Drain

The City of Santa Cruz, CA is known for its boardwalk, hippie University, and the classic film The Lost Boys, drawing tourists and students from all over the globe, driving up the cost of living and pushing out natives and independent businesses. Within Santa Cruz locals lies a distinct resentment, an attitude that one only gains when being pushed to the margins within their own world. Drain is the musical manifestation of this resentment and frustration. The same feelings that have been expressed over the decades by local legends B’LAST! and later Good Riddance. Drain is fronted by Sam Ciaramitaro, who with his big smile and dedication to wearing board shorts year-round, started Drain with modest expectations, “we started for the sole purpose of wanting to play music for fun with our friends. It took us a few years of just jamming together and playing shows to figure out what we really wanted to sound like.” Ciaramitaro continues, “Aside from wanting to have wild live shows, we had no intentions, no connections, and no expectations when we started. We had to start at the very bottom and build ourselves up, and we have been very humbled through the ride.” As the new blood of Santa Cruz hardcore punk, Drain has a fiery metal-tinged thrashing hardcore sound, that is best experienced in the live setting. Their shows are a sight to behold, as over a thousand slammers realized during their set at Sound and Fury 2019, when stage dives and hard mosh, met pool party for a memorable face melting set. They appeared at This Is Hardcore 2019, and are true warriors of the road, recently touring with Judiciary, Gulch, Hands of God, and Higher Power. Ciaramitaro says of their live performances, “We feel that our shows embody what it means to truly be alive. There is no facade and no cosplay as to who we are. We just play every show like it’s our last and encourage everyone in the room to be whoever they want to be, and do whatever they want to do” The hard work paid off, Drain signed with Revelation Records, home to Gorilla Biscuits, Judge, Inside Out, Quicksand and many others. They had a clear vision for how their sound would evolve, recently telling No Echo, “the fast parts are faster, the riffs are more technical, and the overall delivery is more aggressive and in your face. They went in the studio with Producer/Engineer Taylor Young (Twitching Tongues, Nails, Code Orange), to make their debut release entitled California Cursed. Ciaramitaro explains, “with writing California Cursed we kept it very organic and just got into a room together and tossed ideas around until we had songs that we felt were catchy, full of big riffs, and had no filler.” Sam Ciaramitaro – Vocals Cody Chaves – Guitar Justin Rhode – Bass Tim Flegal - Drums