Chords, notes and aggression: the three guitarists who inspired Poison Ivy the most
When it comes to the canon of great punk guitarists, there aren’t many who are more underrated and overlooked than Poison Ivy of The Cramps. While not a punk player in the traditional sense, the aggressive style that she adopted was truly unique for the time, and the band’s adoption of a psychobilly style was largely down to her integral influence within the band she co-founded alongside husband Lux Interior.
Ivy doesn’t get anywhere near enough credit for her trailblazing efforts, and the number of players she’s inspired to follow in her footsteps is far greater than one might give credit for. She’s no longer active as a musician, having decided to retire from the spotlight in 2009 after her partner’s death and therefore hanging up The Cramps’ name, but that doesn’t mean that her legacy doesn’t live on in plenty of artists emerging today.
Because her style wasn’t in the same ilk as other guitarists of a rock and punk background, and was far more rooted in primitive styles, one might imagine that her influences come from a more diverse range of places. Considering the band were influenced just as much by soul and garage rock as they were by the punk and gothic rock that their output suggested, there is a holy trinity of players that she has always idolised and claimed to be the basis of her own technique.
In an interview published in Guitar World in 2021, Ivy stated that there were three key components to her style of guitar playing: the notes, the chords, and the aggression. Therefore, when she listed the three most influential guitarists that shaped her methods, she named the three players who were arguably the masters of these three crucial elements.
According to her, Link Wray was the master of ‘the chord’. Best known for his controversial instrumental ‘Rumble’, which was once considered to be the sort of song capable of starting a riot due to its distorted guitar sound, Wray is often overlooked as a guitarist, but his influence rubbed off on Ivy in a significant manner. “A monumental chord and the drama of it,” she explained. “It’s very haunting, stark. He had that thing I call ‘the grind’ – that really fast, grinding, dead strumming. With Link Wray, it’s about the chords and the drama. It sounds dangerous to me, it sounds spooky.”
Moving on from ‘the chord’ and ‘the grind’ of Link Wray, she alleged that the master of ‘the note’ was Duane Eddy. Known for the distinctive twang in his guitar sound, his utilisation of individual notes in his playing style also heavily impacted Ivy, and was something she was keen to emulate and build upon in her own work. “A single note, just the ultimate twang,” she stated. “Duane Eddy also sounds spooky. They both have drama. He had those backing vocals that sound like they’re ghosts, y’know, from hell,” referencing songs such as ‘Ramrod’ and ‘Stalkin’’ as being “dangerous hoodlum music”.
Finally, the main purveyor of aggression in his style was Ike Turner, someone who Ivy acknowledges didn’t even consider himself a guitarist. “He produced a lot, and he considered himself more of a piano player, but his guitar playing was totally unique,” she declared. “He must have got a Stratocaster the day it came out, and he went nuts with the vibrato bar. It’s insane. If you see pictures, he has these really long fingers and huge hands wrapped around a skinny Stratocaster neck.”
While these three guitarists may not have the same levels of precision or flair as others who are often regarded as the greats, they all helped pioneer a style that felt maniacal in its delivery. The way that Ivy combined all three of their strengths was simply a masterstroke in combining her seemingly disparate influences.
