Oro Valley teens find musical inspiration in coronavirus isolation

Talk about timing: Just as Noah Martin’s fledgling music career was picking up steam, the coronavirus hit.

So instead of playing gigs at Tucson venues including the House of Bards on East Speedway, the 19-year-old is holed up at home in Oro Valley.

But isolation has a way of greasing the creative wheels.

Last month, Martin and his lifelong friend, aspiring filmmaker Wyatt Dobson, filmed a music video for Martin’s new song “Blowout.”

And while the song, which he released in early March and had garnered some 60,000 streams by month’s end, has nothing really to do with the coronavirus — it’s a guitar-driven, Lenny Kravitz-esque breakup and get-over-the-girl song — the pair put a little contemporary twist in the storytelling.

In the video, which the pair released on Good Friday, Martin is running away from the girl, keeping a healthy 10-yard distance throughout the video.

Social distancing for broken relationships.

But the message also could be interpreted as running away from the current situation, where people are being ordered to stay home and limit their contact with the outside world.

“I just remember writing some lyrics and I remember writing about something that could relate to anything or nothing,” Martin said last week as he and Dobson prepared to release the video.

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Dobson said he filmed from a distance, including the performance shots with Martin’s bandmates in a garage. Throughout the process, he and the others maintained social distancing guidelines. And given the storyline, keeping a safe distance during the process was pretty seamless.

“The video was kind of about separating from somebody so it was pretty easy,” said Dobson, who graduated from Canyon del Oro High School and has been friends with Martin since they played football together as kids.

Dobson, 20, has been producing music videos, mostly for hip-hop artists since graduating from high school in 2018. Like Martin, he is taking a gap year off of school at the University of Arizona to pursue his filmmaking dreams.

So far, he estimates he’s produced 25 to 30 videos.

“I want to focus on this and see where it takes me,” he said.

Martin, who has been in bands since middle school, has spent the nearly year since graduating from Ironwood Ridge last spring playing shows at venues including 191 Toole, The Hut on North Fourth Avenue and The Edge on North Flowing Wells Road.

He was set to play one of his biggest shows last month at the UA’s annual Spring Fling carnival until it was canceled in light of the coronavirus health crisis.

The self-taught guitar player and songwriter who draws inspiration from the grunge era, Black Sabbath and Jimi Hendrix is putting the final touches on his debut album, “Cornerstone,” which he hopes to release in the next month. The album will be available on most major streaming services.

“Everyone’s always on their phone right now and it’s the perfect time to get as much media and material out as you can,” said Martin, who has released two singles while he’s been staying home. “But I really am dying to play live again and play out. It’s my favorite thing to be able to play for people.”