Music Maker and Coffee Slinger, Assembly's Luke Martin
Photo: Hillary Fretland
Ballard is a siren, a monstrous sea-nymph waiting to lure sailors—and entrepreneurs —to their death with its bewitching song. It was a neighborhood built on the dream of having it all. Can't stomach the isolation of the countryside but crave some quiet? Ballard. Want a diverse array of restaurants and shops that only a large city can offer without the crime rate? Ballard. But that dream has come and gone, wilted like the old Ballard Blossom.
Ballard is loud, Ballard is messy, and with a population of over 53,640, Ballard looks far different today than it did in decades past. The hurried sidewalks now lead to an array of restaurants, bars, and shops—and in one of them, just up from the corner of the street, there sits a simple, single-story building, its facade marked by large wooden letters that spell out—A S S E M B L Y. It's in there you'll find Luke Martin, our full-time barista.
Assembly is, by design, highly focused on bringing together a community focused on art, creative collaboration, and music. So it's no surprise that Luke came as a recommendation of a friend of ours, who is also heavily involved in the Seattle music scene.
Luke grew up in California, right outside San Francisco. Although he moved up to Seattle to go to school at SPU, he stayed because he, like many others, fell in love with all that this city has to offer. Now he currently resides in the Ballard neighborhood, living right by the breweries and, according to his bank account, is single-handedly keeping the beloved Stoup Brewing in business. But if he's not there enjoying a pint, you can probably find him somewhere in the sunshine by a lake with a Caroline Polachek playlist, lounging amongst friends. His drink of choice? "Sparkling rose - I am very much a simp for rose."
That's not the only beverage he's a "simp" for—he's also developed a fondness for coffee. After all, he lives in the city that birthed the beast that is Starbucks—the once indy darling and now massive chain where you can order a "trenti iced coffee, 12 pumps sugar-free vanilla, 12 pumps sugar-free hazelnut, 12 pumps sugar-free caramel, 5 pumps skinny mocha, a splash of soy, coffee to the star on the siren's head, iced double blended" but that's beside the point. As cringy as it sounds, the only thing this city loves more than Birkenstocks and flannel, is coffee. .
But when he talks about his career journey to date, he tells us he didn't always want to work in coffee. "I was looking for my first real grown-up job and felt like I could pull off a chill-barista aesthetic, so I gave it a go." Although Luke has already been in coffee for five years, he's still enjoying it. Much like his affection for music, he says, 'I like the rhythm of it - all the fine-tuned little movements that go into making a drink - it's kind of meditative."
Long before Luke loved coffee, he loved music. It all started in the 7th grade when his uncle sent him an electric guitar pretty much out of the blue. "You might describe him as a bit of a country bumpkin, and he sent me this big black conspicuously-rifle-sized box for Christmas one year. My mom was not thrilled. But I opened it up, and it was my first guitar!" Because that was the first and last gift he had ever received from his uncle, Luke assumes his uncle must have seen how mesmerized he was watching him play the summer before. "He brought something very serendipitous into my life."
These early life influences continue to reveal themselves to Luke in his fascination with music. After years of learning and establishing his skills on guitar, Luke formed some bands in college but "nothing too serious." The first band, Push to Open, was named after the garbage can instructions. But more serious purists followed, like his current band Fretland. He plays guitar, sings backup, and writes some of the songs with Hillary, the lead singer/bandleader. "It's taken us to some pretty cool places, like playing the Americanafest in Nashville, having our last record get shouted out by Rolling Stone, meeting Brandi Carlile."
In a very natural way, Fretland has allowed Luke to share his love for music on a larger scale as part of a group, encouraged by the collective approach to music-making. "I've gotten to play some sweet shows so far like the Triple Door, and my band and I are working this fall on the first full-length record. I'm pretty excited about it." But even though this collaboration has allowed him to expand his horizons, he's recently been putting a lot of energy into his solo project, Luke Francis.
Finding your passion doesn't always come easy. It takes time, it takes many false starts, but most of all, it takes courage. This process can extend for years but will inevitably have the power to take you to places you've never dreamed of. For Luke, there is no time to waste in discovering and pursuing what he loves. Working in a coffee shop is more than a way for him to pay bills; it's a way to connect with his community. True to his curious, adventure-seeking nature, he isn't afraid to take a risk in pursuing the unknown. If anything, it inspires him.
At the end of the day, Luke will always be innovating, always be improving, and challenging what is possible in both music and coffee. He loves supporting other local artists, and he has faith in this city and this neighborhood and wants to see it blossom. "It's hard to beat a Saturday night at the Tractor Tavern!" he says when asked where to see good music in the area.
But, of course, that's no surprise considering the vast array of musicians that have come through the historic venue—and hopefully, that piece of Ballard, the musical piece, will remain long into the future, no matter the inevitable changes that lie ahead.
You can find Fretland and Luke's solo project, Luke Francis, on Spotify. You can keep up with Luke on Instagram at @heyitslukefrancis