When I pressed play on this track the first time, I immediately thought of Jets to Brazil, but, when I caught up with The March Divide singer Jared Putnam, it was clear I was a little off base. The band releases the Bribing Jace EP on November 4th, so I threw a few questions at Jared to see what he had to say about the release and the new single.
ATH: What were your influences when writing this new EP? Any bands in particular you were listening to at the time?
Jared: In a lot of ways, I wanted these songs to be experiments in pop. I wanted to mesh together what I think are the things that attract so many people to the genre: hooks, good writing, & ear candy. I’m not even sure if it comes through, but I used Tom Petty, 90’s alt/pop, & Radiohead as my primary references. I was trying to get out of my comfort zone, it was a completely different approach, for me.
ATH: There seems to be a slight bit of indecision on “I Might.” How did the song come about, and was a finite decision ever made?
Jared: I Might was the first song I wrote for the EP, & it actually set the tone for the direction I wanted to go. When I initially came up with the guitar part, I thought I was just writing another folk song. I spent a lot of time trying to write the rest of it; chorus, bridge, etc., etc., but nothing really felt right. For whatever reason, it reminded me a lot of 90’s pop, specifically that Susan Vega song “Tom’s Diner” & Primitive Radio Gods “Standing Outside a Broken Phone Booth with Money in My Hand”. I decided to run with that approach, I looped the guitar part & started adding layers. It was a lot of fun to make.
ATH: For fun….two truths and a lie…don’t specify which.
Jared:1. Neil Young is my biggest song writing influence 2. I don’t care what anyone says, the minivan was the single greatest development in automotive history. 3. I find C.C. Deville’s (from Poison) guitar solo’s very emotional. They really tug on my heartstrings.
Pre-Order the EP HERE.
It’s easy to get carried away with all the modern fads and whatnot, but, for me, more often than not it’s the tried and true brands of rock n’ roll that always appeal to me. This brand new track from Hellrazor had me the minute the guitars offered up their distorted pop crunch, with vocals joining in to fill in the required hooks. I kind of just want to turn the track up and walk around the halls here at work…maybe that’ll work for you. If not, you’ll have to wait until November 4th to get your hands on the band’s new record, Satan Smile, courtesy of New Professor Music.
