Fanatic is a music marketing company established by Josh Bloom in 1997 to build fan-to-fan connections between artists and the media. For 25 years, Fanatic has continued to help launch careers through the strategic advocacy of creative talent.
Monday, May 9, 2022
Director of new The March Divide music video says, “I love what they did with puppets on ‘Sesame Street,’ but some of these shots are honestly torturous.”
“Maurice” stars in “Tension In The Air,” taken from
upcoming Lost Causes album, out June
10. See
obnoxious puppet behavior now
via Dallas NPR-affiliate KXT.
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Jared
Putnam of The March Divide as photographed by
Short Eared Dog Photography.
“Putnam’s
urgent melodies, wrapped in just-slick-enough production, draw you in and keep
you there. “‘Tension In The Air’ is
one of The March Divide’s best
examples of this trick to date.” – The
Big Takeover
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“Going into making the album, ‘Tension In The Air’ was the most put together song I had,” says Jared Putnam, the man behind The March Divide, about the second
single from his upcoming sixth album Lost Causes (June 10, Slow Start Records).
“I had a vision for ‘Tension In The Air,’” he continues. “I wrote this song right
around the time that I finally started playing shows again, and for the first
time in a long time, I had a pretty optimistic view of where things were going.”
In the music video for the song, recently
premiered online by Dallas NPR-affiliate
KXT, Putnam says, “The song is about
needing a break from the mundane routine of life. We all have our own thing
going, so that can mean a lot of different things to a lot of different people.
Life can become mundane for a lot of reasons: work, social scene, bills,
quarantine, stress, etc.
“So, we made a video about what that break might
look like, if you’re a puppet with no morals or self-control! Aside from just
being a fun way to do it, we felt like using a puppet, especially this puppet,
would help people relate in an alter ego/devil on your shoulder kind of way.”
Hector Gallardo of Subharmonic
City Productions, the director of the clip, and de facto puppeteer
explains, “This puppet is one of three, inspired by the movie ‘Labrynth,’ made by a group of four
very talented artists here in El Paso, Texas.
“I’ve known them for quite a few years and one day
I went over asking to commission them to make me a puppet. They said they had
moved on from doing that sort of work, but they contacted me a few weeks later
to say they were making room in their studio and said that I could come by and
grab these. Of course, I immediately jumped at the opportunity!
“Growing up with shows like ‘Sesame Street’ and ‘Fraggle Rock,’ I always loved what
they did with these puppets. Until I did this myself, I always took for granted
what might go into making those types of shows. Some of these shots are
honestly torturous. You have to really contort your body to not end up in the
shot!
“I got to play around with some
hilarious green screen shots – setting up the green screen in the front yard
and operating the puppet definitely got me some interesting looks and laughs.
In the scene with the band, everyone at the bar was super happy to meet and
party with the puppet. They kept asking what his name was and I realized we
never gave him one. That night, he was forever known as Maurice.”
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The March
Divide | Live
05/10/2022: Portland, OR @ No Fun Bar (w/ Blunderbusst)
05/11/2022: Medford, OR @ Johnny B’s (w/ Blunderbusst)
05/12/2022: Sacramento, CA @ The Library of
Musiclandria (w/ Blunderbusst)
05/13/2022: Bakersfield, CA @ Great Change Brewing (w/ Blunderbusst)
05/14/2022: Landers, CA @ Giant Rock (w/ Blunderbusst, Ryan Traster)
05/15/2022: Vista, CA @ Aztec Brewery
05/17/2022: Phoenix, AZ @ Rhythm Room
05/18/2022: Bisbee, AZ @ The Hitching Post Saloon
05/19/2022: Tucson, AZ @ The Downtown Clifton
05/20/2022: Bisbee, AZ @ Bisbee Grand Hotel
05/21/2022: Alamogordo, NM @ 575 Brewing Company
05/22/2022: Silver City, NM @ Little Toad Creek
06/02/2022: San Antonio, TX @ Fralo’s
06/03/2022: Cibolo, TX @ 1908 House of Wine & Ale
06/04/2022: Boerne, TX @ Gather Boerne
06/05/2022: San Antonio, TX @ Fralo’s
06/06/2022: San Antonio, TX @ Sternewirth Sessions
“Lost Causes carries an intentional tribute to 90s indie-ROCK (capitalization intentional!) and for me, ‘I Wanna Hate You’ is the perfect song to kick it off,” says Jared Putnam of The March Divide about the opening cut of his sixth album (out June 10 via Slow Start Records.) Listen to the song at the link above or via New Noise Magazinehere.
“I just didn’t hold back on that theme at all with this one. I wanted everything I miss from the songs I grew up with; driving verses, big power-pop choruses, and yeah, even rippin’ guitar solos. While it’s a breakup song, the opening line, ‘I’m awake, for the first time in a long time’ was meant to plant the seed of the throwback to come.”
“I’m awake, for the first time in a long time/ I’m afraid, to find out what all I’ve missed,” Putnam sings on the tune, a solid example of the kinds of songs that have helped him build a loyal following for his candid lyrical style, which can vary from tongue-in-cheek sarcasm to almost too self-effacing.
“An open nod
to the 1990s rock that was on the radio a lot after Kurt Cobain died, but it
doesn’t sound like a retread. It sounds inspired.” – Central Track
“When it came to making the video for ‘I’m Not Perfect,’ I’ve always enjoyed
working with Hector Gallardo of Subharmonic City Productions,” says Jared Putnam of The March Divide about the video for the first single from his
upcoming sixth album, Lost Causes (June 10, Slow Start Records).
“If a song brings out a tough memory or emotion that you’re just not ready to
deal with, Hector can put visuals to
it that will make you look and keep you from turning away.”
See
the “I’m Not Perfect” video via Ghettoblaster Magazinehere.
Texas-based music discovery website Central Tracksays
of the song, “Fort Worth-based Jared
Putnam has a soft spot for ‘90s pop rock. ‘I’m Not Perfect’ might be an open nod to the 1990s rock that was
on the radio a lot after Kurt Cobain
died, but it doesn’t sound like a retread. Compare it with songs from August
and Everything After (Counting
Crows) or New Miserable Experience (Gin
Blossoms) and it sounds inspired, but not taking direct lifts from those
records.”
Putnam elaborates, saying, “I’m Not Perfect” came out completely different than I had
initially imagined. Writing sad songs about loneliness comes very naturally to
me and this song was an idea that would check that box. When my producer, Mike Major listened to my rough demo,
he heard it as a full-on rock song. It wasn’t until I heard the bass and drums
that I realized I wasn’t seeing the forest for the trees. Something that was so
obvious to everyone, but had been hiding behind in the blind spot of my comfort
zone.”
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The March
Divide | About
I wanna hate you. I’m not perfect. Giving up. King of
the lost cause. This world is gonna end.
Jared Putnam is a funny guy. No, really, he is. Don’t let the
negative words above, which comprise five of the ten song titles on Lost
Causes (oops, he did it again!), Putnam’s
sixth album as The March Divide,
fool you.
Being able to laugh at yourself is one of the tenants
of comedy and Putnam’s greatest
strength has always been to take his everyman, self-effacing character and wrap
it in urgent melodies backed by just-slick-enough production to draw you in and
keep you there.
It’s why over the years music critics have called his
songs “impressively hooky” (American
Songwriter) with “classic pop hooks” (The
Big Takeover) where his “pop sensibility comes entirely to the forefront” (Under The Radar).
As a next-door neighbor who you would actually like to
know, Putnam doesn’t try to overstay
his welcome, either. Even though he is a prolific songwriter, after the release
of his appropriately titled fifth album cinc in April of 2021, he figured he
was tapped out of ideas for a while.
Instead, he started making the best distillation of
his talents to date. As Putnam tells
it, inspiration returned as he was just out doing Dad stuff.
“I was driving my kid to school and Gin Blossoms came on the radio. I’m a
forever fan of Gin Blossoms, but
this was ‘Hey Jealousy,’ which
commercial radio has been running into the ground for 30 years.
“But in that moment, it was the greatest thing I’d
ever heard! The hooks, the subject matter, and all the rest were as they’d
always been, but I was struck by how it was put together. In that moment, that’s
what made the song great.”
Putnam has spent years deconstructing pop songs in an
attempt to discover the formula. This “Hey
Jealousy” epiphany may have been destined, because the blueprint of the
connection Putnam realized while
just doing Daddy duty allowed him to build Lost Causes.
“I’ve always been fascinated with dissecting what
makes a song great and trying to find the catalyst for the chemical reaction
that emotionally connects us to where a handful of tunes are run into the
ground for 30 years,” he says of the rarefied air that a timeless hit song
occupies.
Joining Putnam
under The March Divide banner for Lost
Causes are friends Ernie Garcia
(long-time player with El Vez and Javier Escovedo) on bass and Jason West on drums.
“Our mutual love of Cheap Trick has always made Jason
the perfect drummer for my songs,” Putnam
says. Lost Causes was mixed and mastered by Mike Major (At The Drive-In,
Coheed and Cambria.)
“Mike also
produced a lot of great bands around the southwest,” Putnam explains. “It wasn’t lost on me that Gin Blossoms are from Tempe and have a very staple southwestern
sound. Mike knew what I was going
for.”
Lyrically, the songs on Lost Causes pick up where
the last single from Putnam’s
previous album left off. At the time, he had started to write in a more stream
of consciousness style, even making a promise to himself not to change his
words.
“It’s pretty satisfying to just say what you want to
say, without worrying about how cool it sounds,” he said at the time.
This is why Putnam’s
humor shines brighter than ever on Lost Causes.
I wanna hate you. I’m not perfect. Giving up. King of
the lost cause. This world is gonna end.
We have all felt these things, but putting them in
song, or voicing them at all could seem whiney or at least cynical and
pessimistic.
Not so, with Putnam,
who has become a master of this somewhat sarcastic craft. Instead, these songs
are relatable confessions in a candy coating.
“Writing sad songs about utter loneliness comes very
naturally to me,” he says. “These kinds of songs are very therapeutic for me to
write.”
These sad songs are the ones that most connect with Putnam’s growing audience, especially
those overseas that have propelled tunes such as his 2019 release “Secrets,” to just-shy of a million
Spotify spins.
“I’m Not
Perfect,” the first single from Lost
Causes, started out as one of these “downer” tunes, but in sharing his
early demo with his collaborators, Putnam
was pushed to make it more, while keeping what makes it The March Divide. The tune opens Lost Causes and is a
total success.
“Even though writing these types of songs is
therapeutic for me, it’s also a rut,” Putnam
says. “Emotionally, I got so much more out of working on ‘I’m Not Perfect’ by working with others. I’m hopeful that the fans
who crave these songs from me will too. Maybe we can all get out of our sad
bastard rut together.”
He’s a funny guy.
Lost Causes,
the sixth album by The March Divide,
arrives on June 10th via Slow Start Records preceded by the
singles “I’m Not Perfect” (March 18th), “Tension In The Air” (April 8th), “I Wanna Hate You” (April 29th), and “King of The Lost Cause” (May 20th.)
Jared Putnam of The March
Divide is available for interviews. Contact Josh
Bloom at Fanatic for
more information.
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