The Cramps , or simply Cramps , is an American rockabilly band from New York. Formed in 1975>, it is dissolved after the death of the singer Lux Interior, on February 4th, 2009.
Throughout their long career, although they have been categorized by fans and trendy music journalists, its members define themselves as a rock 'n' roll band in the its as in the mind - the term psychobilly to which they are generally associated designating more precisely an English scene, influenced by them, but whose main instigators really remain the Meteors. Cramps are part of an American tradition of rock 'n' roll, singular in the fusion they make of three distinct genres: rockabilly, punk garage and psychedelia, all also from the counterculture US.
Their initial goal was to make the cross between Carl Perkins and Shadows of Knight. Their music mixes rockabilly (Carl Perkins), garage rock (Shadows of Knight), psychedelism and punk rock, against a background of drugs, sex and horror B series.
The history of the Cramps is the story of the couple Lux Interior and Poison Ivy form: The group originated in their 1972 encounter in Los Angeles when Erik Lee Purkhisher hitched Kristy Wallace. They are discovering a common passion for the subculture of rare and obscure rock 'n' roll singles, B-movies and all that is trashy, long before it's in fashion. Tired of insults from the neighborhood hippies every time they go out into the city, they decide to return to Akron, where Lux spent all his childhood. Since Akron, they often travel nine hours to New York to see the Ramones in concert at CBGB, now legendary club in New York and cradle of the punk movement. They decide to form The Cramps, choosing this name because it evokes the violent pain.
