DRAIN Return with DECIBEL-premiered Single "Hyper Vigilance" Feat. Taylor Young from CALIFORNIA CURSED (Revelation Records)

DRAIN Live 2019 - PHOTO CREDIT: Sam Jameson

DRAIN are a rising Santa Cruz, California-based band that play a very specific style of Punk/Hardcore; fittingly described within a recent press release as "Metal-tinged, moshy, Crossover-style Hardcore that's, also, incredibly entertaining." DRAIN's current line-up consists of frontman Sam "Sammy" Ciaramitaro, guitarist Cody Chavez, bassist Justin Rhode, and drummer Tim "Timmy" Flegal, who have previously played with Gulch and Hands of God. Honestly, the best way I can think to describe DRAIN's sound is if you were to combine the fresh, feverish nature of Henry Rollins-era Black Flag mashed with the frantic, guitar-heavy Thrash stylings of early Anthrax or Metallica. It appears as though DRAIN formed around 2015 and over the past few years, have been garnering quite the reputation for their insanely fun, hyperactive live shows. Now, following a string of demos, EP's, and live recordings, DRAIN are gearing up to let loose their full-length debut, CALIFORNIA CURSED, on Revelation Records. We've already been treated to a few brain-melting tasters from the album, by way of "Army of One" and "California Cursed" from Promo 2018, as well as recent pummeling 58-second lead-off single, "Sick One."

For their appearance on Axe to Grind last year, DRAIN played "live" renditions of the three aforementioned tracks, along with an as-yet-unreleased composition from CALIFORNIA CURSED entitled "Bad Faith," as well as "Don't Believe The Hype" (no, not a Public Enemy cover!) from their 2017 EP, Time Enough At Last. Just yesterday, DRAIN returned to premiere a band spankin' new track, "Hyper Vigilance," from CALIFORNIA CURSED, via DECIBEL Magazine. "Hyper Vigilance" clocks in at just over two minutes, a bit longer than "Sick One," and even boasts a feature from CALIFORNIA CURSED producer, engineer, and fellow musician Taylor Young. Concerning the creation of CALIFORNIA CURSED, Ciaramitaro explains, "with writing CALIFORNIA CURSED, we kept it very organic and just got into a room together and tossed ideas around until we had songs that we felt were catchy, full of big riffs, and had no filler." DRAIN's next live dates include April 3-4 at United Blood Fest in Richmond, Virginia with Converge, Cold World, Vein, Judiciary & more and April 24-26 at Wild Rose Fest in Calgary, Alberta, Canada with Knocked Loose, Never Ending Game, Regional Justice Center & more. DRAIN's CALIFORNIA CURSED is now available for pre-order on "ocean" blue, exclusive pink, and super-exclusive in-store only green vinyl, via Revelation Records/REVHQ.

"Let Me Shine for You:" Lindsay Lohan for Playboy (Winter 2011-12 Leak)

Lindsay Lohan essentially embodies exactly "What NOT to Do In Hollywood :" Fame, fortune, success... sex, drugs & Rock "N" Roll . Within a fairly short period of time, Lohan somehow managed to obtain a plentiful helping of POWER @ a very young age. This gradual rise-downfall was captured on film; Between 1998-2010, she portrayed a wide array of roles across the silver screen in movies including: Mean Girls, Bobby , Herbie Fully Loaded , Georgia Rule, Machete , and Freaky Friday . Between rapid-paced film shoots, Lindsay Lohan also found time to record 2 Pop Rock albums for Casablanca , Speak (2004) and A Litter More Personal-Raw (2005). Needless to say, Lindsay Lohan has gotten roped up in a lot of troubles and woes with the law over the last 3-5 years... a vicious cycle of drugs, arrest, court, rehab, "daddy issues," jail time [Repeat]. That's the pure basics of it - But Google that shit for additional info, if necessary. Towards the end of...

[W]reckless, Topless American Youth: Lana del Rey - "Born 2 Die" (Britney Spears Birthday 30)

Lana del Rey [Lizzy Grant] effectively became 2011's "It Girl" with the release of her phenomenal debut single, "Video Games" (Stranger) . Like many struggling singer-songwriters, Grant has been signed, dropped, and significantly changed her public image since bursting onto the scene (2009). With that said, it can be assumed that Lana del Rey has collected just as many "haters" as she has avid supporters. To be perfectly honest, the only other artist I can think of that made this much commotion... garnered so much wide-spread buzz/hate and critical acclaim -- right out of the gates -- with just one track is Britney Spears . And maybe in this post- Mike musical era, that's the true synthesis of Pop Culture: Britney Lynn Spears . After months of repeated teasing and speculation, Lana del Rey 's major label debut, Born 2 Die will [finally] be released this coming Jan. 30-31, 2012. Pitchfork reports that it will feature "Off to The Ra...

Liberty Bell Cracked In 1/2: Ween - "Freedom of '76" (Gene Ween's Final Send-Off)

Chocolate & Cheese (1994) was one of the first albums I bought with my own money. I was in some sort of BMG Music Club , where you'd buy 5 CD's and then get 10 for "FREE." It was all sent through mail order and you picked the titles from some special booklet. I'm almost positive that Chocolate & Cheese's side boob-baring album cover was what initially drew me in... mind you, I was 12-15 and the zany Ween logo/middle finger CD graphic really didn't hurt either. Honestly, I forget how I really felt about it @ the time, but a few years later, my older cousin Josh told me that Ween were this BIG college "jam band." CKY did some sort pf 93.3 radio takeover to promote their new album and played "Freedom of '76" late that night on air. Needless to say, I re-visited Chocolate & Cheese @ about 20-something this go 'round and I fucking loved it! Ween were really weird, yet talented... almost too talented. I can vaguel...

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