Drain

About Drain

Drain came out of Santa Cruz, California in 2014, originally as a side project for members already embedded in the hardcore scene. Sammy Ciaramitaro handles vocals, while the lineup has included people who've done time in bands like Gulch and Scowl — basically, they're connected to that wave of Bay Area hardcore that's been getting attention for refusing to stick to genre boundaries.

They started with the kind of crossover thrash that makes sense if you grew up on both Suicidal Tendencies and Slayer. Their early demos sounded raw and immediate, the kind of thing recorded in someone's garage because waiting for studio time would kill the momentum. The production was exactly as polished as it needed to be, which is to say not very.

California Cursed, their 2020 debut LP on Revelation Records, landed right as people were stuck inside and possibly more receptive to 18 minutes of compressed fury. The album pulls from thrash, powerviolence, and NSBM-era Slayer riffs without sounding like a tribute act. Tracks like "California Cursed" and "Sick One" became staples, and the record resonated beyond the usual hardcore crowd. They managed to appeal to metalheads, skaters, and people who just wanted something that didn't waste time getting to the point.

What set them apart was the refusal to commit to just one thing. They'll drop a two-step part, then shift into a thrash riff that could've been on Hell Awaits, then strip it back to something almost punk. It's not experimental in a self-conscious way — it just sounds like they get bored easily and have good taste in what comes next.

Their 2022 EP Living Proof continued the approach: short, direct songs that pull from multiple decades of heavy music without feeling like homework. The title track has this driving momentum that doesn't let up, and "Intermission" does exactly what it says without overstaying its welcome. They toured heavily, playing festivals like Sound and Fury, and built a reputation for live shows that were chaotic in the right ways.

By 2023, they'd become one of those bands that other hardcore bands name-check, which is usually a better indicator of actual influence than streaming numbers. They're not reinventing anything, but they're synthesizing things that don't always go together and making it sound natural.

They're currently working on new material, still based in California, still moving between thrash, hardcore, and whatever else fits. The lineup has shifted slightly over the years, as these things do, but the core approach hasn't changed much. They're a band that knows exactly what they're doing and doesn't feel the need to explain it.

Drain shows are tense, physical affairs. The crowd clusters tight and unforgiving. There's minimal stage presence—just raw noise and visible strain from the band. People leave soaked and bruised.

Known for Honey, Leeches, Shake, Bloodhail, Trashworld

See Drain Live