Mainstrike

On January 3rd, 1995 they played their first show with Unbroken and Battery at the legendary Goudvishal in Arnhem. In March the same year they recorded their demo with the title "Youth Crew '95". Mainstrike played at the Ieper festival in 1995. When the microphone broke down during their set, they played a three-song coverset with a crowd of hundreds singing along. When Onward toured through Europe in October Mainstrike jumped on the tour and that was the best thing they could do. Mainstrike recorded the infamous "Times Still Here" 7" at the Bunt's Studio in early September. Luckily the layout was done in a very short time which meant the record came out a couple of days before the tour. Their live appearance and the 7" left a strong impression on the audience and all of the sudden things kinda explode. When they came back from the tour they played a lot of shows the next year. At some point Mainstrike split with Jasper and Johnny from Reaching Forward became their new bass player. Jasper did his share in making what Mainstrike became but asking Johnny to play bass for them was a good decision, they became a lot tighter. In March 1997 Mainstrike recorded the "Quest For The Answers" LP/ CD. At the time the record was done Big felt a lot more negative about certain things. You can feel that in the music and words. Mainstrike recorded also two songs  for the "For The Sake Of Dedication" LP compilation. So after the new record came out things looked even brighter for them. They got offered a lot of shows and played whenever it was possible for them. in May 1998 Mainstrike recorded the "No Passing Phase" LP/ CD. This time the sound of the music and words were much more posiitve. A lot of youth crew styled bands popped up the year before, the scene got stronger and "No Passing Phase" reflected this period very well. Again the band played a lot of shows after the record came out. In January and April 1999 Mainstrike recorded four songs. Actually the songs were meant to be for two split 7"s, one with Ensign and the other one with True Blue. Ensign recorded their songs actually but True Blue never recorded. Peter couldn't find any adequate replacement, so Mainstrike made the decision to put all the songs on one record. The self-titled 7" came out in 2000 a year later when they had already had broken up. Mainstrike toured the East Coast with Committed, Stretch Arm Strong and Ensign from July 16th to July 31st. It was a great experience and one of the highlights for them. After Mainstrike came back from the US tour they played one more time at the Ieper festival. Mainstrike played their last show at the Goudvishal in October 30th 1999. They began and ended at the Goudvishal, it was a great time to remember. When Mainstrike ended their set people were applauding for more than ten minutes.

Related bands:
Birds of a Feather, Colt Turkey, ManLiftingBanner, No Denial, Profound, Strike First