Happy new year - here's a toast to '24 from Viv! 🥂
I've got plans for the Swing Time! webcomic, for this year and beyond - new pages, more page updates, more merch, a debut on Tapas, new rewards and more!
Artist: The Cramps (Lux Interior, he/him; Poison Ivy, she/her)
Why?
For Halloween, I decided to do something a bit different. The artists today never identified as trans as far as I know, but were so campy in queering gender and aggressively gender non-conforming that they embody the wider meaning of transgressing the gender binary.
Today, I am going to give you a crash course in THE CRAMPS!
The lead singer, Lux Interior (he/him), and lead guitar, Poison Ivy (she/her), fell in love over their shared passion as record collectors of classic blues and rock-n-roll, as well as a love for B-movie horror films. This led them to get married and form a band that basically created the genre of "psychobilly," also cementing other subgenres like "punkabilly." I think it's also fair to credit them with inspiring the aesthetics of later goth and emo scenes, as well.
My first encounter with the Cramps was the music video for "Garbageman." While this is a cover, it was an invitation into music that coins the idea of "punkabilly" and if Lux's extreme vocals and Ivy's groundbreaking guitar don't put a spell on you, I don't know what will.
"Ultratwist" will give you a taste of how they developed their style and sound with one of their later ablums. It also features all the wonderful campy horror vibes in the music video that define their aesthetic.
To truly understand the magic that these two brought into the world, you gotta watch them live. Have you ever wondered what the acoustics of a man singing while fellating a microphone sound like? Well, you will find out as Lux gyrates and lurches in uncanny and animalistic fashion across the stage with leather pants so low you can see his pubic hair while performing "I Was a Teenage Werewolf"
You can also get a taste for their kinky queerness in "Creature from the Black Leather Lagoon," as Lux performs in leather thong and high heels. CW: music video starts with a scene depicting a bloody demonic birth of a grown man
Thing is, Lux and Ivy were brilliant and unapologetically transgressive, while also deeply loving art. One of my favorite examples of this is one of the only songs I know about a Dada/Cubist painting. "Naked Girl Falling Down the Stairs" is about encountering Marcel Duchamp's "Nude Descending a Staircase, No. 2" (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nude_Descending_a_Staircase,_No._2) in a museum. The music video also highlights once more Lux's amazing ability to perform in stiletto heels and a latex jumpsuit:
The Cramps infamously also decided to build on Johnny Cash's recording of performances at prisons by playing the Napa Valley Mental Hospital in 1978. Mental Hospitals were still pretty rough back then, but this is clearly a welcome bit of fun and liveliness for the patients, as they dance and even join onstage, and Lux and Ivy seem to be having a blast with them all. I think things like this endeared them to outsiders, weirdos, and folks living with mental illnesses like myself.
Lastly, I also want to suggest people check out a video essay about the Cramps by A Grrrl's Two Sound Cents. It really highlights what was amazing about this band, how absolutely brilliant and hypnotizing Poison Ivy's guitar virtuosity is, and the abosolute unrestrained play of Lux Interior on stage.
I think it's interesting the way their journey maps onto so many queer people's stories. Lux was from Ohio but escaped to California for college where he met his brilliant and beautiful wife and bandmate, Ivy. They brought their musical circus to New York in the late 70s and were a core part of the emerging punk scene, blowing open the possibilities of what punk could be. They later settled in West Hollywood, where Lux started wearing heels and breaking gender.
A while ago I've been asked if I had ever written about the background of my gender expression and fashion experiments and the agenda behind it.
Well, now I have - mostly for future reference. If you are interested in taking a very personal and lengthy look into my head you can do so here: https://tobiasgeyer.wordpress.com/2023/08/03/a-background-story/
Content warning: Mention of dysphoria and in one chapter details about my body and body image
Because I need to "keep my body moving" as Tunde says, and their music helps me move on a Monday morning.
Where to start?
The song that told me I would fall in love with Tunde's music was the first song on their album of the same name, "Transgressor." They sing about breaking through walls, but keeping a brick to remind them of things they've done. If that's not trans power, I don't know what is.
As I mentioned, if you need to get yourself moving this Monday, I suggest "Keep Your Body Moving." It is an irrepressible dance beat that will get you up out of your seat.
I remember seeing a cartoon of a masculine person wearing feminine clothes (a nightgown?), looking in the mirror and thinking about all the instances where men dressing as woman were used as jokes in popular media. This makes them feel shame.
Does anyone know which one I mean and have it? I forgot to save it when I came across it. 😭
Boosts appreciated #ClothesHaveNoGender#GenderNonConforming#Fashion
It's #PrideMonth! #Pride
To celebrate June, I'm going to recommend 1 #queer book every day, one that I liked and would love to have more appreciation for out there in the world!
Day 17: NATURE HELD ME CLOSE: A Zine About Gender Dysphoria and the Great Outdoors
There are THREE volumes of this now! Collections of personal essays, poetry, and artwork about being #trans, #queer, #NonBinary, #GenderNonConforming, #butch, or otherwise gender-complicated, and the ways that nature trips, nature studies, and being outdoors helped people connect with or otherwise re-assess their relationship with their bodies & identities.