DRAIN
Schedule
Thu, 16 Apr, 2026 at 07:30 pm
UTC-07:00Location
The Showbox | Seattle, WA
Showbox PresentsDRAIN
with No Pressure, Haywire and Secret World
THU, 16 APR 2026 at 07:30PM PDT
Ages: All Ages to Enter, 21 & Over to Drink
Doors Open: 06:30PM
OnSale: Fri, 14 Nov 2025 at 10:00AM PST
Announcement: Tue, 11 Nov 2025 at 10:00AM PST
"Straight up, no one is having more fun than me when we’re up there!” beams DRAINfrontman Sammy Ciaramitaro, whose face is perpetually glued in a grin. For anyonethat’s seen the Santa Cruz hardcore firebrands live, there’s no mistaking that fact. Drainisn’t just a good time as Sammy presides over the chaos of stagediving bodies and mic-grabbing frontline; it’s a party—and everyone is invited. (Dolphin shorts and boogieboards are optional but encouraged.) “The vibe of it is, enthusiastic, hectic,” says thevocalist. “Five people deep singing and stagediving, then kids going berserk behind that.It’s a great vibe and I think people pick up on that.”That, in a nutshell is DRAIN. The quartet inject a serious dose of relatability—not tomention catchiness—into hardcore’s penchant for toughness and brutality on theirEpitaph debut Living Proof. Ciaramitaro’s desperate, snotty howl rides roughshod overthrash-leaning riffage as rhythms bounce in a big way. If you’re picturing the PacificOcean waves that rise and fall along the coastal town, occasionally violently so, you’renot far off.Produced by longtime friend and multi-instrumentalist Taylor Young (God’s Hate,Suicide Silence), then mixed by John Markson (Drug Church, Koyo), this is hardcore foreverybody. “As the band gets bigger, I try and keep that feeling alive,” says the smilingsinger. “Every night I set up the merch and run it until it’s time to play. I want to be theguy that everyone says hello to. I want to thank every single kid that comes out forbeing there.”From opener “Run Your Luck” to the closing title track, between surefire pit-pleaser“Imposter” to solo-charged anthem “Weight of the World,” Living Proof is a surefirespark-to-flame for a band that can’t help but be anything but themselves. “It’s veryauthentic, which is why kids can relate,” says Ciaramitaro. “I’m not a super deep, poeticlyricist. I want to feel like I’m having a conversation, very down to earth. I’m not going tofront, I grew up middle-class; I grew up in a house, a suburban home. I’m not from thestreets and I’m not going to front like I am. Lyrically, the things I write about are things Ican personally attest to.”DRAIN came together in the sleepy, oceanside NorCal climes of Santa Cruz in 2014 whenCiaramitaro met up with guitarist Cody Chavez and drummer Tim Flegal while attendingcollege. “We had no idea or gameplan of what we were trying to do,” says Sammy. “Itwas more like, ‘Hey, you have a metal band T-shirt, and I got a Downpresser shirt on,and someone likes Municipal Waste. We should all play together.’” While nearby sceneslike 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 inSanta Cruz,” reveals the DIY vocalist proudly; he began booking shows at Café Pergolesi,a local coffee shop that became the town’s hardcore hub.“When people come to Santa Cruz, they’re like, ‘Oh, I get it, DRAIN looks like what thistown looks like. We also sound like what you expect Santa Cruz to sound like,” says thefrontman, touching on their home’s penchant for surfing and skating. The quartet allgrew up in California and proudly embrace its hardcore history. Ciaramitaro hails fromthe South Bay’s San Pedro, which birthed Black Flag and The Minutemen, a far cry fromDRAIN’s sound but with an intensity and honesty they undeniably channel.It’s the same kind of spirit that allowed them to build a Santa Cruz homebase and thesame kind of spirit that would allow them to wave its flag across the nation on the backof two EPs: Over Thinking (2016) and Time Enough at Last (2017). It earned thempockets of fans across the United States, but it was with 2018’s promo single thatDRAIN’s California cool started boiling over. The two songs (“Army of One” and“California Cursed”) were, simply put, AWESOME and these Beach Sharks shredded ablistering set at 2019’s Los Angeles’ Sound and Fury fest and rode the wave straight to adeal with Revelation Records.Their debut for the label took its name, California Cursed, a little too literally when itlaunched 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 goto every show. I want to experience it.” DRAIN didn’t merely jump back onto stagesacross North American, they exploded onto them. The brunt of that force was felt at SanJose’s REAL BAY SHIT! show, a guerilla-styled seven-band assault at an industrial park onthe outskirts of the town that had rapidly risen to become the epicenter of hardcore.DRAIN played direct support to Gulch, the metallic group in which Ciaramitaro alsoplayed drums before their refreshingly planned demise. Other sets came courtesy ofSunami, Xibalba, Scowl and more, resulting in the June 19, 2021 date going down inhistory for the over 2,000 show-starved attendees—nay, hardcore at large.Despite its large turnout, the landmark show’s origins were much more modest. “Itdoesn’t get more DIY than that, just a handful of us,” beams Sammy, who was one ofthe day’s organizers. “We built the stage ourselves. No promoters or big business. Justus on our social media sharing a flyer – it was a turning point for us.”Around the corner was a litany of good things for DRAIN, including the announcementof their signing with Epitaph Records. The process had begun much earlier, however,with the SoCal label getting in touch with the NorCal band a mere five days afterCalifornia Cursed dropped. They inked a deal with the understanding that the signeeswould tour their recent release before even thinking about a follow-up album. And tourthey would, hopping on the road for headline and one supporting Terror, as fans of thesurging hardcore scene clamored for the Santa Cruz quartet’s brand of good, friendlyviolent fun.After hitting the studio to record Living Proof and then, making their live Europeandebut, DRAIN headlined the first night of 2022’s landmark Sound and Fury festivalplaying 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 secondnight for Gulch’s fiery final show. “It was wild, totally surreal. It felt not real. We’ve kindof been the underdogs from day one: overlooked, too goofy, whatever. Flash forwardsix years, hey we’re headlining Sound and Fury. We really did this our own way which iscrazy.”Living Proof is just that. It’s a testament to the hard work and heartfelt ethos that’s atthe center of DRAIN’s good-time psyche. There are a couple surprises on the album.Rapper Shakewell appears on the track, “Intermission”. “He’s a hardcore dude. He usedto play in that band Betrayal,” reveals Ciaramitaro. There’s also a cover of “Good, GoodThings,” a nearly four-decade old melodic punk carol by the Descendents: slam-pitforebearers to DRAIN if there ever were any. “It’s crazy because the song’s been out likeforty years, but lyrically it’s a DRAIN song!” exclaims Sam. “It just hits on everything thatI love, that I’m about.”What Sammy’s about is plenty wholesome. “I hope with this record that when someonehears it it gives them hope,” Ciaramitaro beams. “If we were able to get through thetough times, anyone can. I can’t wait to play these songs and hear a room full of peoplesinging back to us. We’re what the title says, the Living Proof.”
Where is it happening?
The Showbox, 1426 1st Ave,Seattle,WA,United States
Know what’s Happening Next — before everyone else does.
