RE-VENGEANCE OF THE CRAMPS

Henry Rollins and Larry Hardy want the world to stay sick

Eric Davidson

Vengeance is a term of violent retribution. When the Cramps chose that word for the record label name on their first single in 1978, they might’ve had a mind to exact revenge against nearly all sounds going around that called themselves “rock.” The Cramps still preferred “rock ’n’ roll” and thought themselves possibly the sole soldiers fighting to keep it alive. While a player amongst the original punk explosion, the Cramps were—and remained until leader Lux Interior passed in 2009—retro-messed-up misfits on the fringe of the fringe with their darkly funny, uneasily defined rockabilly’d noise.

In 2025, Larry Hardy—longtime friend of Cramps cofounder Poison Ivy and head of In the Red Records—and famed singerauthor Henry Rollins (Black Flag, Rollins Band) decided to help gather the scattered mess that was the Cramps’ recorded and ephemeral rights into a full reboot of Vengeance Records, this time fueled not by retribution but by the dedicated intentions of smart, well-heeled fanboys. Having the band’s “Goo Goo Muck" become a viral sensation off usage on the Wednesday streaming series helped get the gears oiled.