AS REVEALED in the last issue of Hot Press, those monarchs of thrash, psychobilly and all things bizarre, sleazy and decadent, The Cramps, are heading this way. The band’s most recent album, Flame Job, their first for the Creation label, contains the usual trademark mix of obscure rockabilly covers and twisted originals, all done in the band’s inimitable X-rated style. Given their massive cult following, their current tour promises to arouse huge interest among fans.

“It’s the first proper tour we’ve done in three years and we’re amazed at the reaction of the crowds so far,” drawls Cramps founder member, Lux Interior, down a crystal-clear phone line from his hotel room in Nashville, Tennessee.

“We’ve played occasional one-off dates but with the new album out, we have a more valid reason to hit the road. The night before last we played Dallas and it was just great. Here in the US, it’s the audiences in the southern states that really go wild for us and we’ve been playing to crowds of fifteen and sixteen year old kids — people who weren’t even born when we started out.”

The Cramps once described themselves as being “infatuated with plastic and LSD,” or as the liner-notes to their first EP Gravest Hits put it, “the psychotic debris of previous rock eras”. For inspiration for songs like ‘Can Your Pussy Do The Dog’ they unashamedly mined the backwaters of 1960’s thrash culture, 1950’s rockabilly and the underbelly of American life. Nowadays, though there seems to be less resistance from the mainstream to their output and they’ve even been getting widespread airplay.

STATES OF UNDRESS

Well, we certainly get a lot more now than we used to, which wasn’t much to start with,” offers Lux. “We even have our videos played on Network TV and MTV, which is great. I’m not so sure what’s going on in Europe right now but things are looking better in the States as far as real rock and roll is concerned. There are lots of great little bands plugging away — it’s a cyclical thing and it seems to be on the up at the moment.”

To describe The Cramps concert experience as lively, would be the understatement of the century — as those who’ve witnessed them in the flesh will testify.

At one memorable show at the Hammersmith Palais, Lux departed from the stage following the final encore, by pulling up the floorboards and disappearing through a maze of nails, splinters and blood. At another infamous gathering of Crampophiles, he displayed his gratitude to the audience by emptying the contents of his stomach all over them! And it’s not unknown for members of the band to be reduced to various states of undress by the end of a gig. They’ve played in some strange places too and are regular guests at such off-the-wall venues as maximum security prisons, state correctional institutions and mental hospitals!

Though now in their eighteenth year, Lux denies that the Cramps have succumbed to the ravages of time and mellowed a little. “I don’t think we have at all,” he says. “When we feel we are getting a little stale, we just fire someone from the band and get some new blood in. That way it keeps us fresh and on our toes.

“All I can say,” he concludes. “is that the live show is still the craziest thing on the road. Yeah, It’ll be great. I’ll say no more but it won’t disappoint our fans.”

• Colm O’Hare

• The Cramps play the SFX in Dublin on Friday 24th February.