Band: Flak
From: Aurora, Colorado
Their formation story:
(Dante DeLaurier, guitar/vocals): "The band started off with me and two of my lifelong friends. With the music we made it was fun getting started with a band, but I thought it was severely lacking in what I had hoped for when it comes to the music. Our songs placed us as more of a harder pop punk band and I wanted the band to be known as more aggressive.
"In the summer of 2022, our drummer moved out of state and we had our fill-in drummer, Eddie Eaton, join the band as our full-time drummer. Eddie was the one who brought us into hardcore. My first hardcore show was one that we played at the Seventh Circle Music Collective with Deadpan (CO), and Anti-feds (IN). I instantly loved everything about it. I loved the energy of the shows, the culture of the people, and the power of the music.
"The scene was overflowing with support and had a culture rooted around helping one another rather than acting in self-interest. Hardcore was everything I wanted out of music and was the puzzle piece I knew I was looking for. We released two new singles 'Wanna be HC' and 'Wild Ones' in an attempt to break into hardcore, but it still wasn’t good enough for me as I felt it still sounded like pop-punk music.
"We spent time playing shows where we played the heavier stuff we didn’t release and it seemed to get a positive reaction from people, therefore we finally decided to take the time needed to write and record the rebirth of FLAK. Through the small years that we’ve been playing the band has already evolved so many times but now with the release of our self-titled EP in January I think FLAK will be reborn into its potential that it was always meant to be."
Their sound in their own words:
"Our sound is hardcore with a black metal and punk influence. Some of our inspirations were other smaller bands such as Torena (CA), and Mask (UT)."
Latest release info:
"Our newest release is our first EP which is self-titled and was released this month. We recorded with Trae Roberts (Mouth for War) in Colorado Springs. who is an absolute wizard that took songs we liked and upgraded them to a whole new level. We want this EP to finally establish us as a hardcore band changing the image that we’ve been putting out in years past.
"Our writing process was long but necessary. Instead of using every riff or song idea we wrote, we took the time to let the songs evolve and get better by revising and testing their likeability at shows. We had easily written five other songs that didn’t make the final cut but incorporated some of those riff ideas into the final product in order to prevent anything from feeling repetitive, keeping the songs moving forward rather than following a pop-like ABABC format.
"As for lyrics, this EP was one that was different from the typical stories I would tell. Before, a lot of our music talked about personal struggles or stories that were metaphoric to a situation in my life. This EP on the other hand, I decided to step into an area that I always didn’t want to go into which is more of a social commentary on how I see the world. 'City of War,' for example, talks about wanting to retreat to the city of War, which is a small town in West Virginia, in order to escape society since I don’t agree with what people value and how things like social status and power are dictated.
"'K.Y.L.M.A.PS' is a song we wrote talking about a new movement called 'Minor Attracted Persons' and how I believe it is disgusting and baffling that people are pushing the bounds of making it socially acceptable to basically be a pedophile. 'FAUVEL' is a song based on an old Roman poem Le Roman de Fauvel, which is the story of a character who climbs the social ladder in order to receive power and fortune. I also liked this story because ‘Fauvel’ was actually an acronym for six political vices at the time modeled after the seven deadly sins.
"Finally, there’s 'Thousand Yard Stare' which paints the picture of how we see society doing what it’s doing on a day-to-day basis and I can’t help but dissociate into a thousand-yard stare, tying back into the idea that I don’t agree with how things are running and things should be different. We have an instrumental song 'Dante Chill' which is meant to capture the aggression and anger that sets the tone for the rest of the EP."
Future plans:
"Our immediate future plans for the band are to go on a 16-day tour starting January 26th through 9 different states. Our goals are to not only showcase ourselves as a hardcore band on our first tour but to also make new friends and connections along the way."
What other bands from the region should we check out?
"Some other local bands that deserve attention are Sewerslide, Backlip, Wideman, Destiny Bond, Candy Apple, RMO, Undissassembled, Polish, Mouth For War, 10 to the Chest, and SEG."
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Hit the Flak Linktree to find all of their social media pages.
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2024 Hardcore Releases Playlist
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