Emerging from the coastal settings of Santa Cruz in 2014, DRAIN aren't merely a band; they're a full-blown experience. With a reputation for euphoric chaos and nothing but good vibes, DRAIN are eternally here for a good time, and have also been repeatedly praised for helping to spearhead the recent renaissance of American hardcore music.
Returning to Aussie shores this March as part of New Bloom Fest, a curated touring festival showcasing all things alt rock, post-hardcore, grunge, punk and everything in between (with their own headline sideshows also lined up for the Sunny Coast, Hobart, Wellington and Auckland supported by One Step Closer), The Soundcheck grabbed a moment with DRAIN frontman Sammy Ciaramitaro to unpack some of his fave songs to play live - plus he dishes on the likelihood that we'll be hearing some or all of these tracks this March!
SAMMY CIARAMITARO: The common theme with my top three favourite songs to play live is that they’re the songs that I don’t really have to sing. And it’s not even because I don’t want to sing, but rather it’s because it means my job mission has been accomplished! With every song, that’s been the game plan or the goal. With some, we nail it on the head - and some, not so much. But with every song it’s like: okay, if I can write this, I’ll write it and record it; but the goal is for me to not to have to sing any of these live because it’s so catchy, and undeniably people in the crowd will wanna sing it. And with that in mind:
The first of my favourites would be Feel the Pressure from our first record California Cursed. And it’s funny, it wasn’t like we really planned it out, we just wrote it. We were playing that song for a year, just the first minute of it, as an intro instrumental. And then we were like: oh, maybe we can make that a song? Let’s do it! And now it’s one of our most popular songs.
For the next one, we didn’t write this one, but we did a cover of The Descendants’ song Good Good Things. I love to play that one too. It’s scary actually, it’s really challenging to sing clean, I didn’t know that before we covered it! It’s a lot harder than I thought. Luckily, everyone in the crowd is always so kind and they help me. And that way, it’s not just me that sounds bad; we all sound bad, and that makes it really fun!
And a third favourite song to play live is a song called FTS (KYS) off our latest album Living Proof, I really love to play that one. That one has a big singalong part at the end, but it also has all of the parts that I like in a song. There’s a big part for a huge circle pit, and there’s a big part where I love to get everyone to jump. There’s a lot of room for crowd feedback. And that’s the thing, if you asked me what my favourite song was before we ever got to play them live? I don’t know if I necessarily would’ve said that one. But once we started playing it, and I’m reading the crowd in the pit, it’s like: in this 30 second window part we can do this, and in this 30 second window we can do something else. And when the crowd responds to you and they actually do what you had planned and it actually works - it’s the coolest thing ever, seriously.
And not to spoil things, but New Bloom Fest crowds will be seeing those three songs live for sure!
NEW BLOOM FEST 2025
For ticket info and more, head here
LINE UP:
Basement
Balance and Composure + DRAIN
One Step Closer + Sweet Pill + Glitterer
DATES AND VENUES:
Saturday 8 March - Fortitude Music Hall, Brisbane
with Primitive Blast, The Others, Colourblind, Deadshowws, Wifecult + Masochist
Sunday 9 March - Roundhouse, Sydney
with Secret World, Gloam + Feel The Pain
Monday 10 March - The Timberyard, Melbourne
with Horsepower, Wayside + Crawling
DRAIN HEADLINE SIDESHOWS:
Supported by One Step Closer
Thursday 6 March - Kings Beach Tavern, Sunshine Coast
Wednesday 12 March - Altar, Hobart
Friday 14 March - San Fran, Wellington
Saturday 15 March - Neck Of The Woods, Auckland
BY TIANA SPETER