Meet Sean Martin | Musician, Audio Engineer & Infantry Veteran

We had the good fortune of connecting with Sean Martin and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Sean, can you share a quote or affirmation with us?
My favorite thing to remind myself of is that “everything has a process.” The phrase combines a few hard to accept facts when trying to discover how to do something: that nothing is impossible to understand when you do the work, and that focusing on the goals will always get you closer to the desired results than not. I learned this in the military. The infantry has a specific type of mission they do, but the details can make a simple process extremely complex. Every time we felt overwhelmed by the size of the task, it was defining the process on how to do it that made everything happen. In music, striving to learn abstract concepts of ear training, theory, or counter-intuitive recording knowledge (like balancing gain vs volume), the first thing people say is “Whoa, I can’t learn that, That makes no sense to me”, and its the first reason why they wont get the job done. “Everything has a process” is the simple way I’ve made the seemingly impossible become reality.

Please tell us more about your work. We’d love to hear what sets you apart from others, what you are most proud of or excited about. How did you get to where you are today professionally. Was it easy? If not, how did you overcome the challenges? What are the lessons you’ve learned along the way. What do you want the world to know about you or your brand and story?
What sets us apart from others is our versatility. We’re all highly trained musicians and have each spent most of our lives learning music from all angles. Our sound is like water, crashing and destructive at times, and healing or peaceful at others. We all know the power of sound to effect emotional responses, and don’t settle for anything less than our best. I’m most excited about our latest single, “Unspoken” which you can listen to here (https://thequarantined.bandcamp.com/track/unspoken-2). I think its a great representation of the band. The story of how I got to where I am is a ten year long story that I couldn’t fully describe here, but here’s the elevator pitch: from regional and state honor choirs and opera festivals, to writing my own one act and winning an award, to Repertory theater, I was well involved in my small town’s art scene in high school. before I turned 21, I had been to war, closed with and destroyed the enemy, been diagnosed with PTSD which was a battle all on its own because the Army didn’t recognize PTSD as legitimate. But no shit, there I was with no skills for the civilian world to exploit and a need to relate my experiences and the wisdom learned from a war that I disagreed with the premise of. Easy has never been a state of being for me. Studying music was as much of a career choice out of lack of options as it was the life-raft out of the hell I was in. Most of the lessons I learned I put in my music, with the goal of the audience seeing themselves in the situations in which your seemingly harmless choices have consequences, sometimes its life or death. After a time in LA, I had been on a sub-major label (Lucent records) and dropped, worked with a multi-platinum producer (G-1), gotten my songs on college, internet and FM Radio, been ripped off and cheated by “managers”, and nominated for an Independent Music Award. I guess I got here with trial and error, determination to never give up, and resolve in my training as a musician and as an Infantryman. I would want the world to know that The Quarantined is for everyone, an expression of the resolve through oppression of all kinds, a celebration of the grit it takes to live a life that is true to yourself in a world that forces you into the traps they need to you live in, and to describe the feeling of being right and still disregarded.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
Assuming we’re out of Covid times, the fires don’t destroy the whole place, or protests incapacitate travel, Id take em to eat in east LA taco places, nights on the sunset strip, chateau Marmont, days on the beach in Huntington, studio tours in Burbank, trip acid in Malibu and find celebrities getting coffee, get thrown out of their beach community like the Dude, go to a friends show at the Canyon Club or see my teachers tear it up at the Baked Potato, Avoid the fuck outa Hollywood. I’d want to go see my friends over in Santa Clarita up at Drifters again.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
In my process of going from 21 year old combat veteran with PTSD, to somewhat stable Musician and record producer, I’ve had many people inspire me, save me, comfort me, assist me, when I was convinced I was at my end. First, Allison and her family, Kate, Kat, Matt, Kali, Jeremy, Torie, Hendo, Smitty, (they know who they are) all had massive effects on my life and have saved me from pits that I got caught in. Musicians Institute for teaching me more than what I wanted to know about music, and taught me how to know what I needed about music, G-1 for taking Antiquate Hate EP to a new level. The Vet Center, and all my residents at the VOA (Volunteers of America)-Sunset, if not for them I’d have gotten lost in the streets. Alexx Calise and Free2Luv for showing me theres more than enough people to ever feel alone, and to strive to realize potential.

Website: www.Thequarantined.com
Instagram: @thequarantined
Linkedin: www.linkedin.com/in/sean-martin-42912361
Twitter: @theQuarantined
Facebook: www.facebook.com/thequarantined
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC1Z_XdCd4WN45ZiG2J0mmbQ
Other: www.thequarantined.bandcamp.com – Our Music store and merch store

Image Credits
Wild Side Photography, Steven Duarte Photography, 4Resh media, Jad Dovey, Aversion to Normalcy Art By Liz Pugh