CRAMPS

My stomach isn’t doing too well this day so it seems only fitting I write about the Cramps.

Ah the Cramps – formed in the late 70’s as part of the first punk wave – the band is Lux Interior on lead vocals and Poison Ivy on Guitar – with a rotating cast on bass or second guitar, or drums (currently Sean Ysuelt late of White Zombie and Famous Monsters is on bass – makes me even more ticked I missed their show in September – ah well). And they are still at it as of 2006.

The Cramps are counted as one of the originators of ‘psycobilly’ – simply 12 bar songs – done al la Sun Studio sound with frankly bizarre lyrical subjects – sleazy sex and fetishes B movie exploitation films and monster movies. (Gee I wonder why I find them a source of inspiration?) – While they deny the term accurately describes their minimalist sound it does, to me, come pretty damn close.

Their albums range from good to fair/poor the balance between shocking and shtick is hard to maintain – and due to the bewildering number of labels they have recorded on I don’t expect we are going to see a box set or a “greatest of” CD from the band. Which is a shame – when they are on, there is nobody but nobody who can do the madness they can do. Any band that does songs with lines like ‘I cut your head off and put it in the TV set’ or songs with titles like “Bikini Girls with machine Guns” and “Dames Booze Chains and Boots” needs to be loved and cherished like the rare jewel they are.

Random Neural firings:

Not a long blog today – we’re moving and we have to purge files – how dare work get in the way of doing Blogging. An outrage I say, an outrage!

Made progress on the Killer Sheep song this weekend thanks to the enemy below and The Insect Girl (who tightened the lyrics up considerably - again thanks). I have to think, while there have been other songs on braineating I suspect this may be the first song about Killer Sheep (bipedal killer sheep to be exact) in the history of western Music. That’s a good, if weird, feeling.

And it’s got to be the silliest thing we’ve done yet.

Kicking around stringing together some of our songs in a musical format – the idea is that these people are trapped in a bar by the rampaging killer sheep, and as time passes they tell the others about themselves in song form – so far The sheep song, Ode to a Glock, the Lottery song and one I’m kicking about called Robots took my man – a blues number for a female singer (if we do this we’ll need at least on of them) and Someone Else and just maybe Insect Heads.

It might work or it might be the stupidest musical in the history of the American Stage. Well you do need goals.

Later all.