While many hardcore bands focus their fury outward, Drought turns inward—channeling personal struggle to chart a different path. Formed in 2022, the Bay Area band—guitarists Eric Nakano and RJ Rabe, drummer Ray Avila, and vocalist Viggy Ram—found common ground in shared influences like Pianos Become the Teeth, mewithoutYou, and Title Fight to overcome personal hardships and isolation. 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.
Now, Drought returns with Souvenir, recorded to tape by Jack Shirley (Deafheaven, Gouge Away) at Atomic Garden Studios. The result? Souvenir sounds less like a debut and more like an established act. These thirteen songs channel moods and emotion with conviction, shaped by years of perspective. 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 and emo. Against a background of balanced melody and dissonance, 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?”
