-04-16|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20090430170259/http://www.eugeneweekly.com/2007/10/04/music4.html|archive-date = 2009-04-30|url-status = dead}} The band later said that they were just using the phrases as "carny terms to drum up business."

Interior was known for a frenetic and provocative stage show that included high heels, near-nudity and sexually suggestive movements.{{cite magazine |last=Male |first=Andrew |title=Lux Interior: October 21, 1946 - February 4, 2009 |url=http://www.mojo4music.com/blog/2009/02/lux_interior_october_21_1946_f.html |magazine=Mojo |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110521155253/http://www.mojo4music.com/blog/2009/02/lux_interior_october_21_1946_f.html |archive-date=May 21, 2011 }} His speciality was the microphone blow job, where he could get the entire head of an SM-58 microphone into his mouth.{{cite web |url=http://gorgonetta.tumblr.com/post/26906076774/b-w-photo-of-lux-interior-on-stage-fellating-a |title=Gorgonetta: B/w photo of Lux Interior on stage, fellating a microphone |website=Gorgonetta.tumblr.com |date=July 10, 2012 |access-date=April 2, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150703184227/http://gorgonetta.tumblr.com/post/26906076774/b-w-photo-of-lux-interior-on-stage-fellating-a |archive-date=July 3, 2015}}{{cite web |url=https://www.gearslutz.com/board/attachments/so-much-gear-so-little-time/5710d1109389678-sexy-microphone-pictures-microfono.jpg |title=Sexy Microphone Pictures |website=Gearslutz.com |year=2005 |access-date=April 2, 2015}} The Cramps gave their last show in November 2006.{{cite news |first=August |last=Brown |newspaper=Los Angeles Times |title=Lux Interior dies at 60; founder, front man of punk band the Cramps |date=February 4, 2009 |url=http://www.latimes.com/local/la-me-lux-interior5-2009feb05-story.html |access-date=October 20, 2009}}

When asked why he continued to play live well into middle age, he told the LA Times

{{cquote|It's a little bit like asking a junkie how he's been able to keep on dope all these years--it's just so much fun. You pull into one town and people scream, 'I love you, I love you, I love you.' And you go to a bar and have a great rock 'n' roll show and go to the next town and people scream, 'I love you, I love you, I love you, I love you.' It's hard to walk away from all that.}}

In 2002 Lux Interior voiced a character on the SpongeBob SquarePants episode "Party Pooper Pants" – the lead singer of an all-bird rock band called the Bird Brains, performing "Underwater Sun", written and composed by Stephen Hillenburg and Peter Strauss.{{cite news |title=Lux Interior, 62, Singer in the Punk-Rock Era, Is Dead |first=Ben |last=Sisario |newspaper=The New York Times |date=February 5, 2009 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/06/arts/music/06interior.html |access-date=October 20, 2009}}{{cite news |title=The Cramps founder Lux Interior once appeared on 'SpongeBob SquarePants' |first=Atreyi |last=Banerji |date=February 4, 2021 |url=https://faroutmagazine.co.uk/the-cramps-lux-interior-spongebob-squarepants/ |access-date=March 18, 2023}} Tom Kenny, who voices SpongeBob, attended his memorial ceremony in 2009.

Interior was also a painter (mainly in his college years) and visual artist. In particular he was a 3D camera collector and enthusiast who used his collection to create artworks and collages.{{cite news |url= https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2009/dec/13/lux-interior-cramps-obituaries-2009 |title=Obituaries 2009: Lux Interior |first=James |last=Sclavunos |newspaper=The Guardian |date=December 13, 2009 |access-date=April 2, 2015}}

Lux Interior died at 4:30 a.m. on February 4, 2009, at Glendale Memorial Hospital in California. The cause of death was aortic dissection. He was survived by his wife Ivy and two brothers, Michael Purkhiser{{cite web |url=http://www.cleveland.com/music/index_story.ssf?/music/more/local/timeline/1980/1980postpunk.html |title=1980s: A New Scene Takes Hold - Post-Punk |website=Cleveland.com |year=2015 |access-date=April 2, 2015 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150702065213/http://www.cleveland.com/music/index_story.ssf?%2Fmusic%2Fmore%2Flocal%2Ftimeline%2F1980%2F1980postpunk.html |archive-date=July 2, 2015 }} and Ronald "Skip" Purkhiser, as well as a son from a previous marriage. The memorial service for Lux was held on February 21 at the Windmill Chapel of the Self-Realization Fellowship Lake Shrine. Lux's brother Michael also provided insight into his relationship with Lux in a newspaper article.{{cite web |url= http://www.ohio.com/entertainment/malcolm-x-abram-sibling-recalls-lux-interior-punk-icon-1.103323 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20150701122236/http://www.ohio.com/entertainment/malcolm-x-abram-sibling-recalls-lux-interior-punk-icon-1.103323 |url-status= dead |archive-date= 2015-07-01 |title=Sibling recalls Lux Interior, punk icon |first=Malcolm X |last=Abram |website=Ohio.com |date=February 11, 2009 |access-date=July 19, 2021}}{{cite magazine |url=http://www.trebuchet-magazine.com/lux-interior-in-memoriam/ |title=Lux Interior : In Memoriam |magazine=Trebuchet |year=2013 |access-date=April 2, 2015}}

{{reflist}}

{{commons category}}

• {{Official website|http://www.thecramps.com/}}
• {{cite news |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/lux-interior-singer-with-the-cramps-1547620.html |first=Pierre |last=Perrone |title=Lux Interior, singer with The Cramps |newspaper=The Independent |date=February 6, 2009 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090207181317/https://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/lux-interior-singer-with-the-cramps-1547620.html |archive-date=February 7, 2009}}
• {{cite news |url=http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/obituaries/article5671073.ece |title=Lux Interior: maniacal front man of the Cramps |newspaper=The Times |date=February 6, 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100523053258/http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/obituaries/article5671073.ece |archive-date=May 23, 2010}}
• {{cite magazine |url=http://www.trebuchet-magazine.com/longliveluxinterior |first=Carl Byron |last=Batson |title=Lux Lives – Long Live Lux Interior |magazine=Trebuchet |date=October 21, 2013}}

{{The Cramps}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Interior, Lux}}

Category:1946 births

Category:2009 deaths

Category:Psychobilly musicians

Category:Gothabilly musicians

Category:Singers from Ohio

Category:The Cramps members

Category:Musicians from Akron, Ohio

Category:20th-century American singers

Category:Deaths from aortic dissection