Puppet star “Maurice” returns to star in another video for The March Divide; “Corduroy” is “like ‘Stacy's Mom,’ but we're all grown up now.”

“Maurice is a super-popular guy in the bars,” says clip’s director. “People want to take selfies with him and it gets kind of hard to film his scenes.”

 

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Jared Putnam of The March Divide as photographed by Short Eared Dog Photography.
 
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The March Divide | “Corduroy”
 

[VIDEO]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BdR9j7m8TqA

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See “Corduroy” by The March Divide at Beats Per Minute or at the link above!

“You know how sometimes you listen to a certain song and it just takes you back to those times you got into a bar fight and fell in love?,” asks Hector Gallardo, the director of “Corduroy” by The March Divide (as seen above operating “Maurice,” the star of the video.)

“No? Well that’s exactly what happened to Maurice. He’s is a super popular guy in the bars. People always want to take selfies with him and it gets kind of hard to film his scenes. But we got it done. Poor dude took a beating this time, though. He’s gonna be taking a break from the big screen for a while and get some well needed rest and repairs.”

As for the song itself, Jared Putnam of The March Divide says, “‘Corduroy’ is a throwback to all the big chorus power-pop of the early 2000’s, complete with super-shallow, but somehow sensitive lyrics.

“It’s in the vein of ‘Stacy’s Mom,’ but we're all grown up now. Stacy probably has kids of her own by now and we’ve all lost track of her mom. I just decided what this song was going to be and ran with it. Maybe I ran too far?!”

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The March Divide | “Tension In The Air”

 

 

[VIDEO]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tfiAVLf9_nU

“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
 
About the music video for the song, recently premiered by Dallas NPR-affiliate KXT, Putnam says, “The song is about needing a break from the mundane. We all have our own thing,  and life can become mundane for a lot of reasons. So, we made a video about what that break might look like if you’re a puppet with no morals or self-control!”
 
Hector Gallardo, the director of the clip, and de facto puppeteer explains, “This puppet is inspired by the movie ‘Labrynth,’ and was made by a group of very talented artists here in El Paso, Texas.”
 
Gallardo continues, “Growing up with ‘Sesame Street’ and ‘Fraggle Rock,’ I always loved what they did with these puppets, but until I did this myself, I always took for granted what goes into making those shows. Some of these shots are honestly torturous. You have to really contort your body to not end up in the shot!”
 
“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

08/20/2022: Plano, TX @ Terra Mediterranean

08/23/2022: Red River, NM @ Noisy Water Winery

08/24/2022: Albuquerque, NM @ Noisy Water Winery

08/25/2022: Santa Fe, NM @ The Cowgirl BBQ

08/26/2022: Ruidoso, NM @ The Cellar Uncorked

08/27/2022: Alamogordo, NM @ 575 Brewing

08/28/2022: Cloudcroft, NM @ Cloudcroft Brewing

08/31/2022: Clovis, NM @ Bandolero Brewing

09/01/2022: Albuquerque, NM @ Rio Bravo Brewing

09/02/2022: Alto, NM @ Enchanted Vine

09/03/2022: Ruidoso, NM @ Lost Hiker Brewing

09/04/2022: Las Cruces, NM @ T or T Brewing

09/29/2022: Wichita Falls, TX @ The High Dive

09/30/2022: San Antonio, TX @ Fralo’s

10/01/2022: Houston, TX @ Bohemeo’s (w/Brightwire)

10/02/2022: San Antonio, TX @ Fralos

10/06/2022: San Antonio, TX @ Fralos

10/07/2022: Corpus Christi, TX @ Art Walk

10/08/2022: Cibolo, TX @ 1908 House of Wine & Ale

10/10/2022: San Antonio, TX @ Sternewirth Sessions (Emma Hotel)

10/14/2022: Plano, TX @ Terra Mediterranean

10/15/2022: San Antonio, TX @ Fralos

10/20/2022: Wichita Falls @ The High Dive

10/22/2022: Plano, TX @ Terra Mediterranean

11/03/2022: Amarillo, TX @ Leftwoods

11/05/2022: Clovis, NM @ Red Door Brewing

11/11/2022: Tyler, TX @ ETX Brewing

11/18/2022: San Antonio, TX @ The Point Park

11/19/2022: Cibolo, TX @ 1908 House of Wine & Ale

11/12/2022: Plano, TX @ Terra Mediterranean

11/25/2022: Plano, TX @ Terra Mediterranean

12/16/2022: Mountain Home, AR @ Rapp’s Barren Brewing

12/17/2022: West Plains, MO @ Wages Brewing

12/18/2022: Tulsa, OK @ The Hunt Club

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 The March Divide

Lost Causes
(Slow Start Records)
Out Now
 
Streaming Link:
STREAM FULL LP
 

Track Listing:
 
01. I Wanna Hate You (STREAM | VIDEO)
02. Tension in the Air (STREAM | VIDEO)
03. I’m Not Perfect (STREAM | VIDEO)
04. Dover Cir (VIDEO)
05. Corduroy (VIDEO)
06. Giving Up
07. Virginia (STREAM)
08. Mont Del Dr (VIDEO)
09. King of The Lost Cause (STREAM | VIDEO)
10. This World is Gonna End (LYRIC VIDEO)

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The March Divide | “I Wanna Hate You”
 

[VIDEO]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IijipEsvPr8

In its premiere coverage of the “I Wanna Hate You” video by The March Divide – in which a perfectly beautiful picnic gets perfectly destroyed – V13 also calls the tunes on the new album Lost Causes, “Sarcastic for sure, certainly humorous,” but also “rather confessional.”

Jared Putnam of The March Divide says, “The new album carries an intentional tribute to 90s indie pop-rock (Gin Blossoms, Fountains of Wayne, Matthew Sweet) and ‘I Wanna Hate You’ is the perfect song to represent that. I wanted everything I miss from the songs I grew up with: driving verses, big power-pop choruses, and even rippin’ guitar solos.”

The director of the clip, Hector Gallardo comments, “I don’t think I’ve heard such a happy break-up song. But I feel it. So of course the accompanying video had to match that theme. What a perfectly beautiful sunny day for a picnic and what a perfectly beautiful setting for our characters to let their aggression out.”

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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, is out now via Slow Start Records. Jared Putnam of The March Divide is available for interviews. Contact Josh Bloom at Fanatic for more information.
 
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The March Divide | Links
 
ASSETS : WEBSITE : FACEBOOK : TWITTER : INSTAGRAM : YOUTUBE : BANDCAMP : SPOTIFY : APPLE : SLOW START RECORDS
 
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Josh Bloom at Fanatic Promotion | Contact
 
WEBSITE : FACEBOOK : TWITTER : INSTAGRAM : YOUTUBE : SOUNDCLOUD : SPOTIFY : BLOG : E-MAIL