The history of Kill Creek in many ways runs parallel to the history of Lawrence’s music scene. The band helped build the stage for the legendary punk rock dive The Outhouse; it survived the “alternative” hype machine in the early ’90s; it weathered eight drummers and countless near-implosions and stayed afloat long enough to play shows with a whole new generation of bands it influenced, including The Get Up Kids, The Anniversary and The Casket Lottery.

With 45 songs and nearly three hours of music, “The Will to Strike” serves as the ultimate retrospective of the first 10 years of Kill Creek’s career. The two-disc set contains the entirety of the band’s Mammoth Records catalog — “St. Valentine’s Garage” (1994), the “Stretch” EP (1994) and “Proving Winter Cruel” (1996) — as well as early recordings from the “Cthonic” tape (1991) and unreleased demos, compilation tracks and studio outtakes. The only thing missing is material from the stellar “Colors of Home” album (2001), which, conveniently, is the only Kill Creek record still in print.

Sold for the bargain-basement price of $13 (two discs) on the Web site of the band’s current label (Second Nature Recordings), “The Will to Strike” offers both a cheap and wide-ranging introduction for new fans and a comprehensive retrospective for old fans. The compilation follows Kill Creek (non-sequentially) from the early days as Minor Threat-inspired punk kids to Replacements-esque power pop purveyors and darkly laced alternative rockers.

Kill Creek’s unsettling dynamic range drives the band’s distinctive sound — loud to soft, driving to crawling, thick to thin. Twin guitar attacks punctuate lead singer Scott Born’s distressed yelps and self-effacing lyrics. Big, powerful drums and punchy bass lines hold the ship on course throughout.

“The Will to Strike” also serves as an interesting testament to the evolution of Red House Studios and engineer Ed Rose. The album spans three different incarnations of Red House (now known as Black Lodge, based in Eudora) and traces the development of Rose’s distinctive crisp and boomy production.

Like any other band, Kill Creek had its share of hits and misses, but to pack this much quality material into a single collection — even without the still-productive last eight years — means there was a heck of a lot more hits. If there’s one thing that this three-hour listening experience proves, it’s that Kill Creek was — and still is — a damn good band.