Hardcore Vocalist Tells Fans to Rush Stage, Security Panics

Security at Riot Fest were sent into immediate and utter panic when Sammy Ciaramitaro, vocalist for California hardcore band Drain, called on the crowd to rush the stage during the final song of their set.

"Right now, your job is to jump this barricade and to get on this stage and sing into the fucking microphone. Riot Fest, this is 'California Cursed,'" the frontman shouts, as seen in the videos further down the page.

The title track to Drain's 2020 debut opens up with a chugging metallic riff, a natural pit-starter and Ciaramitaro calls out, "Everyone! Everyone!," beckoning stage crashers to keep coming forward.

A TikTok video captures multiple angles of the chaos that ensued. While we can't be 100 percent certain what security was thinking, as crowdsurfers begin to come over the barricade in waves, the look on one security guard's face suggests, "Oh shit!"

Festivalgoers lightly scrap with security, trying to dodge the staff in order to make their way onstage. The full performance video beneath the TikTok clip shows just how successful many fans were in getting to where Drain were performing.

Security appears overwhelmed and, as dangerous of a stunt as this is, those who rushed the stage seemed to be doing so playfully and in a non-threatening way. Still, there was some fair takedown of some of the more aggressive stage crashers as security scrambled to do their job and try to keep the festival crowd, artists and crew all safe from harm.

Watch how it all went down below.

Drain Tell Crowd to Rush Stage While Playing "California Cursed" at Riot Fest - Watch

Sammy Ciaramitaro Apologizes to Riot Fest

In a post-performance interview, Ciaramitaro expresses regret over his actions at Riot Fest, acknowledging it was not a fair situation to put security and the stage manager in.

"Respectfully, I hope I'm wrong, but [that was] maybe the first and last Riot Fest for Drain," he tells Q101 in the video below, adding that the band was just doing what they do, which is to get the crowd into the show and engaged, bringing a more typical hardcore club show vibe to the outdoor fest.

"All the love to everyone at Riot Fest, we hope we didn't burn any bridges," the frontman wraps up.

More About Drain

Drain are currently signed to Epitaph Records and released Living Proof, their first album on the label, earlier this year, Living Proof. It's their second overall full length, succeeding 2020's California Cursed.

The band was formed in 2014 in Sant Cruz, California and their influences include punk, hardcore and thrash metal.

Despite releasing their debut amid the pandemic, Drain generated a significant amount of buzz as word of mouth spread. “Kids fell in love with music but didn’t have the chance for two years to see it live. Now that it’s come back, the feeling is, ‘I want to see it live. I want to go to every show. I want to experience it," Ciaramitaro says of the band's rise (via Epitaph).

Watch the video for "Good Good Things" off Living Proof below and follow Drain on Instagram, X, Facebook and TikTok.