The Cramps flew into the gritty streets of New York City from their batcave in Akron, Ohio, in the mid-1970s and quickly became fixtures in what would evolve into one of the most vital rock scenes of the 20th century. The downtown circuit, including Ramones, Talking Heads, Blondie and Television, to mention a few, kicked off punk rock, post-punk, art rock and much more. The Cramps were the raw, primitive outsider weirdos of the bunch (alongside Suicide), raised on 1950s rockabilly, trash culture, B movies and obscure R&B singles. Front figures Poison Ivy and the late Lux Interior — arguably the coolest couple in rock’n’roll history, avid record collectors and tireless treasure hunters — created one of the most beloved cult bands of our time.

The Cramps met Memphis antihero Alex Chilton, of The Box Tops and Big Star fame, at a Village Gate gig in June of ’77. Chilton immediately dug the band, had close ties to his hometown’s Ardent Studios, and offered them studio time down South. In their biography, Journey to the Center of the Cramps, the band recalled the sessions with excitement: “It was great with him, because he was basically fucked up and getting loaded, falling asleep on the console.” The Cramps thrived under these conditions, and recorded a stack of cover songs alongside new originals including “Human Fly” and “The Mad Daddy.”

Some of the material surfaced on their 1979 debut EP Gravest Hits, while other tracks were shelved. Fast forward to the late 1980s, when Lux and Ivy revisited the 1977 recordings with plans to put it all out on an album called Gravest Gravy. Working alongside Chilton, they pieced the sessions together, but for reasons unknown the project was ultimately abandoned. Until now. With support from punk icons Ian MacKaye and Henry Rollins, Gravest Gravy is finally emerging from the same shadows The Cramps first crawled out of 50 years ago. “TV Set” is out now and sounds better and more primal than ever.