Longtime drummer for the influential punk band the Cramps, Nick “Nicky” Knox passed away on June 15 in Cleveland, Ohio; he was 60.
Born Nicholas George Stephanoff, Knox first hit the scene as drummer for the short-lived Cleveland garage/ proto-punk band the Electric Eels before joining [singer] Lux Interior and [guitarist] Poison Ivy [replacing drummer Miriam Linna] in the Cramps in 1977.
The Cramps, which disbanded in 2009 following the death of frontman Lux Interior, had several drummers through the years–Pam “Balam” Gregory, Miriam Linna, Harry Drumdini (Harry Meisenheimer), Jim Sclavunos, Nickey Alexander, “Jungle” Jim Chandler and Bill “Buster” Bateman–of which Knox was the longest-tenured, having played on four studio albums: Songs the Lord Taught Us [1980], Psychedelic Jungle [1981], A Date With Elvis [1986] and Stay Sick! [1990], as well as the 1979 debut EP Gravest Hits.
Knox also toured with the Cramps extensively, resulting in their only two live releases–Smell of Female [1983] and Rockin n Reelin in Auckland New Zealand XXX [1987]. Knox left the Cramps in 1991 and withdrew himself from the music scene; occasionally collaborating with a handful of local Ohio bands and DJing. Most recently, Knox was credited as “Senior Advisor” while working with the Cleveland punk band Archie and the Bunkers on their 2017 single release.
