Lux Interior, frontman of the campy, classic horror-infused punk band The Cramps, died over the weekend. In a sort of sad/sort of fortuitous accident of timing, as Bob Westal points out at Forward to Yesterday, an animated film in which Lux had a key voice role is having a big screening via the American Cinematheque at the Egyptian Theater in Hollywood tonight.
Los Campeones de la Lucha Libre is described by the American Cinematheque’s website as “A feature-length animated action-comedy” in which “Masked mayhem ensues when a team of wrestling heroes is caught in the middle of a struggle between a gang of barbarians right out of Mad Max and a legion of monsters inspired by the golden age of Mexican horror films.” Tonight’s screening will be the Los Angeles debut of the English-language print of the film. There’s a bit on the animation company’s blog about Lux Interior’s role:
We needed a creepy, unearthly yet endearing voice for Rayo X, and after testing many actors, it was apparent that the role was made for Lux. Working with him was both a blast and an honor…Tomorrow night will be a sadder experience hearing his voice ring out at The Egyptian, and a little unnerving when Rayo utters Lux’s favorite line in the movie ‘Ah, the heady stench of death‘.
If you can’t make the movie, there’s a surprisingly large number of Cramps videos and circa-late 70s, early 80s live footage of the band on YouTube — at least, as of this writing. A favorite clip making the rounds is embedded above: The Cramps playing a California mental hospital in 1984
Thanks, Karina, for picking this up. It’s going to be a poignant, but entertaining, occasion I think.
[...] (with a slightly different age for Lux Interior at the time of his passing) up. Also, the wondrous Katrina Longworth of Spoutblog fame has picked up on the story and included some video of one of the Cramps’ [...]
[...] from their delightful hospital visit is featured below, and Spout notes also that the late singer is featured among the voice talent behind Los Campeones de la Lucha Libre, an [...]
Correction: The Napa State mental hospital footage is from 1978.