Drain: “It doesn’t matter if you just got into punk music or you’ve been into it your whole life – this band is for everyone”

It does happen tonight, and it is beautiful. It’s also bizarre. Sayreville is a small borough in New Jersey that’s less than an hour away from New York City by car, but a huge slog to get to via public transport, and feels like a world away from the bustling city across state lines. The venue itself is kind of in the middle of nowhere, and located opposite a VFW Hall that has a non-functional green tank parked in front of it.

When you walk inside, it’s like stepping back in time. The décor and ambience reflect both when it was opened as a bar and banquet hall in 1962, and later when it was the venue where Jon Bon Jovi and Richie Sambora first met in the early ’80s. Although it’s become something of a mecca for metal, metalcore and punk gigs, it feels trapped in time. Sammy – who’s standing at the top of the rickety stairs that lead to the green room – says it “looks like The Shining hotel” and he’s not wrong. He’s no Jack Nicholson, though.

In fact, the Drain frontman is the kind of person whose demeanour instantly lifts you, whose very nature puts you more at ease about the state of life, the universe and everything, who makes you want to be a better person just from talking to him. When Sammy smiles – which happens often – he does so with his mouth and his eyes, but even when he doesn’t, he still radiates a tangible warmth and kindness. He’s effusive, excited, excitable – a burst of much-needed energy and a reminder that, even in the worst timeline, there are still reasons to be happy.

That translates into their live show, too. They’re not headlining, but they might as well be, because Drain, augmented to a four-piece live by bassist Greg Cerwonka, have the sold-out crowd – some 2,500 people – in the palm of their hands. Even when they play three songs (Nights Like These, Stealing Happiness From Tomorrow and Who’s Having Fun?) from forthcoming album …Is Your Friend, the audience respond as if they’re old favourites they know and love. And within seconds of coming onstage, Sammy is in the crowd. Of course he is.

“Dude, I just love stage-diving. I love stage-diving. But those barricades get in the way. [This injury] is actually not from me hitting it, it’s when I come back and the security guards carry me over. I’m very thankful they’re saving me from getting dropped, but sometimes my foot bangs the rail on the way out.

“Last night, I got up onstage and I had my foot on the monitor and I looked down and my sock was all bloody. But you can see” – he points at different parts of his legs – “Scar. Scar. They’re all wrecked. But the way I look at it, there’s 2,000 people here and I have 30 minutes to make them a fan. I’ve got to go for it.”

Why, then, if it’s been such a fundamental aspect of their existence, did Drain only now decide to make it an album title?

“Because it’s still true,” gushes Sammy almost immediately. “We were playing a floor show and now we’re playing at a bigger venue, whatever it might be – if we’re doing Coachella – but we’re still the same people. We’re still going to give the opening band the same love as we give to the headliner, and we’re going to still give the kid who is at their very first show the same love and respect we’re going to give the kids that we see every time we go that city.

“I want to be a reminder that in today’s modern state of hardcore – and I just say hardcore because that’s all I really know, but I guess music as a whole – when you look behind the scenes, you realise it’s not always like this. So I want this to be a reminder that this is what it could be.”

Sammy doesn’t just talk the talk, though, and as he walks the walk through the venue before the set, he bumps into a fan who he’s clearly met before. They have a brief catch-up chat and he’s more than happy to pose for a photo with her. After all, Drain is your friend. And they want to set the best possible example for those who look up to them. Not just with kindness – though there’s plenty of that, too – but by showing how it’s possible to operate as a band on a DIY level and still succeed.

“We met these kids a couple of months ago,” he remembers. “They saw us at the end of the night and we were all pushing out our amps and loading up the car and they were like, ‘Dude! You guys are using real amps and you’re loading it yourself? You don’t have backing tracks or in-ear monitors?’ And I was like, ‘No, dude. We just put this thing as loud as it goes!’ We spent so much time playing together at home that we just know. There’s no click track. I’m so anti-[click track] I wear the orange foam construction grade earplugs. I want people to see them. There’s no hidden magic here. It’s just four guys on a stage playing music. And that’s what it should be. You should get with your friends and you should go do that, you know?”

He pauses, then, with almost perfect comic timing, simply adds: “If you want.”

That ethos ensures that Drain’s performances are as authentic as the band members themselves. Sammy also shuns the idea of using monitors to correct his pitch when singing live, because even if it leads to the occasional mistake, that punk rock imperfection is very much an identifying marker.

“I fucking forget words sometimes, and I’m definitely not a great singer,” he admits. “We’ve started to do some singing in our songs and I try my best, but I’ll be damned – I’d rather sound bad than use in-ear Autotune live. That’s a real thing! I didn’t even know that’s a thing!”

It’s a policy they extended to the making of …Is Your Friend. Drain wanted the record to capture the carnage of their live shows, and it certainly succeeds. In some respects, it’s another intentional effort to cling to their roots, despite their significant growth in popularity.

Recorded by John Markson at his studio The Animal Farm in Flemington, New Jersey, this album is the first time they have ever worked with a producer. Usually, they say, they just write the songs and then record them in a day. This time around, they had three writing days at that studio, and then recorded it, but always kept the shifting nature of their audience in mind.

“We were noticing that certain things maybe weren’t resonating as much, and certain things connected more,” says Sammy, “We noticed when we build things up a little bit more, it actually hits a little harder, so we tried to really flesh it out and write better-structured songs.”

“And we recorded it all live. No click tracks or anything like that,” adds Tim. “And John totally got it. He’s seen Drain a bunch of times and he gets the raw energy of it. I think he did a really good job of translating what we do in a room together to a recording. It feels very live and natural and organic.”

“In my personal opinion, this is the best stuff we've ever done,” chimes in Cody. “When we started writing the first few songs, we just all kind of looked at each other and were like, ‘Whoa! This is awesome!’”

That attitude is exactly what keeps them going, but so is the friendship and brotherly bond between the band members. Because – annoying American grammar aside – while Drain is your friend, they’re also each other’s friends. And that friendship is vital to them still being here today.

“We have a very unique thing,” says Sammy. “I got married last summer, and people were like, ‘Are you having a bachelor party?’ and I’m like, ‘No!’ I mean, I go on tour with my best friends. They’re still my best friends. That’s what we do all the time, so I’m like, ‘I don’t care.’ This is a bachelor party, you know? When we got engaged, I told my bandmates first. They’re the first people that are with you at all the stages of your life. I’m so fortunate, and we would not be where we are if we didn’t love each other like we do.”

“You hear about a lot of bands who stay in separate rooms,” says Cody, “and who don’t interact unless they’re onstage…”

“So as long as we’re still friends, we’re still having fun,” adds Tim. “The playing is the easier part. It’s everything else that can be kind of a little more taxing.”

“The world can be very rough and gnarly, but while there is so much trouble and trauma and pain out there, there’s also a lot of beauty, there’s also a lot of joy that the world has to offer if you’re able to find it,” concludes Sammy. “Not everyone is able to – and I can’t put that against anybody, whether it’s where you live or whatever – but take the time to be good to yourself and to the others around you, and try to seek the joys that life has to offer. Because they are out there.”

Not even a busted shin can stop Sammy from making that his mission tonight.

...Is Your Friend is released November 7 via Epitaph.

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