Hardcore punk band Drain plays surprise show at new local tattoo shop

A new tattoo shop trying to amplify business decided to go big Thursday night with a high-volume pop-up show by the hardcore punk band Drain, one of the biggest acts to come out of Santa Cruz in recent years. 

Nicholas Yarbrough, a local tattoo artist and owner of Hidden Sun Tattoo on Water Street, hosted the inaugural performance, right in his shop, to celebrate the opening of his new business. 

Fans eager to pay only $10 to see Drain formed a long line out of the shop and around the end of the strip mall, hoping to be one of the 200 allowed in. 

“One of my two favorite things in life is just music and tattooing,” said Yarbrough. “So why not push them together?”

Hardcore shows of this nature rarely take place in retail businesses, but this was not Yarbrough’s first attempt at combining his two passions to generate publicity.

“I first executed it while working in Orange County. There was a shop me and my friend worked at, and I was in a local hardcore band with my brother. We thought it was a cool idea to get some attention to the shop, because all the people that we were tattooing were from the hardcore scene,” he said.

With almost 10 years of tattooing experience and connections to the local hardcore scene that he traces back to his youth, Yarbrough said music and tattooing “really go hand in hand.”

Sammy Ciaramitaro, lead vocalist of Drain, was eager to help his friend publicize the new business endeavor. The band is wrapping up a long leg of touring, and getting ready to make its debut at Southern California’s Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival in April.

The bandmates “live and breathe Santa Cruz,” Yarbrough said.

“It’s an incredible feeling to get to play in our hometown after being all over the world — especially to be playing a floor show,” said Ciaramitaro. “We spent so many years doing just that at places in town like The Crepe Place, Bocci’s Cellar, Caffe Pergolesi and SubRosa. It is super special for us to get to do shows like that.”

The hardcore scene in Santa Cruz, despite gaining considerable traction from bands like Drain, is smaller compared to the greater San Francisco Bay Area scene. Ciaramitaro expressed gratitude for the Bay Area scene that rallied behind the smaller hardcore community in Santa Cruz to help build bands like his into international headlining bands. 

“I feel like Santa Cruz is so special for that very reason,” said Ciaramitaro. “There aren’t a ton of us, so we really hold each other close and genuinely love to see each other win.”

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