ANNOUNCING THE CRAMPS INC., A NEW COMPANY TO RESTART VENGEANCE RECORDS,
RELEASING CRAMPS RARITIES & OFFICIAL MERCHANDISE
NEVER-BEFORE-RELEASED ALEX CHILTON-PRODUCED 1977 ALBUM,
‘GRAVEST GRAVY’, OUT AUGUST 21ST
Photo: David Godlis
I am beyond stoked to announce the formation of The Cramps, Inc., that will restart The Cramps’ label, Vengeance Records, create official merchandise, and venture into the vaults to unleash unheard recordings of this amazing band.
The Cramps Inc. is the artist formerly known as Poison Ivy Rorschach, Larry Hardy, owner and operator of In The Red Records, and Jimmy Maslon, a film producer responsible for some of the Cramps music videos, and owner of the Herschel Gordon Lewis, and Doris Wishman film catalogs. Both have deep ties to Lux and Ivy, forged over decades. Ivy is the major beneficiary. Larry and Jimmy are handling all the logistics. They are perfect for this.
Ian MacKaye and I, operating as RAM Prod. (Rollins and MacKaye), are working on behalf of The Cramps Inc., coming up with release ideas, handling tape maintenance, editing, mixing, mastering and lacquer cutting responsibilities. We are aligned with Inner Ear Studios in Arlington, VA and Infrasonic Sound in Nashville, TN.
Many Cramps records and items, such as t-shirts you see on the Internet—are bootlegs. The Cramps Inc. is striving to right that wrong and recently made a deal with the merchandising company Easy Partners. Cool designs for official merch are well underway.
Working with Revolver Distribution, The Cramps Inc. will be reissuing the following titles:
Gravest Hits
Smell Of Female
A Date With Elvis
RockinnreelininAucklandNewZealand
RockinnreelininAucklandNewZealand
Stay Sick!
Look Mom No Head!
Big Beat From Badsville
Fiends Of Dope Island
How To Make A Monster
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.
Now, about this first dose of Vengeance, here are some facts:
In October 1977, the Cramps, who were at that time, Lux Interior on vocals, Poison Ivy on guitar, Bryan Gregory on guitar, and Nick Knox on drums, ventured into Ardent Studios with the extraordinarily talented musician and producer, Alex Chilton. These sessions were responsible for the first two Vengeance Records releases, both permanently disfiguring the music world in 1978.
Surfin’ Bird / The Way I Walk
Human Fly / Domino
In 1979, young British degenerates were treated to a five track 12” EP by the Cramps called Gravest Hits, which featured all four tracks released in the USA, along with another from the October 1977 sessions, a great channeling of Ricky Nelson’s hit Lonesome Town. From there, the band released their first LP, Songs The Lord Taught Us, again working with Alex Chilton, and went onward, releasing records and touring all over until the sad passing of Lux in 2009.
What Cramps fans might not know, was at Ardent, the band had planned to record their song TV Set to be their first A side, along with another track or tracks. Alex told them that he liked to have a band play every song they knew and the best of the batch would be committed to vinyl. This was fantastic advice, and luckily for us, that’s what the Cramps did. This is how Lonesome Town found its way to Gravest Hits. But, there was much more to the story.
In the late 1980s, Lux and Ivy endeavored to release more recordings from the October 1977 sessions. It was to be titled Gravest Gravy. It was a record for the fans, a journey back to Memphis, back to the first Cramps records, that, try as it might, the world has been unable to heal from. Lux and Ivy mixed several tracks between June 14 and 30, 1989 at Present Time Recorders, in North Hollywood. Alex mixed a few tracks in Memphis. The album had a title, a cover by the great Stephanie Chernikowski, who passed away recently, but for reasons lost to time, Gravest Gravy was shelved.
In 2026, we sought to change that. It was apparent that this record absolutely needed to be with the fans. A team, still severely cramped from initial contact with the band, began to form and got to work.
Photo: Stephanie Chernikowski
Gravest Gravy tracklist:
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
“When I first saw the Cramps at CBGB, I was overjoyed — entertained and inspired! And there was a girl in the band! It all felt so real: a fresh take on a regional American sound, updated in a way that was fun, smart, and exciting. I was screaming!” - Debbie Harry
“The first time I saw the Cramps in 1977 at CBGB I was agog at the amazing characters and unearthly sound I was witnessing. The place was packed, although they had only one 45 out, and the crowd was going absolutely nuts. I was entranced. Funny, sexy, and dangerous, I was not sure if the concert would end in an orgy or a riot. Either would do. Imagine my surprise being invited into the band a few years later. Sometimes I still find it hard to believe it ever happened. But it did! And it was a real humdinger!” - Kid Congo Powers
“The Cramps created an occult sound world that you could escape into, full of rockabilly voodoo guitar damage from Poison Ivy Rorschach, with bug eyed psychotic wailings and swampsnake utterances from Lux Interior, driven into a backwoods frenzy by the pounding of Nick Knox’s zombie death drums and Bryan Gregory’s barbed wire feral guitar scrapings. It only took me one hit of witnessing them play live in Glasgow aged 17 in 1979 opening for The Police and I’ve been hooked ever since. Stay Sick / Turn Blue.” - Bobby Gillespie
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