Wil Martin Dives Into Earshot’s History, New Music + What’s Next

On Tuesday (Nov. 11), Wil Martin joined Loudwire Nights and reflected on the band he founded in 1999, Earshot. Listen to the full conversation in the player near the end of this article.

“It seems like yesterday,” Martin told host Chuck Armstrong about starting Earshot 26 years ago.

“At the same time, it’s been a journey, man. It’s been long, amazing, at times really difficult, sometimes quiet. It’s been a ride. It’s been a real ride.”

Martin said that when Earshot started in a rehearsal space in Hollywood, he never thought he’d be around more than two decades later still talking about new music from the band.

“We had no idea that we’d even get the shot at putting out records,” he admitted.

“I feel like we’re on the winning side of this, though it’s been a difficult ride at times.”

Earshot’s Latest Album, Humaning

That difficult journey for Earshot — a journey Martin was open about during the conversation — led the band to a packed 2025, including a recent tour with Saliva and the release of their latest album, Humaning.

“It’s more of a reset for us,” Martin said about the new album and the future of Earshot.

“We’re lucky and fortunate…unlike a brand-new band that has to literally start from scratch every step of the way, we already had a little bit of a platform to build off of. We had a little bit of name recognition out there.”

Martin wanted to be clear with the Loudwire Nights audience that Humaning is part of that story, rather than being created out of nothing. But even so, it took a lot of work.

“It did take a lot of effort and a lot of energy,” he shared.

“We’re hoping that we can continue the momentum forward.”

What Else Did Earshot’s Wil Martin Discuss on Loudwire Nights?

What Earshot means to him beyond the music: “This band has been a very, very big part of my life for a very long time … Why abandon the name? I’ve worked so hard over the years in this band, what would be the purpose of starting all over again? Why not sort of resurrect the thing that I’ve already put so many years of my life into — and why not just reinvent that?”
Part of the reason for Earshot’s long hiatus: “I had a really rough go toward the end when we did our second record, Two, and our third record, The Silver Lining. It got tough. I got into a really, really dark place personally … I just needed to step out of it for my own personal mental health.”
What that hiatus taught him: “When I decided at 12 years old that music was what I wanted to do, it was never because I wanted to be this big rock star. I really don’t give a shit about any of that. What I do care about is, I care about connecting with people. I care about helping people get through those dark moments that I was having, that caused me to take a step back.”