DRAIN:
“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 all
grew 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.”
Terror:
LA based powerhouse Terror have always been a name synonymous with hardcore. From their inception in 2002, the band have displayed a level of steadfast dedication unlike any other in the scene. Now with six studio albums, a series of live albums, splits, compilations and EP’s under their belts, the scene veterans are gearing up to release their latest full length ‘Total Retaliation’. The new album which is penned for a September 28th release date features Fit For An Autopsy’s Will Putney (Thy Art Is Murder, Body Count, Knocked Loose) in the producers chair and is the band’s first new material since last years ‘The Walls Will Fall’ EP. Clocking in at just under 30 minutes, ‘Total Retaliation’ is a succinct yet intense message of resistance within a world that can inspire little else. It’s a helping hand for the disillusioned and a firm middle finger to the authorities that are tearing apart society as we know it. As the band’s seventh full length studio album it serves as yet another example of why Terror have not only endured but remained at the top of their game for over 15 years.
Scowl:
Scowl is Kat Moss (vocals), Malachi Greene (guitar), Bailey Lupo (bass), Cole Gilbert (drums), and Mikey Bifolco (guitar).
Scowl has quickly made a name for themselves as one of the most vivid and hard-working acts in the rock world. Since the release of their debut album, How Flowers Grow in late 2021, the band has become a powerful force to be reckoned with. Lauded for its reality-driven, aggressive blend of hardcore-punk, the critically-acclaimed album opened up new doors for the band, including a non-stop touring schedule. As new music began to take shape, it was no surprise that experiencing most of their lives on the road would greatly influence the next phase of Scowl.
Enter Psychic Dance Routine.
Since forming in 2019, the band has consistently eschewed being pigeon-holed, moving far beyond the confines of what a typical “hardcore” band is considered. Floral motifs lace their artwork and merchandise, they’ve notably toured with diverse acts like Limp Bizkit and Destroy Boys, and one of the most talked about tracks on How Flowers Grow was a melodic number with a saxophone solo. On Psychic Dance Routine, Scowl continue to push the boundaries of their sound and artistic presence, now laying somewhere between hardcore and alternative. As the band puts it, “it’s like Negative Approach meets The Breeders.”
In September 2022, the Santa Cruz, California band traveled to Pennsylvania to seclude themselves in the studio for a week, recording with Grammy-nominated producer Will Yip at Studio 4. Working with Yip was a completely collaborative experience as he not only brought life to these songs, but greatly encouraged Kat Moss as she worked on her elevated vocal style found across the record. The highlights and challenges of performing, whether in the studio, on tour, or in the act that is life, became a recurring notion on the five track EP.
As Moss states; “I chose to revolve the main theme around performance. This is both literal and figurative, as the band has been on tour practically all of 2022. My perspective of being consumed as the version of myself that is ‘performing’ has shifted dramatically, while simultaneously grappling with the experience of being a feminine artist in a world that doesn’t always take you seriously.”
Lead single “Opening Night” sets the stage marrying edgy melodies with dynamic riffs. Stylistically, Scowl evokes the same feeling as first hearing bands like Sonic Youth and The Strokes, making sounding cool seem almost effortless. “Shot Down” encompasses the battle of fear versus confidence in both lyrical and sonic form, as the band teeters between circle-pit ready moments and sugary hooks. The most vulnerable and pivotal moment of the EP comes in the title track “Psychic Dance Routine.” Moss and the band emphasize their capability of writing a striking indie-alternative song filled with breathy vocals, lush melodies, and a fundamental introspective for the entire release.
“The best way I can define Psychic Dance Routine is that it represents the mental gymnastics or ‘dance routine’ one might have to participate in order to telepathically project their feelings or emotions to another person because they no longer have the ability to express themselves with words” comments Moss on where the title derives. She concludes, “The overarching theme of this EP lies heavily in the definition of the name— I wanted to lyrically express feelings of alienation and loneliness as well as questioning my own reality. I made an effort to speak more with metaphors as I wanted these topics to be relevant to other people.”
On Psychic Dance Routine Scowl has exemplified their ethos of being true to themselves through creating innovative song structures and personable lyrics. Their ability to be genre fluid intersects with their up for anything attitude, whether that means playing in a fast food drive-in parking lot or hitting the stage at Coachella. It’s all just part of the plan for the ever-evolving band that is Scowl.
End It:
End It hail from Baltimore, MD and they want you to know it. Formed in 2017, the five-piece have pride for the city and often address the unease mixed with hope that stems from the community they live in. The band came out strong with the release of their self-titled EP the same year they started, and followed it up with 2020’s One Way Track. In the summer of 2022, the band took the hardcore world by storm with the EP, Unpleasant Living released through Flatspot Records. Quickly becoming a favorite with fans and press alike, the album landed on best of the year lists from Revolver, BrooklynVegan, Stereogum, No Echo and more.
The six songs address everything from questioning the systems of society to gatekeeping the music scene they love. The band takes heavy influence from ‘90s hardcore, while throwing in their own flavor of thrashy guitars and charismatic vocals from Akil Godsey. The EP was recorded with Kevin Bernsten at Developing Nations and mastered by Brad Boatright at Audiosiege, who helped bring an even bigger intensity to the band’s incredibly fast-paced tracks.
The vibrant appeal of the album is only rivaled by End It’s insanely fun and captivating live show. The band knows how to command a room, whether it’s a DIY-style tour like recents runs with The Chisel and Cold World, or supporting legacy acts like Fucked Up and Gorilla Biscuits.
The band has already started 2023 swinging with the release of standalone single “Familia Finito” and multiple international festival plays on the horizon.
It’s time to pay attention, because End It is taking over.
Mutually Assured Destruction
Mutually Assured Destruction began in 2019 out of Richmond, Virginia. The ensemble started with the intention to emulate the styles of the more “alt metal” corner of hardcore’s diverse history; citing influences such as Life of Agony, Only Living Witness, and Sam Black Church.
All the while, “M.A.D” could not ignore the group’s sonic proclivities towards heavy metal the likes of Danzig and Corrosion of Conformity. This combination has given them a distinct sound setting them apart from both their hardcore and metal contemporaries.
Their live show’s exhibit heavy metal proficiency while maintaining the intimacy and raw nature of a hardcore performance. Be it fans of rock, hardcore, or metal, Mutually Assured Destruction has what you need.