Idol Chatter & Voice Views

His audition: Julien Martinez, 21, of Oxnard, Calif., auditioned with Stevie Ray Vaughan’s “Pride and Joy.” He was nearly to the end of the song when a performance-ending scream prompted chair turns from Blake Shelton and Adam Levine. Adam compared the scream to “the birth of Satan.” Julien joined Team Adam.

His background: Julien says he’s juggling a lot in his life, performing in a band, going to college and working as a peer educator. The latter means he’s a teacher’s aide in an after-school program, teaching meditation and photography. Julien says music is important to him because he has ADHD — he never really fit in as a child — and music helped him find comfort and focus.

What the show didn’t show:

* Julien credits his grandmother for introducing him to music, including that of Neil Diamond and The Doors, who he calls a “huge, huge influence on his musicality.”

* In high school, a drama teacher invited him to audition for a performance of “Sweeney Todd.” He recalls singing “Happy Birthday” for his audition, landed a role in the ensemble and said he continued doing musical theater for four or five years after that.

* He was also in high school when he and a buddy formed a garage band. They eventually got good enough that began playing around the bar scene. They’re still performing together four years later.

* That band is called the Road Brothers; the friend is lead guitarist Andre Flores and they describe themselves as a blues/rock band. Head to this Soundcloud page, and you can listen to lots of their music. I’ve embedded two songs below.

* As for his audition: “When they weren’t turning around, it just kind of put more fuel to my fire. I was like, ‘If I can just rock it out, I’ll be good.’ I let out that ‘birth-of-Satan’ — as Adam called it — scream at the end and they turned. It was amazing.”

* Julien said Adam’s other reaction — that his rocker voice doesn’t match his look — is “pretty typical. I’ve had people walk into bars (where he’s performing), they come around the corner and they’re like, ‘Wow, I didn’t know that was coming out of you. I was not expecting that.'”

* Julien said he went with Adam as his coach not only because of his diverse musical resume, but because the Maroon 5 front man also has ADHD.

* Julien is studying fire science and technology in college with the long-term goal of applying to NASA’s Astronaut Candidate Program, according to his bio on The Voice website.

What the show didn’t show:

Keeping up with Julian:
Twitter: @julien_arman
Facebook
Facebook (Road Brothers)
Instagram