Anyone who’s seen Drain live has felt it. The electricity coming off of the stage. The communal energy of the fans singing upfront. The primal thrills of fists flying in the moshpit. The uninhibited joy emanating from every banging head, screaming lung, and airborne foot in that room. There’s nothing like a Drain show. There’s no other hardcore band like Drain. The Santa Cruz band is an institution in their genre and an affable neighbor to their adjacent ones. Punks love Drain. Metalheads love Drain. Haters can’t help but love Drain. Drain is for everyone. Well, venue security guards might not love Drain. But to everyone else: Drain…Is Your Friend. Drain -- frontman Sammy Ciaramitaro, guitarist Cody Chavez, and drummer Tim Flegal -- formed back in 2014 and cut their teeth in Santa Cruz’s fertile DIY hardcore scene. COVID lockdown couldn’t stop their 2020 debut, California Cursed, from making waves, and their 2023 follow-up, Living Proof, hit the hardcore scene like a Cali beach during hurricane season -- a torrential classic. Since then, Drain have blazed through hundreds of shows worldwide: headlining festivals, taking their friends and heroes on tour, and even playing arenas with Blink-182. Regardless of whether they're opening for pop-punk jukeboxes like Neck Deep or grabbing the stage-dive torch from Terror, Drain’s only goal is to make the crowd go buckwild. “We call the shots for these 30 minutes,” Ciaramitaro beams excitedly while describing Drain’s nightly ritual. “I’m the boss and I’m gonna turn this place into a warzone. We’re ripping shit up, we’re breaking shit, but it’s coming from a good place in our hearts. People are feeling alive and we’re sharing this energy back and forth.”
