Grunge maestros The Quarantined have shared their new single, ‘Skeleton Chair.’ The band’s latest effort mixes pummelling riffs with eye-opening social commentary – and a stranger-than-fiction war story based on an experience by frontman Sean Martin.
Grunge act The Quarantined have returned with their latest single, ‘Skeleton Chair’, which draws inspiration from a real-life experience during wartime.
The Quarantined is a project created and fronted by Sean Martin, who experiments within several genres. Sean Martin was a former student at the Musicians Institute in Hollywood, CA. He has been plying his trade for the last 15 years up and down the West Coast.
The band has been noted for their confessional, righteous, no-holds-barred approach to grunge and punk music. For their latest single, ‘Skeleton Chair,’ Sean Martin channelled his experiences during the Iraq War, in order to arrive at lyrics that tackle the psychological effects of being in battle.
Martin said that ‘Skeleton Chair’ is inspired by an incident he witnessed while serving in Iraq in 2006, when the disposal of stockpiled ammunition destroyed an abandoned house. This incident sparked a wildfire, and this in turn fueled local unrest. The song portrays the surreal, chaotic moments of that mission. The lyrics are made rich with evocative lines like “I walk through this field on burning feet” and “Blood and sand mix with my sweat turned dry.”
‘Skeleton Chair’ paints a vivid picture of destruction, unintended consequences, and the internal scars that linger on the individual. Beyond this – and perhaps most importantly – the song takes the listener into the chaos of war, while avoiding any cheap moralizing. This music is raw, direct, and upfront; it is, as the band themselves say, “a song about a person falling in love with war, and the paradox that that truly is. It is also about the ultimate forces behind it all (hate, torture, psychosis), blinding you, but also tempting you.”
The song will resonate with a modern-day audience because it challenges listeners to consider the seductive nature of violence, as well as our tendency to glorify it while simultaneously fearing its reality. These heavy themes are clearly evoked by the scorching instrumentation and the layered vocal delivery, both of which combine to deliver a sonic gut-punch.
For the production of ‘Skeleton Chair’, Sean took charge, working at Blackbird Studios. He worked with session musicians Zack Rapp (lead guitar/violin), Luis Espaillat (bass), and Jerry Roe (drums). Recording and mixing were provided by Nathan Yarborough (Alice in Chains, Halestorm, Korn), and mastering was done by True East Mastering.
‘Skeleton Chair’ follows on from the release of their previous single, the hard-hitting ‘Unspoken.’ Both of these tracks form part of The Quarantined’s upcoming album – aptly titled, Aversion to Normalcy. The band has promised that this new release will delve even deeper into themes of conflict, social contradictions, and the indelible marks that war leaves behind.
‘Skeleton Chair’, the new single from The Quarantined, is released on all streaming platforms. Find out more about The Quarantined here.
