The Flex | |
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 The Flex performing in 2022 | |
| Background information | |
| Also known as | Rick Flex (2012) |
| Origin | Leeds, West Yorkshire, England |
| Genres | Hardcore punk, heavy hardcore |
| Years active | 2012–present |
| Labels |
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| Spinoff of | Violent Reaction |
| Members |
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| Past members |
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The Flex (formerly known as Rick Flex) [1] are an English hardcore punk band from Leeds, West Yorkshire. In an article by NoEcho, they were cited as one of the progenitors of the New Wave of British Hardcore. [2]
The band formed in 2012 under the name Rick Flex from members of other UK hardcore bands (including Arms Race and Violent Reaction), [3] playing different instruments to those that they were used to, [4] for the original guitarist Rick Savage's birthday party, however due to in-band tensions, he was eventually replaced by then-drummer Liam Fox and Tom Pimlott of No Tolerance was recruited to play drums. [5] On 10 May, they released their debut demo. [6] In February 2013, they opened for Rotting Out on their UK tour. [7] On 23 March 2013 they released their debut EP Scum On The Run through Video Disease and Milk Run Records. [8] In May 2014, they toured the U.S. with Violent Reaction. [9] [10] On 19 March 2015, they released their second EP "Flexual Healing Vol.5: Do Ya Think I'm Flexi?" [11] and 23 March released their third EP Don't Bother with the Outside World. [12] Between April and May of the same year, they toured the U.S. supporting Red Death, [11] followed by a European Headline tour in June and August. [12] On 1 June 2016, the band opened for Power Trip at the Boston Music Room in London. [13] In April 2018, they played Damaged City festival in Washington D.C., [14] [15] followed by releasing their EP Flexual Healing Vol 7: Perhaps the War is Over? Perhaps it's Peace? on the 19th of the same month. [16] [17] In June 2019, they opened for Have Heart at their matinee Leeds reunion show. [18]
The band have been described as hardcore punk [7] [19] and heavy hardcore. [16] [20] Their music is influenced by the sound of '80s New York and Boston hardcore like Agnostic Front and SSD. [21] Max Cussons of Contactmusic described their sound as "clobbering two-stepping punk". [22] Gav Russell of CVLT Nation described them as "a band who trim away all the fat to leave a no-frills, 80’s infused hardcore battering of the finest order". [4]
| Nominated work | Year | Award | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| Wild Stabs in the Dark | 2014 | CVLT Nation - Best UKHC Album | #4 [4] |
Napalm Death are an English grindcore band formed in Meriden, West Midlands in 1981. None of the band's original members have been in the group since 1986, but since Utopia Banished (1992), the lineup of bassist Shane Embury, guitarist Mitch Harris, drummer Danny Herrera and lead vocalist Mark "Barney" Greenway has remained consistent through most of the band's career. From 1989 to 2004, Napalm Death were a five-piece band after they added Jesse Pintado as the replacement of one-time guitarist Bill Steer. Following Pintado's departure, the band reverted to a four-piece.
This Is Hell is an American hardcore punk band from Long Island, New York. The band is known for extensive touring and high energy concerts. They have released five studio albums and five EPs.
Racetraitor is an American hardcore punk and metal band originally from Chicago, Illinois. The band attracted controversy in the late 1990s, before any releases, as a result of their radical take on racial politics, which focused on ideas like systemic racism and white privilege before they were widely discussed topics in popular or underground culture. Racetraitor was also a key proto-metalcore act, one of the first few bands to incorporate extreme metal influences, such as death metal, grindcore, and doom metal, into hardcore.
Damien Zev Moyal is an American vocalist, lyricist, musician, songwriter and designer. Originally from Amstelveen, North Holland, Netherlands, he moved to the United States as a child and grew up in Miami, Florida, where he notably fronted such hardcore punk, metallic hardcore and melodic hardcore bands as Shai Hulud, As Friends Rust, Morning Again, Culture, Bird of Ill Omen and Bridgeburne R. Moyal has been based in Ann Arbor, Michigan since 2006 and is the founding member of the semi-eponymously named gothic rock/post-punk band Damien Done.
Lynn Perko-Truell is an American musician, best known as the drummer, bass guitarist, and co-singer for the San Francisco indie rock band Imperial Teen. She is also known as the drummer for the San Francisco-based blues grunge band Sister Double Happiness, and the San Francisco version of the hardcore punk band The Dicks. Perko-Truell was an iconic figure and a pioneering female in the American hardcore punk and alternative rock movements of the 1980s and 1990s and remains active.
Damien Done is an American post-punk/gothic rock band from Ann Arbor, Michigan. Formed in Gainesville, Florida in 2002 as a semi-eponymously-named solo project by frontman Damien Moyal, the group has since been expanded to include other band members and co-songwriters. The current lineup features Moyal, Laura Jane Leonard and Tyler Kane.
Youth Brigade was an American hardcore punk band from Washington, D.C., formed in late 1980 and disbanded in 1981. They released the Possible EP and appeared on the Flex Your Head compilation, both on Dischord Records. Although active for less than a year, they were nevertheless contributors to the development of D.C. hardcore punk and have influenced many other bands. Several members briefly reunited for performances in 2012 and 2013.
Xibalba is an American hardcore punk band from Pomona, California, formed in 2007. The band plays hardcore with influences from death metal and doom metal, with lyrics in English and Spanish. Their debut album, Madre Mia Gracias Por Los Dias (2010) was released through A389 Recordings. Their second album, Hasta La Muerte (2012), was released by Southern Lord.
Lionheart is an American beatdown hardcore band from Oakland, California.
Incendiary is an American hardcore punk band from Long Island, New York.
Vein.fm is an American metalcore band from Boston that formed in 2013. They are known for their frequent tours and have performed shows with groups such as Code Orange and Twitching Tongues while in Europe. In 2017 the band was signed onto Closed Casket Activities, who would issue their first full-length work Errorzone to positive reception among critics, even appearing on Revolver's early "Best Albums of 2018" list. The album also managed to peak at number 21 on Billboard's Hard Rock album chart. In July 2020, after the release of their remix album, the band announced it changed its name to Vein.fm.
Craig Setari is an American musician who is the bass player of the hardcore punk band Sick of It All. He has also worked with many other hardcore bands, including Youth of Today, Straight Ahead, Rest in Pieces, Agnostic Front and Cro-Mags. Alongside Dan Lilker, he recorded the Noise for Noise's Sake demo tape under the name Crab Society. This demo tape inspired Lilker's band S.O.D. to record their 1985 demo album titled Crab Society North.
Fury is an American hardcore punk band from Southern California.
World of Pain was an American hardcore punk band from San Diego, California.
Higher Power are an English hardcore punk band formed in Leeds, West Yorkshire in 2014. They have released two full-length studio albums, one EP, one live album and one demo. Their second album, 27 Miles Underwater, was their major label debut through Roadrunner Records. In a 2020 poll by Revolver magazine, they were voted the most likely contemporary band to breakthrough into the mainstream. They are a part of the New Wave of British Hardcore.
Violent Reaction were an English straight edge hardcore punk band. Originally a solo-project of Tom Pimlott in Liverpool, the band gained additional members after relocating to Leeds. In Straight Edge A Clear-Headed Hardcore Punk History, Mike Clark cited them as one of the most important modern straight edge bands. They were a part of the New Wave of British Hardcore.
Arms Race were an English hardcore punk band formed in London in 2012. They were a part of the New Wave of British Hardcore.
Big Cheese is an English hardcore punk band from Leeds, West Yorkshire. They are a part of the New Wave of British Hardcore. In an article for Metal Hammer, Jimmy Wizard included their song "Rotter" in his "essential hardcore mixtape".
Hardcore punk in the United Kingdom began in the late 1970s and early 1980s with the second wave of punk rock in the country. The scene produced many successful and influential hardcore punk bands throughout the 1980s such as Discharge, GBH and the Exploited and led to the pioneering of genres such as grindcore, street punk, crust punk and D-beat.