Drain's Aussie Bucket List: New Bloom Fest 2025

Santa Cruz hardcore punks Drain are packing their bags and getting ready to return down under for New Bloom Fest 2025, the second annual East Coast-roaming mini-festival of punk, hardcore and alternative musical madness. They’ll be hitting up three huge venues in Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne this March on a mosh-worthy lineup that also features Basement, Balance & Composure and loads more.

Today, Drain frontmain Sammy Ciaramitaro is getting hyped by running us through his bucketlist for the trip, spilling the tea on all the quintessentially Australian things he’s most excited to experience when Drain returns our shores in just a few months’ time. Read his words down below.

DRAIN – ‘Good Good Things’

Close Encounters

“When we went to Australia for the first time, we saw kangaroos; but I feel like if you don’t get the koala pic – you have to do it! That’s what everyone thinks of when they go to Australia, you gotta get the whole band in that koala picture! I’m getting the koala pic this time! I’d definitely like to go back to the sanctuary and see the kangaroos, and also get that koala fix. We aren’t going to Perth next year, but getting to see the quokkas when we were there was incredible too, I couldn’t believe it. And we got the quokka selfie when we were there, so we’ve already ticked that one off.”

Return To Bogey Hole

“This is no shade, but if you asked me anything about my time in Europe, I don’t remember where I went, I don’t know what was there. But Australia is different somehow, I just loved so many parts of Australia when we were there. And the routing is a little bit easier, it’s mostly up and down, or it’s all one direction. The last time we were there, we went to the Bogey Hole in Newcastle. I’m straight edge, but it felt like I was on mushrooms while I was there! The sun was shining down, and there was this wave forming, and you know what? The sun is reflecting off the wave and these two dolphins were just there swimming and surfing the wave. That was magical. It was truly magic in front of my eyes, and probably one of my top three favourite memories that I’ve ever seen on tour, ever. I’d really like to go back to the Bogey Hole and just hang out there.”

Gold Coast

“The Gold Coast has some of the most beautiful beaches. The last time we were there, we went and we got caught in the rain, we had about 30 minutes of good weather. The beach was incredible even with the rain, so I would love to go back and hopefully we get good weather in March. We just want to try to be by the water as much as we can!”

Maxibons

“Also, we have fallen in love with Maxibons, the waffle ones. So while I’m there, I want to eat a Maxibon, preferably with the sunset in the background if possible”

Soulmate

“In Sydney, there’s a spot called Soulmate, the guys from Speed put us onto that spot. Every time we went, we spent like two to three hours there, just hanging. This time, I wanna do the same thing, get a few drinks there and just enjoy it.”

Bonus: Is Vegemite on the cards?

“I still haven’t tried Vegemite! I think this time I’m going to change that. I’m kind of scared, I feel like there’s so much lore around it…but I’m sure it’ll be fun. I think I want all of us, our whole crew, our band, our merch guy, our driver…I want to get the whole crew together, like all 10 of us and eat some Vegemite. Throw in some Maxibons and a sunset on a Gold Coast beach, and we can combine most of these things and have the perfect day!”