Kid Congo and the Pink Monkey Birds funk it up in Lawrence tonight

Kid Congo Powers’ legacy in the grungy underground of American music is plain: He has played guitar with some of the most scorching punk acts of the past 30 years.

When he was still known as Brian Tristan, Powers founded the pioneering punk-blues band the Gun Club in 1980 with Jeffrey Lee Pierce. But he was roped into the Cramps’ lineup shortly before the Gun Club recorded its first album. (That’s Powers you hear ripping out the powerful solo on “Caveman,” from the Cramps’ 1981 album, Psychedelic Jungle.) He rejoined the Gun Club in 1983, alternating between that band and weirdo rock-lifers Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds from 1985 to 1988.