Life & Work with Sean Gonzales of Franklin

Today we’d like to introduce you to Sean Gonzales

Hi Sean, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
I grew up in the early 90s in Southern California to a family of talented musicians. I lived there up until 2022 when my wife and I finally moved to Nashville, TN. I always loved music as a kid, but I never had a desire to play any instruments myself. My dad was a ridiculously talented guitar player. It didn’t matter what kind of guitar he was holding or what type of music he was playing, he was the best in the room. Listening to him practice was a big reason I didn’t want to play an instrument haha, he was just so talented that I knew deep down I could never be that good. When I was 14 years old my mom signed me up for a beginner guitar class at the local community college against my will, and that was the beginning of what lead me to where I am today. I went into that class terrified that I was going to look stupid, that I was going to somehow embarrass myself and disappoint my family. It’s funny looking back at how ridiculous those lies I told myself were, because the truth was that my family was nothing but supportive growing up. By the time I finished that guitar class at the end of the semester I knew that music was going to be a huge part of my life. So like any teenager learning guitar, I immediately started learning every classic rock song I could find the tabs for. Kansas, Gun and Roses, Heart, etc… Guitar was my life for many years, and in my immaturity I thought that in order to succeed and be happy I had to become the best guitar player ever! That plan was gaining momentum over the years, until one evening when I walked by our home studio and heard my dad noodling on his guitar to get the EQ right on his amp. He wasn’t even trying to play good, he was just playing random notes to get his amp levels correct! But the skill in which he was playing brought back all the lies I would tell myself, the lies that I could never succeed or be good at music.

Fast-forward to my early 20s, I had studied music in college and had been playing guitar and piano for years. But I wasn’t playing with as much purpose as when I was a teenager. It had become a daily ritual rather than a passion of mine. That all changed when the church we attended at the time needed another bass player. It was like the clouds parted and everything became clear, if I couldn’t become the best guitar player then maybe I could become the best bass player! No one in my family played bass, so there was no one to unintentionally trigger my insecurities. That led me down the rabbit-hole of amazing bass players like Jaco P, Victor Wooten, and eventually Henrik L from Dirty Loops. I practiced for hours and became quite talented as a bass player, but something deep down was missing. Everything changed for me one day while I was practicing the song Spain by Chick Corea. I had my phone set up to take a video of me playing Spain for social media, and as I looked at myself I could feel a question in my heart present itself. Do you want to be someone people remember for a week or do you want to be someone people remember forever? This question was the final piece of the puzzle for my life.

I had to decide if I wanted to be one of a thousand amazing internet bass players, or if I wanted to be the best version of myself as an artist. Something inside me pulled me towards being an artist and that was the most important decision I ever made. But from that a new question emerged, what kind of artist will I be? I have always had a love for music, to the extent that my phone on shuffle would play classical, gospel, metal, blues, classic rock, rap, hip hop, funk, contemporary christian, metalcore, jazz, jazz fusion, and then end on deathcore. My fiancee at the time (now wife) and I both loved metalcore music (Killswitch Engage all day every day), and there was something about the intensity, technicality, and sincerity of that genre that made me wind up choosing it as my main focus. And thus the looooooong and painful process of learning how to write music began.

In 2020, my wife and I decided that the music we were making was enjoyable and that we would do an album. We had no expectations of people liking it, and we had no desire for attention and success. We just loved music and wanted to share that feeling with others. In 2021 I founded the band Chilling Revelation, whose name represents a revelation I had one day of how many suicides occur each year. Music played a huge role in getting me through all the dark and horrible experiences I went through in life, and so my heart for this new band was to write music that would hopefully do the same for others. There were a lot of ups and downs, but the road that led me to this moment has allowed us to connect with so many amazing individuals. People have had overwhelming support for us and our music is achieving what I hoped it would do. So now today as I write this, we have a community of people from all walks of life that are all connected through a shared love for music. We get to build people up and support them as they support us, and honestly there is nothing more fulfilling in life than encouraging someone to be everything they were made to be.

I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
This road has been anything but smooth, but struggles teach us lessons. My biggest struggles were insecurity, self-doubt, rejection from people I trusted, and the jealousy of others causing them to do everything they could to make sure I failed. But I harbor no bad feelings towards anyone, we are all doing our best to make it through the lives we have been given. Having an exploded knee and two damaged wrists didn’t help either haha.

Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
I am the founder of the metal band Chilling Revelation. My wife and I write and record all the music ourselves and release it in hopes that people will enjoy it. The amount of messages we receive from people telling us that our music got them through tough times will always be the greatest achievement. I don’t care about money or having a huge social media following, all I care about are the people that I get to connect with through our music.

I am most proud of the fact that we are making a difference in people’s lives. Music is such a powerful thing when you aren’t using it for fame and attention. And we have been able to encourage people to take chances they normally wouldn’t and that is just amazing to me. I think the thing that sets us apart from a large portion of other artists and creatives in our field is that we actually care about the people that invest their time in us. (I don’t like the word fans because I feel like it places them beneath us and I am not better than anyone.). The amount of messages we get saying “wow you actually responded to my message?? no one ever responds to me lol…” is crazy to me. As artists, we are nothing without the support of the people who engage with us. So we always take the time to not only reply to everyone that reaches out, but actually talk to them and get to know who they are. And yeah sometimes it is a long process, but they took time out of their day to reach out and they deserve a response.

Is there something surprising that you feel even people who know you might not know about?
The big secret that only a few people know is that me and my wife Kellie are the entire band haha. We both write the music and she sings. I do all the male vocals and screaming, as well as the guitars, bass, and arrangements. My good buddy Alex, who lives in Brazil, provides the drums for our songs but is not a member of the band. We generally don’t talk about who’s in the band because we don’t want the attention to be on us as people, but have all the attention be on the music itself.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://linktr.ee/chillrevofficial
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/chillrevofficial/
• Other: https://www.tiktok.com/@chilling.revelation