Henry Rollins and Ian MacKaye unearth and release lost album by The Cramps

Henry Rollins said: 

“In October 1977, the Cramps ventured into Ardent Studios in Memphis, Tennessee with producer and Cramps translator extraordinaire, Alex Chilton. The band had planned on recording their song ‘TV Set,’ as an A-side, along with another track or tracks. Mr. Chilton told them the way he liked to work was to have a band record a lot of songs and from that they would pick the best of the bunch.

Luckily for Cramps fans everywhere, the band did just that. The first evidence of these sessions was unleashed upon an ‘unsuspecting human world’ in April 1978 on the band’s own Vengeance Records label. It was a two-song 7-inch with a version of the Trashmen’s 1963 classic ‘Surfin’ Bird’ pushed well beyond its breaking point, forcing it to mutate into a much higher form of lowdown, and Jack Scott’s 1959 cool burning ‘The Way I Walk’, dragged back into the Stone Age…

“After one listen, it was clear the Cramps had absolutely tapped into Rock ’n’ Roll’s mainline. In November of the same year, and again from the October 1977 sessions came another two song lesson in how it’s done, or undone, with easily one of the greatest A sides of all time: ‘Human Fly’. The B side was held hostage by ‘Domino’, originally sung by Roy Orbison. The Cramps’ version swaggers with infinite confidence and is an absolute thrill to listen to.

“In the summer of 1979, young degenerates in England were treated to a 12-inch by the Cramps called ‘Gravest Hits’, which featured not only the aforementioned four tracks, but also a fifth, again from the October 1977 sessions…

“What happened to the rest of the tracks from those auspicious days in October 1977? In 2026, Larry Hardy, owner and operator of In The Red Records, rappelled down, deep into the vast, sunless vault of the Cramps tape collection, and resurfaced hours later, disoriented and out of breath, but overjoyed with what he’d returned to topside with: six ¼” reels of tracks, mixed by Lux [Interior] and [Poison] Ivy…

“‘Gravest Gravy’ is one of the purest collections of unrestrained, wild music you’ll ever hear – like Jerry Lee Lewis unchained, like Elvis meets Tarzan – like it should be.

“The Cramps were one of the greatest bands in the history of recorded music, and anyone who heard or saw them, knows and abides by this groovin’ truth. From their inception to this day, the band has fans whose enthusiasm for their life-changing music never wavers. The Cramps made this music for the love of Rock ’n’ Roll. Lux and Ivy made this record for you.”

Before revealing that he and MacKaye had been working on the project last year, Rollins explained in 2024 why he would never make music again after venturing into activism, radio hosting, acting, presenting and spoken word projects.

As for The Cramps, the band’s version of ‘Goo Goo Muck’ enjoyed a massive resurgence in 2022 after it soundtracked Jenna Ortega’s viral dance scene from Wednesday season one.