The Cramps are crawling back out of the vault. The legendary psychobilly, garage-punk, and rock ’n’ roll voodoo institution will release Gravest Gravy, a previously unreleased album recorded in October 1977 with Big Star’s Alex Chilton at Ardent Studios in Memphis. The album arrives August 21 via the newly revived Vengeance Records and will be available in multiple colored vinyl editions, on CD, and in digital formats.
The release also marks the launch of The Cramps Inc., a new company formed by Poison Ivy Rorschach, In the Red Records’ Larry Hardy, and film producer Jimmy Maslon. The venture will oversee the revival of Vengeance Records, official Cramps merchandise, and a slate of archival releases drawn from the band’s vaults.
Henry Rollins and Ian MacKaye, operating as RAM Prod., are working on behalf of The Cramps Inc. on tape maintenance, editing, mixing, mastering, lacquer cutting, and future release concepts. Rollins announced the project with a characteristically reverent dispatch:
“Out of an abundance of respect and affection for the Cramps, their amazing legacy, and their extraordinarily enthusiastic global fan base, we started work on all of this several months ago in relative secrecy.
Not only do we have a completely mind-blowing first release to kick things off, we have other projects in various states of completion that we will announce when the time is right. All of these are from source masters and previously unreleased. We will update you on upcoming releases.”
The first offering from that effort is a monster: Gravest Gravy, a 12-track document of the band’s primordial lineup — Lux Interior on vocals, Poison Ivy on guitar, Bryan Gregory on guitar, and Nick Knox on drums — captured at the moment their sound was still oozing into form.
Those 1977 Ardent sessions produced the Cramps’ first two Vengeance Records singles: “Surfin’ Bird” b/w “The Way I Walk” and “Human Fly” b/w “Domino,” both issued in 1978. The following year, those tracks were collected with “Lonesome Town” for the five-song Gravest Hits EP, a transmission from a haunted jukebox that helped set the template for the band’s stripped-down collision of rockabilly, surf, garage rock, trash culture, and B-movie deviance.
But there was more on the tape.
According to the announcement, Lux and Ivy revisited the unreleased Ardent material in the late 1980s, with plans to release an album called Gravest Gravy. They mixed several tracks at Present Time Recorders in North Hollywood in June 1989, while Chilton mixed several more in Memphis. The album had a title, artwork by the late Stephanie Chernikowski, and a clear intent — then, for reasons now lost to time, it was shelved.
The tapes eventually resurfaced on seven quarter-inch reels. Six were generated by Lux and Ivy, and one by Chilton. Brian Kehew transferred the reels, which were reportedly in pristine condition, and Rollins and MacKaye combed through the multiple mixes to select the final versions. MacKaye and Don Zientara made EQ and level adjustments at Inner Ear Studios in Arlington, Virginia, and Pete Lyman mastered the album at Infrasonic Sound in Nashville.
“Gravest Gravy is an absolute treasure.” Rollin’s adds: “You get a performance of Hungry by Paul Revere and the Raiders, released in 1966, which found itself in the band’s early set lists, but soon dropped out. To make it even more interesting, Alex Chilton jumps in on organ. Another early Cramps cover, Problem Child, written by Sam Phillips, is on the record. The band used to do an absolutely rippin’ version of the 1958 Jimmy Lloyd track, Rocket In My Pocket at some of their early shows. There’s a great version of it on Gravest Gravy.
Also really cool are the songs that found official release on the band’s second album, Psychedelic Jungle, with Kid Congo Powers taking over the spot vacated by Bryan. These tracks would be Jungle Hop (also with Alex Chilton on organ) by Kip Tyler, released in 1958, The Natives Are Restless (with different lyrics), Can’t Find My Mind and Rockin’ Bones released in 1959 by the Blond Bomber himself, Ronnie Dawson. The approach to these versions is much different than on Psychedelic, and it’s never a bad thing to have more Bryan Gregory to listen to.”
Shared along with the announcement is a new Jason Willis-created video for “TV Set,” the song originally intended as the Cramps’ first A-side.
Watch it below.
Formed in 1976 around the unholy chemistry of Lux Interior and Poison Ivy, the Cramps remain one of American punk’s most singular acts. They emerged from the CBGB-era New York underground but never fit neatly alongside their peers, instead forging a feverish language of their own: fuzzed-out guitar, primitive drums, no-bass menace, old rock ’n’ roll records, monster-movie camp, pin-up sleaze, and a record-collector’s devotion to forgotten American weirdness.
The band’s first full-length album, Songs the Lord Taught Us, followed in 1980, again with Chilton producing. Their discography continued through cult landmarks such as Psychedelic Jungle, A Date With Elvis, Stay Sick!, Look Mom No Head!, and Big Beat From Badsville. Their final studio album, Fiends of Dope Island, was released in 2003 on Vengeance Records, followed by the 2004 archival compilation How to Make a Monster. The Cramps effectively ended following Lux Interior’s death in 2009.
The newly revived Vengeance Records campaign will also include reissues of Gravest Hits, Smell of Female, A Date With Elvis, RockinnreelininAucklandNewZealand, Stay Sick!, Look Mom No Head!, Big Beat From Badsville, Fiends of Dope Island, and How to Make a Monster.
See the Gravest Gravy tracklist below, and pre-order the album here.
Gravest Gravy Tracklist
TV Set
Weekend on Mars
Twist & Shout
Jungle Hop
Can’t Hardly Stand It
Hungry
The Natives Are Restless
Domino
Can’t Find My Mind
Rockin’ Bones
Problem Child
Rocket in My Pocket
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