The Cramps’ Lost 1977 Album Gravest Gravy Arrives August 21
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The never-before-released Alex Chilton-produced sessions will be available on colored vinyl, CD and digital platforms as The Cramps Inc. revives Vengeance Records
Nearly five decades after the Cramps entered Memphis’ Ardent Studios with Alex Chilton, a long-shelved chapter of the band’s history is finally coming to vinyl.
Gravest Gravy, a previously unreleased album drawn from the Cramps’ October 1977 recording sessions, will be released August 21, 2026, through the newly reactivated Vengeance Records. The album will be available in multiple colored-vinyl editions, on CD and across digital platforms.
The release also marks the arrival of The Cramps Inc., a new company dedicated to preserving and expanding the band’s legacy through archival recordings and officially licensed merchandise.
Henry Rollins and Ian MacKaye are working on the project under the name RAM Prod., (short for Rollins and MacKaye). The pair are developing potential releases from the Cramps’ audio archive in collaboration with Inner Ear Studios in Arlington, Virginia, and Infrasonic Sound in Nashville.
“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,” Rollins explained in the release announcement.
He added that the team has already begun work on additional archival projects, including two Cramps releases currently planned for 2027.
Back to Memphis
In October 1977, the Cramps lineup of Lux Interior, Poison Ivy, Bryan Gregory and Nick Knox entered Ardent Studios with producer Alex Chilton.
The sessions produced the band’s first two Vengeance Records singles:
“Surfin’ Bird” / “The Way I Walk”
“Human Fly” / “Domino”
Several of those recordings later appeared on the 1979 EP Gravest Hits, alongside the band’s version of Ricky Nelson’s “Lonesome Town.”
According to Rollins, however, the group recorded considerably more material than what initially reached the public.
The Cramps had originally planned to record “TV Set” as their first A-side. Chilton encouraged the band to play every song they knew and decide later which performances deserved release. That approach left behind a larger archive of early Cramps recordings, including alternate arrangements, covers and songs the band would revisit later in its career.
In the late 1980s, Lux Interior and Poison Ivy returned to the material with plans to create an album called Gravest Gravy. The pair mixed several tracks at Present Time Recorders in North Hollywood in June 1989, while Chilton prepared additional mixes in Memphis.
The album had a title and a cover photograph selected from the work of photographer Stephanie Chernikowski. For reasons unknown, the project was eventually shelved.
“In 2026, we sought to change that,” Rollins said. “It was apparent that this record absolutely needed to be with the fans.”
Recovering Gravest Gravy
The album’s recordings were preserved across seven quarter-inch tape reels. Six contained mixes prepared by Lux and Ivy, while another came from Chilton.
Engineer Brian Kehew transferred the tapes and found that the reels had survived in excellent condition. Because several songs existed in multiple mixes, Rollins listened closely to each version and determined that the final mix of each track represented the strongest choice.
MacKaye independently reviewed the selections and agreed with Rollins’ decisions. He then worked with Don Zientara at Inner Ear Studios to make EQ and level adjustments to two tracks.
The recordings were subsequently mastered by Pete Lyman at Infrasonic Sound in Nashville.
“The results were two six-song sides of the Cramps, extracted from a 1977 amber block, de-fossilized and ready to be inflicted upon the ears of those who would rather Stay Sick and Turn Blue than hope for sunny weather,” Rollins said.
The album includes songs associated with the Cramps’ earliest live performances, as well as early versions of material that would later appear on Psychedelic Jungle.
Highlights include “Hungry,” originally recorded by Paul Revere and the Raiders, with Chilton contributing organ; the Sam Phillips composition “Problem Child”; Jimmy Lloyd’s “Rocket in My Pocket”; and Ronnie Dawson’s “Rockin’ Bones.” Chilton also plays organ on “Jungle Hop.”
“The approach to these versions is much different than on Psychedelic Jungle,” Rollins noted, “and it’s never a bad thing to have more Bryan Gregory to listen to.”
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
The finished package uses the exact Stephanie Chernikowski photograph Lux and Ivy had chosen for the front cover. The back cover features a photograph taken by David Godlis at CBGB.
Animator and filmmaker Jason Willis has also created a new video for “TV Set.”
“What you have in Gravest Gravy is sheer brilliance committed to tape by a band that was plugged in directly to the rock ’n’ roll mainline, produced by a visionary maniac named Alex
Chilton,” Rollins said.
More Gravy to Come
A limited-edition seven-inch single titled More Gravy is also planned for September, with the exact release date still to be announced.
The single will include an alternate-vocal version of “TV Set” backed with an alternate mix of “Can’t Find My Mind.”
For Rollins and MacKaye, the work carries personal significance. The two first saw the Cramps together on April 20, 1979, in a small Washington, D.C. bar.
“I’ve never recovered,” Rollins said. “Ian was standing next to me. We still talk about that show.”
Nearly 50 years later, they are helping place an unheard piece of that history into the hands of fellow listeners. “The opportunity to bring this music to fellow Cramps fans is beyond a thrill,” Rollins said. “It is an absolute honor that we feel so fortunate to be a part of.”
Gravest Gravy will be released August 21, 2026, through Vengeance Records and we'll plan to stock the album at The Sharp Notes.