Culture
Drain’s Sammy Ciaramitaro talks about new, methodical writing process, learning to play bass, and making fans in 30 minutes
By: Nicholas Kobe
Posted on:
LOUISVILLE, Kentucky (WOUB) – Drain is your friend—and with all the fun the California hardcore band brings to every record and show, why wouldn’t they be? Every set is chaos: crowd surfing, stage diving, barricades be damned. Since forming in 2014 and releasing two albums, Drain has been a rollercoaster with no brakes. Now, with their third album, …IS YOUR FRIEND, they’re taking a more methodical approach to songwriting while still chasing the same goal: music that gets fans moving.
WOUB’s Nicholas Kobe spoke with vocalist Sammy Ciaramitaro at Louder Than Life about the new record and learning to play bass. Find a transcript of their conversation, edited for length and clarity, below.
Nicholas Kobe: How would you describe Drain in one sentence?
Sammy Ciaramitaro: To a random person, it’s kind of like Terror meets Pantera meets Madball. To a total stranger, it’s just loud punk rock music; it’s in your face for everyone to jump around and feel good for 30 minutes.
We’re here in person at Louder Than Life. How are you feeling right before your set?
Ciaramitaro: I’m feeling good. These are all still such a trip. We’ve been very fortunate to do some of these bigger festivals, but every time I’m still just like, “this is so crazy, the coffee table over there, just catering over here”. Dude, this is unbelievable.
With hardcore rising in the last few years, you and a lot of other bands have been at the forefront of that. How’s it feel to be part of a genre that’s growing with you?
Ciaramitaro: It’s so crazy, I think from the outside, maybe it looks like we had everything calculated, but to be honest, most of this stuff is just flying by the seat of our pants. I don’t have much more of an idea of what’s next than anybody else. We’re just like, “hey, we wanna do this thing, so we’re gonna do it.” Then it’s like, “Okay, I guess that’s where we’re at as a band. I guess that’s what we can do within this genre.”
I feel honored that we get to play with so many amazing bands right now. Bands like Terror are like, “Hey, we’ll open for you on tour”. Even though we did a tour with them last year, there were many nights that were Terror shows. They were not Drain shows. They played before us, but they were Terror shows. I’m just thankful because all this stuff isn’t possible without all the people who want to come see us and let us do these cool things.
Drain has a new album coming out. What’s something about it that makes you particularly proud?
Ciaramitaro: As a band, I’m proud that we were able to write a little bit differently this time. We’ve never written with a producer. We just took our time with it and were able to dedicate a lot of time to it. Like live in the studio for three weeks. Just practice, write music all day, and record it, then take a step out, listen to it, and say, “Let’s try this, yes, no, yes, no.” We didn’t settle. In past records, in hindsight, you’re kinda like, “I kinda wish I did this a little differently.” We wanted the drums to sound real. We wanted them to be in your face. I want the bass to be smooth, I want the guitar obviously just right up front and strong, and we just took our time and got it all right.
Then, as for a personal note, Drain doesn’t have a bass player. I don’t put it on blast because I’m not great at it, but I’ve been playing bass for Drain. So I helped with writing on this record. On the last record, I wanted to play bass, and I just was not there. I couldn’t play it well enough, and so our guitar player had to track the bass parts. This record, I was like, “dude, I wanna do it.” I even got cold feet at one point, but my band mates were like, “dude, I think you got it. You can do it.” And I did it, man. I had to get bailed out on a few different parts from our producer, Jon [Markson]. But I was able to put my mind to it, help write songs, and then actually track the parts. I feel there’s always so much room to grow with my vocals, but I feel really proud about those, so it was cool to get to do something different in the music world and teach myself an instrument and then play it.
What were your biggest bass influences when learning the instrument yourself?
Ciaramitaro: Dude, this is the first time someone’s asked. I feel like my biggest one has to be D.D. Verni, the bass player for Overkill. I love the way the bass sits in the mix, and the way he plays it, and the way it accents the songs. You can really hear it. I feel like in the past we’ve had parts where you feel the bass, but you don’t really hear it. I just wanted to hear it, man, because that’s what you hear live.
Would you ever consider playing the bass yourself live and singing?
Ciaramitaro: I just love the freedom of being a frontman. I just love moving and running around. I’ve really grown to love playing bass, and I play drums, but nothing tops having a mic in your hand and just running around. That’s the best feeling in the world.
What’s next for Drain?
Ciaramitaro: I feel like we’ve always set goals and then, whether it takes a month or it takes five years, we accomplish that thing. All of our goals that we’d had for a while, we’re like, “Yo, the big one was to play Sound of Fury. And we did. The next time it’d be like, headline Sound of Fury, did that. I guess what I want to really stress is that this is not what hardcore is about. But the gravity of where our band is at is that we can be a hardcore band that plays the music we play and still do these things like play Coachella. We are able to do that.
The possibilities are endless. I would love to play on a late-night show. I don’t know, play as a band in a movie or in a show. I’d also love to just play some hip hop tours. Just anywhere the energy’s there, man. Got a very cool headliner planned at some point. I can’t say anything about that yet, but we’ve got a really sick lineup. Whatever’s gonna get us in front of the most strange people, that somewhat makes sense. Just give me 30 minutes and I’ll make them fans.