DRAIN @ The Brightside, BNE - Dec 2023.

Images by Day West

It’s been a big year of me leaving the house. Mostly for David Lynch screenings and hc shows. I’ve been making up for lost time, specifically making up for the Drain show I missed in January. I thought it would be the perfect show to end the year on, destroy my gear at, & wreck my face before Christmas. Thankfully blow-up shit doesn’t scuff your face card up too bad, just the ‘feels like’ 40 degree temp instead. The inflatable shark wasn’t too off-par for the sea of wetness that became The Brightside.

Returning this year after their AU debut with Comeback Kid this past Jan, California’s DRAIN kickstarted + rear ended the year’s most rowdy brightside shows of 2023. Led by charismatic frontman Sammy Ciaramitaro, Drain bring immense energy to every show they play, they’re an infectious pulse that breathes chaos into the foreground and salty sweat to every inch of the floor.

Their 2023 record ‘Living Proof’ has made a clear impact on the Australian scene, proof in itself would be the 440 heads in Brisbane that showed up and came prepared to unleash their own form of passion. I truly enjoyed embracing the show in all its messy glory and watching the community grow in strength and numbers. My days in the pit began and ended at a parkway show I was too scrawny and small to be amongst, and now I just bury my face behind my camera - but Drain gave me vivid flashbacks of the last thing I saw that fateful night (being an ass crack and the sole of a vans shoe…) reminisce isn’t the right word but I liked being terrified for my life again, I haven’t been scared for my gear or my teeth in a long time. Thank you Drain for reassuring me that I am capable of producing a fight-or-flight response and have not grown cobwebs in my nervous system.

Real, messy and sentimental are my last 3 words on this show.

Shot on Fujifilm, 35mm Film Simulation.