Jake’s Take with Jacob Elyachar acknowledges Mental Health Awareness Month (MHAM).
Mental Health America was established this observance in May 1949 to increase awareness of mental health issues, reduce stigma, celebrate recovery, and provide resources for individuals and communities.
I am thrilled to welcome Sean Martin as this year’s MHAM special guest. Sean is the executive producer, guitarist, and vocalist behind the Quarantined. Singing in community choirs from the age of four in Fort Bragg, CA, and playing guitar by age twelve, Sean is a 2012 Musicians Institute alumnus with an A.A. in Guitar Performance and Music Industry Studies. An award-winning vocalist in high school, he placed in Regional and State Honor Choirs and earned a Lenaea Award as a writer and actor for the one-act play The Black Widow Project (Best Docudrama, 2003), directed by Meg Patterson.
Sean Martin served in the U.S. Army Airborne Infantry (3/509th PIR, 4th Brigade, 25th Infantry Division) from 2004–2007, deploying to Iraq from October 2006 to September 2007. He is now an outspoken advocate for veterans’ mental health and the therapeutic use of cannabis for PTSD. Independently owned and operated, The Quarantined continues to release music defined by substance, intensity, and purpose. In partnership with Free2Luv.org, the project pushes toward a more inclusive and conscious future—setting a new standard for DIY music on an international scale.
In 2010, Sean and several former students at the Musicians Institute in Hollywood, California, began to perform music together as the Quarantined. Throughout 2010 to 2013, the band blended raw musical force with vivid imagery, creating songs that confront politics, trauma, addiction, and the cost of modern life. In 2013, the Quarantined released their self-titled extended play, and throughout the mid-2010s, the band’s music presence expanded with high-profile shows. In 2016, the band released another EP, Antiquate Hate, which earned international press coverage, radio play in 13 countries, and widespread rotation on US college radio.
Five years later, Sean Martin shifted the Quarantined into a solo venture. He traveled from Florida to Boston and back to Los Angeles, performing at numerous open mic nights in support of upcoming material and partnering with Plaid Dog Records with a successful crowdfunding campaign that led to the release of “One Last Chance” and “Instagram Hell.”
In 2025, Sean recorded, executive-produced, and released Aversion to Normalcy, which is a cathartic confrontation with trauma, resilience, and the illusion of “normal” in a fractured world. The release has generated international press, surpassed 1 million Spotify streams, and accumulated over 40 million views on TikTok—cementing Sean as a distinctive voice in modern rock.
On this edition of The Jake’s Take with Jacob Elyachar Podcast, Sean Martin shared the Quarantined’s origin story, the stories behind their most-streamed Spotify songs, and how he used his music to have mental health dialogues with his fans.
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May 18 202641 mins