"With a sonic palette pulling from both classic screamo and post-hardcore, Drought are clearly aiming to capture a certain spirit." - No Echo

Who are you called to be? Across their debut LP Souvenir, Bay Area post-hardcore band Drought confronts this question head-on, reminding us that our pasts don’t define our futures. While many hardcore bands focus their fury outward, Drought turns inward—channeling personal struggle to chart a different path.

Now, Drought invites you to do the same.

Formed in 2022, the band—guitarist Eric Nakano, drummer Ray Avila, and vocalist Viggy Ram—found common ground in shared influences like Pianos Become the Teeth, mewithoutYou, and Title Fight, along with broader sonic inspirations from folk, electronic, and Indian music. During the pandemic they felt a collective loss, like something vital had slipped away. That ache became fuel for their earliest songs, and attracted Guitarist RJ Rabe with his roots in traditional Northeast hardcore. Rabe’s style added a distinct layer of aggression into Drought’s evolving sound.

After recording a three-song EP in 2022, Drought brought their emotionally charged live shows to stages alongside Jeromes Dream and vs self before catching the attention of Iodine Recordings. Through Iodine, Drought’s EP was released as a 7” and followed by a supporting West Coast tour. The release quickly sold out and the band turned their attention to recording a boldly reimagined cover of Death Cab for Cutie’s “Death of an Interior Decorator.”

Now, Drought returns with Souvenir, recorded to tape by Jack Shirley (Deafheaven, Gouge Away) at Atomic Garden Studios. Shirley captures the raw force of a band whose sound he’s long championed. Fusing post-hardcore and emo, Souvenir is rooted in a decades-long underground tradition that thrives in the Bay Area. Yet for all its urgency, the record reflects the band’s lived experience—each member returning to music after time away, bringing a mature and intentional voice to every note.

The result? Souvenir sounds less like a debut and more like an established act. The tones are dialed in. The intensity is foundational but tightly controlled. Melody and dissonance share space in the same breath, the guitars complementing each other like inseparable halves with bass and drum rhythms that unify the sonic palette. These thirteen songs channel moods and emotion with conviction, shaped by years of perspective.

The tracks on Souvenir touch on themes as varied as survivor’s guilt, overcoming generational trauma in a diaspora, and challenging masculine norms. Each song serves as a memento from the moments that shaped Drought. Viggy Ram’s lyricism is as introspective as it is existential, as he sings on the first single ‘We’re the Flora’: “They say all flowers in time bend toward the sun, so when I find the light, what will I become?” 

Guest vocals from Patrick Flynn (Fiddlehead/Have Heart), Eric Butler (Mom Jeans), and Alex Rudenshiold (Infant Island) lend further weight to Souvenir, weaving with the band’s dynamic arrangements and situating the record firmly in the evolving world of post-hardcore. Through personal hardship and growth—Rabe’s battle with cancer, Avila’s father’s illness, Ram’s journey into fatherhood—Drought has been tested. And in response, they’ve delivered an urgent, resonant, and remarkably self-assured first record.

Souvenir arrives July 2025 via Iodine Recordings.

(Photo Credit: Sam Durbin)

DROUGHT
Viggy Ram, vocals
Ray Avila, drums
RJ Rabe, guitar
Eric Nakano, guitar 

Official Pages: Instagram // Website // Facebook
Booking: droughtsounds@gmail.com
Press/PR: amy@atomsplitterpr.com

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