Free Throw

About Free Throw

Free Throw started in Nashville in 2009, which is funny considering they play emo and not the kind of music that city is famous for. The band formed when guitarist/vocalist Cory Castro decided to make the kind of music he actually wanted to hear instead of whatever else was happening around him. They spent their early years doing what every other band does: playing shows to small crowds and trying to figure out their sound.

Their first proper release was the EP "Struggles" in 2012, but things really clicked with their debut full-length "Those Days Are Gone" in 2014. The album landed them squarely in the emo revival conversation, though they brought something a bit different to the table. Where some of their peers went for pure aggression or drowning-in-reverb atmosphere, Free Throw mixed the raw energy of punk with more intricate guitar work and Castro's distinctive vocals, which sit somewhere between desperate yelling and actual singing.

"Bear Your Mind" came out in 2016 and showed the band getting more comfortable with what they did well. The production was cleaner but not in a way that neutered them. Songs like "The Corner's Dilemma" and "Tongue Tied" became setlist staples, the kind of tracks where you could hear both their basement show roots and their growing ambition. They were still making emo music for people who grew up on emo music, but they were getting better at it.

2018's "What's Past Is Prologue" marked another step forward. The album title is maybe a bit on the nose, but the music backed it up. They were writing more varied songs, pulling in different influences without losing what made them recognizable in the first place. The record dealt with the usual emo territory of relationships and self-examination, but with the perspective of people who'd been doing this long enough to have some actual distance on it.

"Piecing It Together" dropped in 2021 and found them refining their approach even more. By this point they'd survived longer than a lot of their contemporaries, and you could hear that in the writing. The aggression was still there when they needed it, but they'd also figured out how to pull back and let songs breathe. It's the sound of a band that knows exactly what it is and has stopped apologizing for it.

Free Throw exists in that space where they're big enough that actual humans care about their new releases, but not so big that they've had to fundamentally change what they do. They tour regularly, maintain a dedicated following, and keep making the kind of music that drew people to them in the first place. In a genre that's constantly declaring itself dead or revived, they just keep showing up and doing the work.

Their crowds are engaged and vocal, singing along to every word like these songs have been soundtracking their lives. Energy is intense but intimate, the kind of show where people genuinely feel heard. Kerekes connects with the room; it doesn't feel performative.

Known for Lavender, Strawberry, Graphic, Map of the Sun, Gawker

See Free Throw Live