Shortly after the release of Nashville emo band Free Throw’s debut full-length These Days Are Gone dropped on Count Your Lucky Stars Records, Good Night Magazine caught up with the group’s Jake Hughes before a stop in Portland with Empire! Empire! (I Was a Lonely Estate).

 

Good Night Magazine: Thanks for chatting with me, Jake.

Your debut album, Those Days Are Gone, has been out for just over a month. As a fan myself, I can say I'm rather impressed with it. But I would love to know, what is your personal favorite track from the new album?

 

Jake Hughes: Thanks! Well, I would have to say "Good Job, Champ" is probably one of my favorite songs from the record. It's fast and a little more straight-forward. I was super excited about our sound with that song. It has a very sing-along vibe to it and it’s very nostalgic.

 

GNM: When it came to writing that album, or defining your sound in the first place, who were some of the most prevalent influences to your music?

 

JH: A lot of us are huge fans of Grown Ups, Get Up Kids and and stuff like that. We never had a set formula for how we wrote songs, we just did what we thought sounded cool. For us some of our biggest influences are all of our friends that play in bands and local bands. We listen to more of their music just as much as we would anyone else.

 

GNM: If I'm not mistaken, you've done a few shows with Football Etc. from Houston and Dowsing from Chicago. How have the experiences with the guys and gals of those bands been for you?

 

JH:  Yeah! On this tour we were able to play two shows with Football Etc. during our Texas dates and they were amazing. They were some of the nicest people we've played with so far. We hadn't seen them play before so it was really cool to catch them in their hometown. The guys in Dowsing are great dudes and are amazing live. We played two shows with them a few weeks before this tour and had a crazy time. Erik and Mikey [from Dowsing] we're nice enough to let us stay with them on our Chicago dates on this tour. We partied hard on those days haha. Justin [Castro], our friend Lane and I drank a bunch of bum wine and  stumbled in the line outside Hot Doug's. We waited near 6 hours to get some hot dogs...totally worth it.

 

GNM: You guys sound like you have a crazy time! Now, educate me, is tonight's show in Portland going to be your first time playing in Oregon?

 

JH:  Yeah, tonight is our first time in Oregon. This is as far west that we've been as a band. Before this tour I hadn't gone any further west of Texas. We've been trying to get to the northwest and west coast for awhile so we're very excited to be out here with Empire! Empire! (I Was A Lonely Estate).

 

GNM: I'll be attending, and I hope to be dazzled. My last question for you is a whole lot less about your band and a whole lot more about this whole emo revival, twinkly indie-punk thing going on right now. A lot of the bands involved with the unofficially dubbed "emo revival" are smaller bands who want to play very intimate shows and be in very simple contact with their fans. Do you think this is a good step for alternative music as a whole?

 

JH:  I think no matter what you name it, music is music and we do it because we love it. I remember when I would get really into bands and start following them a lot. They always seemed like you could just send them an email and ask questions or message them somewhere and they'd get back to you. I think it is a good thing to keep in simple contact, I always thought it was cool that these bands that I listened to were all just like me. Just playing music to enjoy it and to share it with people they love. That's why any of us in this band do it anyway.