Photo by Atiba Jefferson / Words by Maddy Howell

DRAIN is your friend, was your friend, and will forever be your friend.’

What started as a unifying mantra between a group of friends in Santa Cruz has become the guiding star for one of modern hardcore’s most vital bands. That spirit sits directly at the heart of DRAIN’s third album, doubling down on their humility and the open-armed belief that this only works if everybody’s invited.

“It’s to remind people that we are no different from them,” vocalist Sammy Ciaramitaro explains on the inspiration behind the title of their latest full-length.

“Your friends that are in a band, they’re the same as us. Those four friends you go to shows with, that’s us. People think that because we’re up on a stage, we’re different from them. We are the same. We're just regular ass kids who love this music. We don't play it for a big pay check, and we don't play because it's easy to play. We do it because we love it.”

Arriving November 7th via Epitaph, …IS YOUR FRIEND follows 2023’s Living Proof, a record that catapulted DRAIN into the biggest venues of their career. Living on the road since its release, every mile they’ve travelled has shifted their perspective slightly.

Taking note of the moments that energised the crowd, their focus shifted towards writing songs that matched the fervent feeling of their live show, but there was something else dominating Ciaramitaro’s headspace. Hitting up a coffee shop in a new city each day and sharing their music with a new crowd every night, with every stretch of road travelled one feeling began to stand out above all others for the frontman: gratitude.

Well aware that only a small percentage of bands get to live the life they do, that’s precisely what fueled the first full song written for album three, the triumphant ‘Nights Like These’.

“When we’re performing, I don't think about anything else. My brain is off, and it’s pure bliss,” Ciaramitaro nods.

“I look around, and I’ve got my best friends on stage with me, and I look out and see another of my best friends behind the merch table. Our tour manager is also one of my best friends, and we get to go all across the country together. I get to wake up each day and grab a coffee with eight of my best friends. Not many people can say that.”

It's an incredibly humble outlook for a band that have recently spent a summer opening up for blink-182 in stadiums, but there’s a reason why DRAIN have developed a reputation as some of the nicest guys in hardcore.

As Ciaramitaro recounts stories of getting in trouble for putting too many fans on the guest list after they missed out on tickets, and sneaking others in through the back door, it may seem as though the trio don’t take themselves too seriously – but really, the opposite is true.

Ask him, and he’ll tell you that the actual reason why he and his bandmates have the outlook that they do.

“We’re all humans, and there’s no gatekeeper shit here,” he explains.

“We just want everyone to feel like they’re a part of this. I hope everyone hears these songs and thinks, ‘This is for me and my friends’. Whilst the lyrics may touch on things that are specific to me, I think a lot of people can find something in it.”

A reminder that hardcore is about how you carry yourself. not how you sound, whilst …IS YOUR FRIEND embraces certain hallmarks of the genre – it frequently breaks the mold. Leaning into punk rock, heavy metal, and hip-hop, it also features some of Ciaramitaro’s first clean vocals on party-starting anthem ‘Who’s Having Fun?’ Leaving nothing off the table and embracing the full breadth of their influences, it’s an album that finds DRAIN at their most comfortable.

Nothing captures that spirit more vividly than the video for ‘Nights Like These’, which features the band’s real-life family members stepping in to portray older versions of themselves.

“After one of the first shows we played in Southern California, we stayed at my family's house,” Ciaramitaro reflects.

“I was 21 at the time, and we were all still trying to figure this out. I remember my dad sitting us all round the table and asking, ‘What are you guys gonna do with your lives?’ He told us that we were throwing our lives away, and I can’t even fault him for saying it because it is crazy. In this industry, half of it comes down to hard work, and half of it comes down to pure luck.”

“Now though, my parents are so supportive. I remember I called him and asked him to learn the lyrics to a new song. I told him we were going to do a real show, and we were going to play a full set. We got off the stage, I handed my dad the microphone, and at 61 years old he did his first stage dive. At one point, I was in the crowd catching people stage diving, listening to my own song whilst watching my dad up there wearing the same clothes as me. It was a total mindfuck, but also the coolest night ever.”

Really, it all comes back to family, and that’s the crux of …IS YOUR FRIEND. Asserting that the imagined hierarchy between bands and their fans doesn’t need to exist, DRAIN aren’t worried about being seen as the coolest people in the room. In fact, as far as they’re concerned, the coolest person in the room is simply the one that’s having the most fun.

“It’s the kid who comes to the show in a shark costume, singing every word - that’s the coolest person in the room,” Ciaramitaro finishes with a grin.

“It’s not lost on us how lucky we are. We’ve been able to accomplish so much, and we’re constantly having to make new goals for ourselves. Honestly, we did everything we could ever dream of doing years ago. Really, that’s what this record is about, and if it tanks… That’s okay. We’re all so proud of it, and it resonates with anyone else? That’s a bonus.”

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Leading into the November 7th release of ...IS YOUR FRIEND, DRAIN is currently out on the road supporting Kublai Khan alongside Gideon and Guilt Trip. See a list of remaining tour dates below. Get tickets - HERE

...IS YOUR FRIEND, the third full length album from DRAIN lands November 7th via Epitaph Records. Order the album - HERE