Free Throw & Microwave Talk Aussie Tour Spoilers

Two of emo’s finest forces are joining up for a long-overdue co-headline tour that’s set to shake venues across Australia this July. For over a decade, Atlanta’s Microwave and Nashville’s Free Throw have carved parallel paths through the underground – bonded by a shared love for DIY roots, raw songwriting, and their ability to meld post-hardcore aggression with ‘90s alternative sneer. Despite their long-standing friendship and intertwined histories, this forthcoming Australian lap marks the first time the two bands will officially tour together – and they’re taking that milestone international.

Ahead of their co-headline run down under, we caught up with Cory Castro (Free Throw) and Nathan Hardy (Microwave) to chat about their shared origins, Aussie beers, wild tour memories, and what fans can expect when these two heavyweights bring their chaos to this side of the globe.

Microwave – ‘Circling The Drain’

MUSIC FEEDS: Cory and Nathan thanks so much for taking the time to chat. You have an co-headline tour in Australia coming up, what drew you to team up for this one?

Cory: So we’ve been friends for over a decade, 11 years maybe? Early days of Free Throw, we even played some house shows together. Nathan was on tour with a band called Bliss that we toured with. And that was the first time Nathan and I really started hanging out. And our bands have been kind of intrinsically linked since then, but we’ve never really actually gotten to tour with each other. And when the idea for Australia came up, I know we were just like, “Oh, f**k yeah! That sounds awesome!”

Nathan: I feel like our bands have been associated for sure. We’re probably like top related artists on Spotify and stuff. But yeah we’ve known each other forever, and we’ve been trying to tour with Free Throw in the States for ages. It’s sick that finally there was an area that made sense.

MF: What do you think it is that ties your two sounds together?

Nathan: I would think we have a lot of the same influences from 2000’s emo. And we both came from a scene where there were like very DIY house shows. Free Throw, probably more so than Microwave, even did a lot of DIY tours for a long time. But we both played the same kind of places and we’re in the same circuit of people that booked DIY tours in the Southeast. There was like a little scene where it was adjacent enough that it made sense to play shows together. And it was the same squad of people that would be at those shows.

Cory: Yeah, I think with us being from Nashville and you guys being from Atlanta, it just made a lot of sense to occasionally play shows together. Like I’d say with both of those places, since it’s only four hours apart, we ended up playing shows together all the time and also hanging out. I remember one time we were drinking tequila on the front porch of Exponent Manor in Nashville. We’ve drunk tequila in a lot of places now that I think about it actually.

Nathan: For sure. A lot of random places too. Like we see each other at Riot Fest, and I remember we played the same one. It was probably the last one that they did in Denver. I remember seeing Free Throw there. Yeah, all sorts of random places across the world.

MF: Is there anything uniquely Australian you’re most looking forward to on this upcoming run? Is it the food? Is it the wildlife? The slang? The surfing?

Cory: I love the sights. Australia is just a beautiful country. It’s got to be one of the most beautiful countries I’ve been to, to be honest. The first time we went to Perth, seeing the Indian Ocean was just a moment for me. I’ve only seen f**king two oceans in my lifetime. I’ve never seen a third ocean. That was kind of crazy. I think Australia has good beer too, so I am looking forward to some nice “frothies” in Australia.

Nathan: I’m stoked we’re going to Tasmania this time too. Our last tour [in Australia], we went with Mom Jeans. The tour started in Perth and we also had a day off and got to go to the Indian Ocean and it was really sick. I enjoy the people there. I feel like it’s a similar dynamic to America in a way. It’s interesting to see. They’re somewhere between the US and Europe with the culture.

Cory: Yeah, I agree. When I was in Australia last, I didn’t feel like I was too far away from home in a way. It still kind of felt similar to home, but a different country. I didn’t feel like when you’re in places in Europe, like say France and stuff, where they speak a different language most of the time you can kind of feel lost. It kind of feels discombobulating. In Australia, it felt natural. It just kind of has the same vibe sometimes. Actually, the people in Australia are way more chill than a lot of the people in America. People in America are kind of crazy. *laughs*

MF: What is one song that you’re most excited to play live on this run?

Nathan: We haven’t even made our set list yet, I can’t lie. But we put out a record last year called Let’s Start Degeneracy, and we’ve been playing a few of the new songs like ‘Straw Hat’, ‘Circling the Drain’, and ‘Bored of Being Sad’ on this run and that’s been really fun. It’s fun playing ‘Circling the Drain’. It’s always fun to have a newer song that people will go HAM for live as opposed to the older songs. But yeah, I’m not sure if we’re going to play ‘Straw Hat’ because I’ll need the acoustic guitar, but that has been a fun one on this tour. But yeah, ‘Circling the Drain’ I would probably say is the one I’m excited for that we’ll for sure be playing.

Cory: Yeah, I’m pretty sure we’re going to be playing some of our latest record on this tour. I think we will almost be finished with the record that we’re working on now for that tour. We’ve been working on that record for a little bit now. So I guess I’d be most excited probably to play ‘A Part is Better Than Zero’ just because that song’s fun as shit to play. It’s a really fun song on guitar. It’s a little screamy, but I can deal with it. And then probably ‘Two Beers In’ because it just seems to be the one that everywhere we go that people know. I don’t think it’ll ever get old hearing people sing it back to me. So I guess those two for me.

MF: Could we expect to see any special collaborations or crossband appearances on stage?

Cory: I don’t know, maybe.

Nathan: We hadn’t discussed it yet, but there are ones that we could do, that’s for sure.

Cory: I mean, I’m down.

Nathan: So yes, the answer is yes. But you’ll have to come to the show and find out the specifics.

MF: What’s something you admire about the other band?

Cory: I could go on for f**king hours. Especially about Microwave, I really admire their ever-evolving sound and the way that their music has just matured over the entire discography so far. I really like Nathan’s songwriting as a fellow songwriter. When I look at Nathan’s lyrics and listen to the songs, I’m always like, “Damn, I wish I wrote that.” And I just think that they’re all really phenomenal musicians. I think they also have really great composition skills. It makes me jealous sometimes, not even going to lie.

Nathan: Yeah, I echo the same things and also when you’re a band like Free Throw who have probably played more shows than most bands, even a 2000s emo band or someone that has been around for two times as long or whatever. They’ve definitely cut their teeth and you see them live and they’re really tight. They execute it so well. Despite being more inebriated than I could usually play a show. I’m always shocked. I’m like, “Damn, they’re going to be f**ked up for this one.” And they just f**king crush it. They’ve built up that muscle of just being a great band. And they also have sick f**king songs.

Cory: Yeah, our alcohol tolerance has gotten pretty high over the years, I think.

Nathan: No, also, I think it was that first tour also with Bliss. We played in Baltimore, right? Like the Charm Space Art Gallery. Yeah, Charm City Art Space. You were doing like Jell-O shots at a bar afterwards and it was insane. If drinking was an Olympic sport, then for sure Free Throw would be top competitors. It was literally like 40-something Jell-O shots. They can also do the thing where they chug like a 16-ounce beer in like less than two seconds.

Cory: Yeah, Justin’s become the resident “crush giant beers” guy now. I don’t do it as much as I used to. I’m getting older now. The gut just gets bigger the more that I do that.

MF: Cory, Do Free Throw use their alcohol tolerance as a tool of intimidation for the rest of the tour party when meeting new bands?

Cory: Maybe at one point I have, at least in the past. These days, not really. Justin does this thing where when he shotguns beers, he puts his thumb through it instead of using something to poke a hole in it. I think he intimidates people with that one. But then he always teaches everybody on the tour how to do it. So it kind of loses its lustre once everybody knows how to do it.

MF: What’s your favourite part of touring? What’s your least favourite part?

Cory: My favourite part of touring I think is the camaraderie between bands when you’re on tour. Making friends, getting to hang out and share the experience together. Getting to see new places with people that you enjoy hanging out with. My least favourite part: riding in a van. Our last tour we got to be in a bandwagon and that made me unfathomably happier than being in a van. They’re still really bumpy, but it was still so much better. Like the last few tours we did in a van, we had seven or eight of us as the tour party with tour manager and front of house and merch so there were some days, if you didn’t get to the van early enough to get a nice spot, you were kind of just sitting straight up for hours on end. It was just miserable. Even with the bandwagon being bumpy, it was really nice to just have my own little bunk space to just lay down, read a book. I took so many naps on this last tour it was f**king awesome. But yeah, riding in a van is definitely my least favourite part.

Nathan: Yeah, I could for sure never ride in a van again. And I feel like also after having been in a band and having toured for eight or 10 plus years, I can connect with other people in bands, it’s just like we know exactly the struggles and stuff of what each other experience, more so than some of my friends at home would. And then also, for sure, just playing the shows and having the opportunity to connect with people, to fans and just chill people in the different cities that we’re in, like staff and venues and crew and whatever is real fun and being able to meet new friends. My least favorite thing is also the traveling. I always feel like an athlete or like I’m on a deployment in the military or something while I’m on tour because it’s hard to ward off sicknesses and cold muscles and run over toes and whatever. And particularly in Australia, the hardest part is for sure waking up every morning at 8 a.m. and then flying to another city and then you’re out of the show at like midnight and then you have to run back to the hotel and try to sleep before the next flight because everything’s so far apart, you have to fly every day. And that’s if you get to fly, I’ve heard the horror stories…

Cory: Yeah, When we were there last with Hot Mulligan, we only flew once. We rode with the gear the whole time just to try and f**king save money. It was something. There was one drive that was like nine or ten hours or something. But like most of them with the way that tour was routed, I think most of them were like seven hours-ish, six hours, a couple here and there. It was like we got there and basically once we were loaded in, it was go time.

MF: Are there any Australian bands that you’re loving at the moment?

Cory: I got one. I really like Dear Seattle. I think they’re coming over to the States soon with Heart Attack Man. I hope that I’m home at some point while that tour is happening so I can go see them. I’ve been listening to them for a while now, I really like their shit. It’s heavy, but it’s also super melodic. It’s got some vibes that kind of remind me of Gnarwolves but also remind me of another band from Australia, Violent Soho.

Nathan: Speed is from Australia, right? As far as newer bands from Australia, or ones that I’ve more recently started listening to, I’ve been into Speed. Historically, Violent Soho is sick. They’re one of those bands that I’ve always been like, “How come they don’t just tour in the US all the time and play to 4,000 people everywhere?” They’re f**king sick. They’ve weirdly not been as much of a thing in the US as they are in Australia, but they’re f**king sick. I also like Jarryd James, he’s like an R&B dude. And PLTS, I guess maybe it’s supposed to be like pilots or something with no vowels. It sounds kind of like Switchfoot or something, but it’s pretty sick, honestly. The Smith Street Band get an honourable mention too, love them.

MF: Final words to fans. What can they expect when Microwave and Free Throw roll into town?

Cory: Hopefully we’ll not be hungover.

Nathan: You’re going to have a good time. Maybe Free Throw will do shoey, but the odds that Microwave will are very low.

Cory: I did one last time I was there. It turns out the guy who gave me his shoe – and the whole crowd demanded it – it was like a $4,000 Air Jordan that I did a shoey out of. I was like, “Dude, why would you make me do a shoey out of a shoe this expensive? This is kind of crazy!”