Compilation

deal with Chameleon/Dali Records, then setting up shop in New York as a subsidiary of Elektra Records. The group recorded “Love 15,” but less than a month after its release, Elektra pulled the plug on the relationship and Majesty Crush was not picked up by the parent company. The group also suffered the misfortune of having an important New York showcase performance scheduled for Nov. 18, 1993 — the same night Nirvana was filming its “MTV Unplugged” episode, a competition no young band could overcome.

“Thirty years ago, it was a hard sell to have a charismatic frontman who was Black in a (rock) band that sounded sort of British, because everything around us was grunge,” Echlin explains. “Even though we felt a post-punk kinship, even with groups like Nirvana, the look and feel of what we were doing, there wasn’t a precedent for it. We didn’t have a niche to fit into. I think if we could’ve kept going, if we’d gone to England, maybe we would’ve become much bigger.

“That was always the dream, funnily enough.”

Instead, the members of Majesty Crush went their separate ways, into other endeavors musical and otherwise. Stroughter moved west and formed another band, P.S. I Love You, while Nails played in a variety of situations, including with Robin Guthrie of Cocteau Twins, before becoming a prominent entertainment attorney in New York.

The dream had ended — but was not over.

Unexpected legacy

Majesty Crush’s re-emergence began in 2018 when Charm Farm frontman Dennis White — an old friend now working as an electronic artist under the moniker Latroit in Los Angeles — contacted Echlin asking if Majesty Crush owned its master recordings and suggesting they might be able to get some media placements for the music. Shortly after that, Stroughter’s sister contacted the bassist, asking the same thing. Echlin and company did not know where the recordings were, however.

Random fate clicked when Echlin received a Facebook message from a woman in Wisconsin saying, “I think I have your master tapes.” It turned out she was the

sister-in-law of one of Stroughter’s former roommates in Los Angeles, who had all his possessions — including the tapes — and had in turn died and left them to his brother.

The masters were in hand when Third Man Records contacted one-time Majesty Crush agent Rich Hansen, wanting to put “No. 1 Fan” on its “Southeast of Saturn” compilation of underground Detroit music in 2020. That allowed the band members to put the tapes in the hands of Third Man mastering engineer Warn Defever, whose band His Name Is Alive had played with Majesty Crush, to help get the recordings into proper shape.

Echlin then reached out to Rob Sevier, co-founder of Chicago-based reissue specialist the Numero Group, who he’d interviewed for a story about one of its compilations, “Downriver Revival.” “When I heard Majestic Crush the first time, it felt like I’d been listening to it for years even though it has indelibly unique qualities that I certainly hadn’t encountered,” Sevier says. “That’s kind of the trigger I’m always looking for with these types of discoveries.”

With the Third Man compilation and now “Butterflies Don’t Go Away,” Majestic Crush has, 30 years on, achieved the worldwide notoriety its members barely dreamed of. “I’m getting direct messages from people in Russia,” says Echlin, while numerous bands also are contacting him to praise what they’re hearing.

“What I’m stunned by is there’s these younger people who are actually responding to this and saying this means a lot — and I’m their parents’ age!” Echlin says, with a laugh. They’re also responding to the band’s history, including Stroughter’s battles with mental illness and tragic death.

“It’s bittersweet,” Echlin acknowledges. “Dave would’ve loved all this. In many ways, this is exactly what he wanted was his music to be heard.”

Echlin and Numero’s Sevier say there may be additional Majesty Crush releases — including songs the band played live only — but despite the new notoriety Echlin, Nails and Segal, now a graphic designer in the metro area, feel no pull to put the band back together again in any way.

“We’ve all moved on so much,” Echlin notes. “The story’s out there now — the whole story, all the music. That’s enough for us. We let the past be the past.”