DRAIN will return to Australia in February 2027 for four headline shows following their 2025 appearance at New Bloom Fest.
by Paul Cashmere
Santa Cruz hardcore band DRAIN will return to Australia in February 2027 for four headline dates across Queensland, New South Wales and Victoria, with the tour supporting their third album, …Is Your Friend, released in November 2025.
The tour, presented by Destroy All Lines and Last Ride Records, will begin at the Black Box in Nambour on February 23 before moving to Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne. The run marks DRAIN’s latest Australian visit following their appearance at New Bloom Fest in 2025 and an earlier tour supporting Comeback Kid in 2023.
The Australian dates continue a decade-long progression for a band that developed from the Santa Cruz DIY hardcore scene into an international touring act. DRAIN were formed in 2014 by drummer Tim Flegal and musicians connected to the University of California, Santa Cruz. The addition of vocalist Sammy Ciaramitaro and guitarist Cody Chavez helped establish the hardcore and crossover thrash direction that became central to the band’s identity.
The band’s early development was closely connected to the local scene. Ciaramitaro began booking shows at a Santa Cruz coffee shop, contributing to the network of venues and audiences that supported the city’s hardcore community. DRAIN’s subsequent growth retained elements of that DIY foundation while taking the band to larger festivals, international tours and arena stages.
DRAIN released the EP Over Thinking in 2016, followed by Time Enough at Last in 2017. Their appearance at Sound and Fury in 2019 helped bring the band to wider attention and led to their signing with Revelation Records.
Their first full-length, California Cursed, was released in April 2020. The timing meant the record emerged just as the COVID-19 pandemic brought live music to a standstill. DRAIN’s momentum accelerated once touring resumed, including a 2021 guerrilla-style performance in San Jose attended by about 2,000 people.
The band’s second album, Living Proof, followed in 2023, further developing the combination of hardcore punk, punk rock and thrash metal that has defined DRAIN’s recorded work. The album also broadened the band’s reach beyond the contemporary hardcore circuit, connecting with listeners familiar with the crossover between hardcore and thrash that emerged during the 1980s.
DRAIN’s musical influences include California hardcore acts such as Black Flag and Blast, alongside thrash metal bands including Slayer, Testament, Dark Angel, Exhorder and Vio-lence. That combination has placed the band within a lineage that connects the formative American hardcore scene with the faster, metal-oriented crossover movement.
The third DRAIN album, …Is Your Friend, was announced in June 2025 and released on November 7 that year. It is the band’s most recent studio album and will form the principal recorded backdrop to the upcoming Australian shows.
DRAIN’s development also illustrates the continuing relationship between the American DIY hardcore circuit and the larger international touring market. What began with locally organised shows in Santa Cruz has expanded into appearances at major festivals and tours with established artists, including arena dates with Blink-182. At the same time, the band has continued to operate within the participatory culture associated with hardcore, where the audience is an active part of the live environment.
For Australian audiences, the February dates provide four opportunities to see DRAIN in dedicated headline settings rather than as part of a broader festival or support bill. The run begins in Nambour before stops at The Triffid in Brisbane, Sydney’s Metro Theatre and 170 Russell in Melbourne.
Tickets go on pre-sale through DAL on September 3, with general sales beginning September 4. The tour will bring DRAIN’s current album cycle to Australia while continuing a relationship with an audience the band has already encountered through previous visits.
Tour Dates
Tuesday, February 23, Nambour, Black Box
Wednesday, February 24, Brisbane, The Triffid
Friday, February 26, Sydney, Metro Theatre
Saturday, February 27, Melbourne, 170 Russell
Ticket Details
DAL Pre-Sale: Thursday, September 3 at 12pm AEST
General On-Sale: Friday, September 4 at 11am local time
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