In 2025 Australia will play home once again to the freshest up-and-coming artists in the scene with the return of NEW BLOOM FEST, a curated touring festival showcasing all things alt rock, post-hardcore, grunge, punk, and everything in between.
Following the release of a stacked array of Australian openers to the lineup for this March as well as headline sideshows for BALANCE AND COMPOSURE, today we are thrilled to announce four special headline sideshows from beloved California hardcore party-starters DRAIN, supported by special guests ONE STEP CLOSER. These DRAIN headline shows will head to the Sunshine Coast and Hobart in Australia, and Wellington and Auckland in New Zealand this March surrounding the festival dates.
Emerging from the coastal settings of Santa Cruz in 2014, DRAIN aren’t merely a band; they’re a full-blown experience. With a reputation for euphoric chaos and nothing but good vibes, DRAIN are eternally here for a good time, and have also been repeatedly praised for helping to spearhead the recent renaissance of American hardcore music.
Fuelled by doses of relatability and catchiness coated by an explosive hardcore setting, DRAIN‘s sonic output, including their 2020 studio album California Cursed and 2023 sophomore record Living Proof, offer a larger than life experience; effortlessly blending thrash, frantic energy, and perfectly petulant hardcore, with their recent opus California Cursed embodying the idyllic yet, at times violent, waves that rise and fall on the Santa Cruz shores that the band call home.
Helmed by frontman Sammy Ciaramitaro, whose magnetic onstage charm was also declared as having a “non-threatening look and…Golden Retriever energy” by Kerrang!, DRAIN most recently supported Knocked Loose on an extensive North American run, with their own global headline shows also in their wake, peppered with boogie boards, pool noodles, and fans encouraged to dress up like sharks; the stuff of hedonistic yet wholesome legend.
A band built on the foundational belief that hardcore is limitless, Pennsylvania natives ONE STEP CLOSER have catapulted into scene-stealers of the alternative multiverse, armed with what Pitchfork describes as “singalong accessibility, purgative heaviness, and thoughtful craft”. Cementing their place at the hardcore forefront with their sophomore album, All You Embrace, earlier this year, ONE STEP CLOSER also wowed Australian audiences back in 2023 for their debut down under performances alongside their unique and insatiable concoction of indie rock, post hardcore and shoegaze that has also seen them dazzle alongside Four Year Strong, Koyo, Real Friends and Knuckle Puck.
Following its hugely successful inaugural year in 2024, including a sold out Melbourne event, NEW BLOOM FEST is back with a sweltering round two for 2025 in Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne, bringing the golden age of DIY hardcore shows and all things alternative into a modern setting.
Destroy All Lines & New Bloom Fest Presents
DRAIN
WITH SPECIAL GUESTS ONE STEP CLOSER
AUSTRALIA 2025
THURSDAY 6 MARCH – KINGS BEACH TAVERN, SUNSHINE COAST (18+)
SATURDAY 8 MARCH – NEW BLOOM FEST, BRISBANE (18+)
SUNDAY 9 MARCH – NEW BLOOM FEST, SYDNEY (18+) TICKETS SELLING FAST
MONDAY 10 MARCH – NEW BLOOM FEST, MELBOURNE (18+) LOW TICKETS
WEDNESDAY 12 MARCH – ALTAR, HOBART (18+)
FRIDAY 14 MARCH – SAN FRAN, WELLINGTON (18+)
SATURDAY 15 MARCH – NECK OF THE WOODS, AUCKLAND (18+)
Tickets on-sale now from www.destroyalllines.com
NEW BLOOM FEST 2025 LINEUP:
Basement
Balance and Composure + DRAIN
One Step Closer + Sweet Pill + Glitterer
DATES AND VENUES:
Saturday 8 March – Fortitude Music Hall, Brisbane
with Primitive Blast, The Others, Colourblind, Deadshowws, Wifecult + Masochist
Sunday 9 March – Roundhouse, Sydney
with Secret World, Gloam + Feel The Pain
Monday 10 March – The Timberyard, Melbourne
with Horsepower, Wayside + Crawling
Tickets on sale now from www.newbloomfest.com