DRAIN drop their highly anticipated new album, Living Proof. And Living Proof is just that, a testament to the hard work and heartfelt ethos that’s at the center of DRAIN’s good-time psyche. Produced by longtime friend and multi-instrumentalist Taylor Young.
The Santa Cruz, CA based outfit are one of the most exciting bands in hardcore right now, and their high-intensity live shows are a big reason why. Fans will have plenty of opportunities to see DRAIN starting late May, as they'll be headlining the 2023 Monster Energy Outbreak Tour, and celebrating the release of this mosh-worthy new album. When DRAIN play live, it’s a party, and everyone is invited.
DRAIN came together in the sleepy, oceanside NorCal climes of Santa Cruz in 2014 when singer Sammy Ciaramitaro met up with guitarist Cody Chavez and drummer Tim Flegal while attending college. While nearby scenes like San Jose and Oakland (known for the legendary Gilman Street venue) had local heat, DRAIN had to pull up their bootstraps to ignite their own. “We made our own scene in Santa Cruz,” reveals the DIY vocalist proudly; he began booking shows at Café Pergolesi, a local coffee shop that became the town’s hardcore hub.
Their debut for Revelation Records took its name, California Cursed, a little too literally when it launched at the dawn of Covid-19 and the resultant worldwide lockdown. Well, sort of - the smiley singer even found a blessing in that curse. “Kids fell in love with music but didn’t have the chance for two years to see it live,” states Sammy. “Now that it’s come back, the feeling is, ‘I want to see it live. I want to go to every show. I want to experience it.” DRAIN didn’t merely jump back onto stages across North American, they exploded onto them.
After hitting the studio to record Living Proof and then, making their live European debut, DRAIN headlined the first night of 2022’s landmark Sound and Fury festival playing to 6,000 kids keyed up to welcome the next generation of hardcore royalty. “We didn’t know we were headlining,” laughs Ciaramitaro, who also played the second night for Gulch’s fiery final show. “It was wild, totally surreal. It felt not real. We’ve kind of been the underdogs from day one: overlooked, too goofy, whatever. Flash forward six years, hey we’re headlining Sound and Fury. We really did this our own way which is crazy.”