The hardcore trio DRAIN from Santa Cruz is back and announces a new album titled "...IS YOUR FRIEND" set to be released on November 7 via Epitaph Records.
After surpassing all expectations with "LIVING PROOF" (2023) and spending the following year on tour, the friends are now letting their instinctive chemistry shine on the new album.
With the hardcore single "Nights Like These," singer Sammy Ciaramitaro talks about the goals he has set for himself throughout his life, which have now become a normal Tuesday for DRAIN:
"In the last ten years that I've been doing DRAIN, I've been able to see the world, meet incredible people, experience all kinds of amazing highs, and even a few lows - but the most important thing is that I got to do all these things with my best friends. No matter how much we achieve and how big we get - we are still just a few friends making music together and creating memories all over the world, and we are SO aware of how lucky we are to be able to do this. THAT is what "Nights Like These" is about."
NIGHTS LIKE THESE can be viewed here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vscp6BSximI
The music video directed by Derek Rathbun alternates between footage of the band's wild live show in 2025 and a fast-forward segment where the band displays the same energy on stage thirty years later, but with the fathers and uncles of the members as stunt doubles. "When we came up with ideas for this video, I thought it would be so cool to make us look old and play a show as seniors," explains Ciaramitaro. "We could have used makeup and practical effects, but then it clicked in my head... I'm going to look just like my dad when I'm old - I should just use him."
Excited to see his 61-year-old father jump on stage for the first time, he adds: "The fact that we got to share this special evening with the people who made us the men we are today means so much to all of us. I hope everyone enjoys watching it as much as we all enjoyed making it happen. A big shoutout to Stu, Frankie, and Donny!"
DRAIN, consisting of singer Ciaramitaro, guitarist Cody Chavez, and drummer Tim Flegal, formed in 2014 and made their mark in the fertile DIY hardcore scene of Santa Cruz. The COVID wave couldn't stop their debut "California Cursed" from making waves in 2020, and its successor "LIVING PROOF" from 2023 received positive reviews in the hardcore scene. Since then, DRAIN has played hundreds of shows around the world: they have headlined festivals, toured with their friends, and even played arenas with Blink-182. Whether they are opening for pop-punk juggernauts like Neck Deep or grabbing the stage dive torch from Terror, DRAIN's only goal is to get the crowd roaring.
With their third album and second for Epitaph Records, "...IS YOUR FRIEND," DRAIN had primarily two goals in mind: to capture their essential live essence on record and to write new songs that would make their upcoming shows even crazier. Their previous albums were written before DRAIN spent the entire year on tour, and they spent the last few hundred nights on stage remembering which songs their fans responded to best. "...IS YOUR FRIEND" is designed to maximize the audience's ability to completely lose it. The ten songs feature hard mosh parts, catchy choruses, thrash riffs, and plenty of screaming lyrics. Producer Jon Markson (The Story So Far, Drug Church, One Step Closer) recorded the entire album live. It sounds exactly how DRAIN should always sound: crisp, punchy, and alive. Over the years, the trio has grown, their audience has become more diverse, and their music has become more versatile. But Ciaramitaro emphasizes what this album makes abundantly clear: their founding ethos remains unchanged: "DRAIN is your friend, DRAIN was your friend, DRAIN will forever be your friend."
After surpassing all expectations with "LIVING PROOF" (2023) and spending the following year on tour, the friends are now letting their instinctive chemistry shine on the new album.
With the hardcore single "Nights Like These," singer Sammy Ciaramitaro talks about the goals he has set for himself throughout his life, which have now become a normal Tuesday for DRAIN:
"In the last ten years that I've been doing DRAIN, I've been able to see the world, meet incredible people, experience all kinds of amazing highs, and even a few lows - but the most important thing is that I got to do all these things with my best friends. No matter how much we achieve and how big we get - we are still just a few friends making music together and creating memories all over the world, and we are SO aware of how lucky we are to be able to do this. THAT is what "Nights Like These" is about."
NIGHTS LIKE THESE can be viewed here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vscp6BSximI
The music video directed by Derek Rathbun alternates between footage of the band's wild live show in 2025 and a fast-forward segment where the band displays the same energy on stage thirty years later, but with the fathers and uncles of the members as stunt doubles. "When we came up with ideas for this video, I thought it would be so cool to make us look old and play a show as seniors," explains Ciaramitaro. "We could have used makeup and practical effects, but then it clicked in my head... I'm going to look just like my dad when I'm old - I should just use him."
Excited to see his 61-year-old father jump on stage for the first time, he adds: "The fact that we got to share this special evening with the people who made us the men we are today means so much to all of us. I hope everyone enjoys watching it as much as we all enjoyed making it happen. A big shoutout to Stu, Frankie, and Donny!"
DRAIN, consisting of singer Ciaramitaro, guitarist Cody Chavez, and drummer Tim Flegal, formed in 2014 and made their mark in the fertile DIY hardcore scene of Santa Cruz. The COVID wave couldn't stop their debut "California Cursed" from making waves in 2020, and its successor "LIVING PROOF" from 2023 received positive reviews in the hardcore scene. Since then, DRAIN has played hundreds of shows around the world: they have headlined festivals, toured with their friends, and even played arenas with Blink-182. Whether they are opening for pop-punk juggernauts like Neck Deep or grabbing the stage dive torch from Terror, DRAIN's only goal is to get the crowd roaring.
With their third album and second for Epitaph Records, "...IS YOUR FRIEND," DRAIN had primarily two goals in mind: to capture their essential live essence on record and to write new songs that would make their upcoming shows even crazier. Their previous albums were written before DRAIN spent the entire year on tour, and they spent the last few hundred nights on stage remembering which songs their fans responded to best. "...IS YOUR FRIEND" is designed to maximize the audience's ability to completely lose it. The ten songs feature hard mosh parts, catchy choruses, thrash riffs, and plenty of screaming lyrics. Producer Jon Markson (The Story So Far, Drug Church, One Step Closer) recorded the entire album live. It sounds exactly how DRAIN should always sound: crisp, punchy, and alive. Over the years, the trio has grown, their audience has become more diverse, and their music has become more versatile. But Ciaramitaro emphasizes what this album makes abundantly clear: their founding ethos remains unchanged: "DRAIN is your friend, DRAIN was your friend, DRAIN will forever be your friend."
