Friday, September 7, 2012

Instant Mainstrike Collection

Talk about sleeping on a band. It's not uncommon for me to be late on a band, but it's usually not by almost 20 years! Recently I downloaded "No Passing Phase" by Mainstrike and I pretty much knew nothing about them, but I was hooked instantly. I wasn't sure if they were a new youth crew band, from East Coast, West Coast, etc. Then I came to find out they were one of the most influential European hardcore bands of the mid to late 1990s. Wow, okay. Heavily inspired by bands like Judge and Chain of Strength, these guys are fucking incredible. It amazes me that I had never heard of them and that more people aren't all about them. I mean, you can still find first pressings of their albums for sale on the labels website. So when I put my recent order together for the Shipwrecked LP together from Crucial Response, I saw all these limited Mainstrike records and I decided to build myself an instant collection.




Here is the handprinted silk screened edition of "No Passing Phase", limited to 40 copies. On plain old black vinyl. Excellent record. Pictured with the insert that folds out into a little poster with lyrics. All of these limited copies are on plain old black vinyl. 



The silk screened version of "A Quest For The Answers", limited to 97 copies. The back of it is just blank with a Crucial Response logo. Comes with another nice little poster.



And the limited version of the "Times Still Here" 7", limited to 102 copies. The above three are all the "Raw Data" Versions by Crucial Response. The Raw Data series is limited versions of Crucial Response release that are on hand printed silk screened jackets with different designs. Very cool.



Here is the only "regular" pressing I ordered. The idea of their s/t 7" on "Mint Green" vinyl with the green cover was just too irresistible. Out of 405. So there you have it. Sorry Mainstrike for sleeping on you so long, but better late then never right?


2 comments:

  1. Sweet looking records. I only loosely know this band as I believe they are on a couple of compilations I have/had. Sure they were on a Goodlife comp.

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  2. I really loved their first 7 inch, but I kind of lost interest in them after that. I thought they were okay, but they weren't collectable for me. The singer's next band, Birds of a Feather, I liked more.

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