2.

Link Wray – ‘Deuces Wild’

That song is a crazy bit of kit. I’m terrible at remembering dates, but I think it was one of his later ones, or it wasn’t available when it was recorded. I certainly didn’t get to hear it for a while. It’s got this amazing, disco-style drumming on it, but it pre-dates disco by years. The whole song is… rumbustious; full of vim and vigour.

I first heard Link Wray in about 1979. The bass player in The Pop Rivets, Big Russ, bought a record when we were on tour in Germany and we were immediately struck with it, especially ‘Run Chicken Run’ and ‘Jack The Ripper’. Fantastic stuff. Then Mark Perry gave me a copy of The Cramps’ first album, saying, ‘You’ll like this if you like that.’ I didn’t, and I put it straight in the bin. The Cramps aren’t a patch on Link Wray.

I did do some work with The Cramps at one stage. Lux was a lovely fella; a really charming man. My god, he used to put on a big gay show for all the psychobilly boys. I couldn’t believe it. He was crawling around in high heels and lipstick, drinking wine out of his shoe and he had all these big, tattooed louts watching him. He was very funny and he seemed to have a nice soul, but I didn’t know him well.