Throwback - 10 years of Those Days Are Gone

2014 was an amazing year for music. On the pop charts, 1989 by Taylor Swift was making waves alongside hit singles like Happy by Pharrell Williams and Lil John’s Turn Down For What. Far from the pop charts, however, amazing things were happening in the rock world. A band was making its national debut with a record so strong it would be an emo mainstay for the next decade, and write what would arguably be not only their own greatest album, but one of the best emo records ever composed. Those Days Are Gone by Free Throw turns ten this week.

Those Days Are Gone was the first studio album from Nashville based band Free Throw, and would immediately propel them to national popularity in the scene. Already known as a band with great potential from hit EP’s like Free Throw, the strengths of Those Day Are Gone immediately set it apart from contemporaries and set a high standard not only for Free Throw, but for all emo artists moving forward.

On the face, Those Days Are Gone is similar to other emo records. It contained the genre mainstays like complex and loud lead guitar riffs, high energy vocal performance, and depressing or sad lyrics, but where other records glowed, Those Days Are Gone shined.

Where others were complex, guitarists Lawrence Warner and Jake Hughes display performances that scream and cry alongside singer Cory Castro, duetting either with one another or with Castro when needed to amplify the emotional intent of the beat, and bringing home the intent all on their own with melodies and tone that will shake you to the bone. While all emo has high energy vocals, listening to Castro on tracks such as Tongue Tied leaves the listener with the distinct impression of having left some blood on the ice. Where most emo lyrics are depressing and sad, Free Throw managed to layer on nuanced feelings of regret, ennui, and nostalgia. The emotional journey of listening to Those Days Are Gone is too profound to simply say that it left the listener feeling sad.

Take Hey Ken, Someone Methodically Mushed the Donuts. While on the face, if read, the lyrics may seem somewhat simple or at the very least unspecific, but dig a little deeper, and we get to the core of what makes Free Throw’s first studio album such a mainstay. Lyrics like “but back then I’d stay awake just to see your face, I wouldn’t sleep for days, but now I sleep for days” initially present a sad emo breakup song, the band’s composition and performance peel back the layers of emotion and show the listener a portrait of a man who is more upset that he feels his life is being wasted than of a man sad to have lost a relationship.

We also have to dive into the record’s central comparison, that between a relationship ending, and the resentment there in, and a battle with addiction. “I know blowing up your phone is a bad idea, it’ll make me feel worse, God it makes me feel worse” from the opening track Such Luck, perfectly draws the picture of the two things that we often don’t realize are bad for us until we’ve already been hurt, drugs, and love. The entire album holds the hand of this metaphor as it runs down the track list, tackling everything from the regret, anger, and shame, all the way down to my favorite track, Two Beers In, which is a song that deals with the fallout of having lost your close friendships to addiction/girlfriend island.

Combine all the above with rhythmic accompaniment from drummer Zach Hall and bassist Justin Castro, the result is a constantly changing and evolving sound within each song that takes the listener on a new journey eleven times over the course of the record. Free Throw demonstrates the skill of not only being able to write a song with a good hook, but the ability to keep each song interesting for the entire length through the use of guitar fills and texture changes via the rhythm section. You will not get bored or lose focus if you choose to listen to Those Days Are Gone cover to cover. It is a quintessential example of a no-filler album and I have nothing but praise for it.

So obviously The Tempo recommends Those Days Are Gone. 5/5.

Free Throw is still making music. Their most recent album, Lessons We Swear To Keep, came out in 2023 and we sincerely hope more is on the way.