Sean McLennan

Within the realm of hardcore, there’s an inescapable energy radiating from Baltimore/Brooklyn’s Flatspot Records as they continue to build up their invigorating roster. For nearly two decades, Flatspot have harnessed the energy of the youth, allowing the label to develop a community that centers around inclusion and collaborating with bands that embody the immortal spirit of hardcore.

Through the label’s compilation series, The Extermination, Flatspot has been able to continuously set a whole new standard for the hardcore style of music. January 2023 saw the release of The Extermination Vol. 4, and there’s no question that every track on it exposes a new level of sonic impact and dedication to hardcore music.

Fueled by an undying devotion to hardcore since forever, Flatspot founder Che Figueroa began going to shows around 2000 and got to a point where he wanted to get more involved with the music. “I didn’t know what that meant at the time; it could have been making a band, booking shows, or doing a zine,” recalls Figueroa.

Living in DC at the time, he became inspired by his buddy who was running Malfunction Records, as well as an article on the Bridge 9 Records website listing out the steps on how to put out a seven-inch. Thus, Flatspot Records was brought to life in 2004.

“That’s what taught me how to put out the label’s initial seven-inch. I called it Flatspot because at the time, I used to skate, and a flatspot was when you did a wheel slide, you would get that flatspot on the wheel. It just came to me one day, and it sounded cool.”

With Trapped Under Ice’s Demo 2007 being among the first releases on the label, Flatspot established a foundation. “Just off a whim, Justice (Tripp), who sings in TUI, asked me, ‘Do you still have that label? I have this new band; you should put us out on the label.’ He invited me to the demo studio session; I did some gang vocals and hung out with them in the studio,” reminisces Figueroa.

He continues, “When that seven-inch came out, I didn’t expect it to do anything big; it was just my buddy’s band. It’s a local band; it probably wouldn’t get big outside of Baltimore/DC. It’ll sell a couple copies and that’s it. Little did I know, I was highly mistaken.” Figueroa began investing in the label driven by his passion for the music, “because it was just about making enough to get to the next stop” to get the next release out.

After a show in Long Island, TUI’s Tripp brought Figueroa back demo CDs of some of the bands they played with, one being Long Island’s Backtrack. Flatspot then released Backtrack’s The ‘08 Demo (FSR04), and sparked Figueroa’s friendship with guitarist Ricky Singh.

“I was playing music my entire life. Backtrack came around; we were definitely inspired by Trapped Under Ice and what they were doing at the time. We were just going for it as young 19-, 20-year-olds, and ready to bring what we felt represented the new era of NYHC music,” Singh recalls. “We teamed up with Flatspot in 2008, and that’s how me and Che met.”

Bonded by their love for hardcore music, Long Island counterpart Singh partnered up with Figueroa in 2012 as co-owner of Flatspot. From that point on, the label has been providing a platform for bands to express themselves, and their truth, in the most raw and real way possible.

Since he was just a kid, Singh mentions, “A label is always something I wanted to do… Teaming up with Che and his mindset, and already having a relationship with him, definitely seemed like a natural progression at that time in 2012.”

Collaborating with bands that include Trapped Under Ice, Backtrack, Mizery, The Eulogy, Section H8, Countdown, Outsider, Blind Justice, Typecaste, Constrict, End It, Scowl, Zulu, Regulate, and so many more, Flatspot’s roster highlights many of hardcore’s diverse characteristics that people continue to connect with on a much deeper level.

Twenty-twelve was the same year Flatspot revealed their first compilation, The Extermination Vol. 1, which featured a track from future stars Turnstile, as well as enormous tracks from King Nine, Soul Search, Suburban Scum, and Singh’s, Backtrack.

“I’ve been a fan of compilations my whole life,” says Figueroa. “Specifically when I was 15, I bought this compilation called The Way It Is. It had Youth Of Today, Side By Side, and a lot of the NYHC bands. I’d buy the comp for one band, listen to the whole comp, and be like ‘Wow, this new band is sick’-that was my motivation.”

As for Singh, “The idea of compilations has always been amazing to me. Punk-O-Rama was one that Epitaph put out that I was definitely drawn to, and that was really what got me into punk and hardcore music… It’s about bringing all these great bands together to create this awesome body of work that will hopefully stand the test of time.”

Since Vol. 1, each Extermination compilation has set a whole new standard for hardcore, featuring bands like Power Trip, Manipulate, Higher Power, Take Offense, Angel Du$t, Terror, Cruel Hand, and many more. Both Figueroa and Singh operate with a mindset of knowing where hardcore comes from and an understanding of where its energy is moving, which is what makes each compilation so fresh and compelling. Every track on The Extermination Vol. 4 contains a heated sincerity and raging fury from 11 bands trailblazing a new era for the style of hardcore punk.

Australia’s Speed sets things off with a bombtrack, “One Blood We Bleed,” sounding tougher than nails right out the gate. Down the tracklist, U.K.’s The Chisel and Columbia’s Raw Brigade, present their undeniable punk frame of mind. Classic elements of hardcore punk radiate from Choice To Make and Spy, while Section H8 and Mutually Assured Destruction cross things over with a metallic intensity. Rounding off Vol. 4 comes the true grit and pissed off aggression of acts Buggin, Jivebomb, End It, and Law Of Power, who inject a whole new level of energy into the hardcore style.

“For us, it’s quality over quantity,” says Singh. “It’s giving the people what we think is the best, and helping give the bands that we have on our label the resources to create the best albums they can. That’s helped our label become a trusted source. Hardcore, at its essence, is based around kids and the youth, so working with these bands that haven’t even been around for a decade, is exciting to us because it’s supporting that energy.”

Figueroa continues, “We’ve definitely built the name to a point where people just know that when we put something out, it’s going to be quality music based on what we’ve done in the past. It’s a whole new time. We’re getting that snapshot of something new, looking at it through the Flatspot lens, and it’s exciting.”