Cutting their teeth in the Brooklyn DIY scene since 2014, THICK has solidified itself as a punk powerhouse. Despite playing in fewer basements, the band maintains the vibrant sense of community that sparked its formation, inviting friends-to-be into their world through honest and introspective lyrics. Release after release, THICK fearlessly presents its members’ most intimate thoughts, experiences, and self-explorations in layered melodies and big hooks. Almost a year after releasing their second LP Happy Now (2022, Epitaph Records) and a national headline tour, the band returned to writing with new perspectives and an altered configuration with their drummer Shari Page taking a step back.
“Straight up, no one is having more fun than me when we’re up there!” beams DRAIN frontman Sammy Ciaramitaro, whose face is perpetually glued in a grin. For anyone that’s seen the Santa Cruz hardcore firebrands live, there’s no mistaking that fact. Drain isn’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 boogie boards are optional but encouraged.) “The vibe of it is, enthusiastic, hectic,” says the vocalist. “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 to mention catchiness—into hardcore’s penchant for toughness and brutality on their Epitaph debut Living Proof. Ciaramitaro’s desperate, snotty howl rides roughshod over thrash-leaning riffage as rhythms bounce in a big way. If you’re picturing the Pacific Ocean waves that rise and fall along the coastal town, occasionally violently so, you’re not far off.