Guest Blog: THE MARCH DIVIDE’s JARED PUTNAM Describes the Creative Process Behind His Latest Single “I Got Lost”

Jared Putnam is a very busy man. The brainchild behind the alternative rock/indie project The March Divide is constantly at work on new music and keeping the creative juices flowing. Even though he’s still out promoting the 2018 March Divide record, Anticipation Pops, along with fairly non-stop touring, Putnam is also finding the time to write, record and release new singles pretty much every single month as part of a series he is calling Distractions.

His latest single is a song titled “I Got Lost,” as part of Distractions Vol. 3, which had a fairly elaborate creative process behind its creation. We get into that and more with Putnam as he joined us for a guest blog outlining the creative process that went into “I Got Lost” and those who were involved in helping him along the way. You can stream and purchase “I Got Lost” via Bandcamp right here.

First off, you probably should check out the song “I Got Lost” before reading about it!

The March Divide Outline the Creative Process Behind the “I Got Lost” Single:
– For better or worse, I write and record a lot of music, and really wanted to push myself by committing to releasing something every other month in 2019. As fun and rewarding as it’s been, there have been moments when I wish I had never said I was going to do that out loud. But it’s really put me in the position that I have to get out of my comfort zone, which is great.

“I Got Lost” and the whole release, Distractions, Vol. 3, came together very differently than really anything I’ve put out, at least recently.

“I Got Lost” is stoner folk to the core, when I play it solo. I was initially a little confused as to where it even came from. It wasn’t my typical song, but I liked it. Because I wasn’t sure where to go with it, I thought it might be fun to just record it with friends, to see where they would take it.

My friend Jason West has been playing drums with me, on my few and far between full-band shows, for the last year, or so. He comes from a very different musical background than I do. He was the drummer for Murderdolls, and Wednesday 13, and even played drums for Sebastian Bach of Skid Row when he toured with Guns N’ Roses. I totally threw that last part in, mostly to say that I have a friend that knows Axl Rose. Sorry if you think less of me for doing that, but if you had a friend that knew Axl Rose, surely you’d try to work it into conversations, at least every now and then?

Here is the artwork for Distractions Vol. 3 from which “I Got Lost” is lifted. The EP was released April 5th, 2019.

Anyways, you’d never guess that a guy that usually wears face paint to his shows (not mine, of course) would think that Cheap Trick hung the moon. And because of that, we really play really well together! Jason showed up to record, with no idea what we were doing, and I showed up with no real idea of what direction to point him in. What came out, I thought was awesome.

In the spirit of, “how do I not screw this up?,” I decided to repeat the process, for the bass, by sending it to my friend Ernie Garcia. Since I really went there on the name dropping, it’s worth mentioning that Ernie played bass for El Vez, “The Mexican Elvis,” for years, and now plays bass for Javier Escovedo, from The Zeros. El Vez was also in The Zeros… Ernie should maybe write his own guest blog about how he’s somehow played with two of the dudes from The Zeros. Sorry, not sure why I can’t stay on track with this… The bass, of course, came out better than great.

Jason and Ernie brought an energy to “I Got Lost” I never imagined it could have. I feel like they somehow brought it from a campfire fingerpicking song, all the way to prog-folk. And if there wasn’t such a thing, there is now, and that is neat to me. It was a lot of fun to do and it really dragged me out of my wheelhouse, which I needed. I’m calling it cold collaboration. We all just showed up, without a clue where we were going, and went there, without looking back. I’ve been looking for a way to do that again ever since.

Want more of The March Divide? Check the lyric video for “Somebody Told Me” from previous EP Distractions: Vol. 2.

Upcoming Tour Dates:

05/04 – New Braunfels, TX @ Muck & Fuss
05/05 – San Antonio, TX @ The Aquaduck
05/09 – New Braunfels, TX @ Muck & Fuss
05/10 – San Antonio, TX @ Southtown 101
05/11 – San Antonio, TX @ The Point
05/12 – San Antonio, TX @ Fralo’s
05/16 – New Braunfels, TX @ Muck & Fuss
06/01 – New Braunfels, TX @ Muck & Fuss
06/15 – New Braunfels, TX @ Muck & Fuss
06/16 – San Antonio, TX @ The Aquaduck
06/20 – New Braunfels, TX @ Muck & Fuss
06/21 – El Paso, TX @ The Nature House
06/22 – Phoenix, AZ @ Third Space
06/23 – Escondido, CA @ House Show
06/24 – Phoenix, AZ @ Rhythm Room
06/25 – Santa Fe, NM @ Desert Dogs Brewing
06/26 – Amarillo, NM @ The 806
06/27 – Los Alamos, NM @ Pajaritos Bewpub
06/28 – Los Alamos, NM @ Bathtub Row Brewing
06/29 – Wichita Falls, TX @ GypsyUncorked
06/30 – San Antonio, TX @ Fralo’s
07/11 – San Antonio, TX @ Fralo’s
07/18 – Dallas, TX @ Adair’s Saloon
07/19 – San Antonio, TX @ The Point
07/20 – Austin, TX @ House Show