Seth Putnam

Seth Edward Putnam (May 15, 1968 – June 11, 2011) was an American musician best known as the founder, frontman and sole consistent member of grindcore band Anal Cunt. His work was known for his high-pitched screamed vocals, with lyrics meant to shock or blaspheme. Throughout his career, Putnam was also involved in numerous side projects.

Biography Early years Seth Edward Putnam was born on May 15, 1968, in Newton, Massachusetts, to Edward R. Putnam and Barbara Ann Donohue. He married Julie, his second wife, on May 17, 2008. They remained married until his death. From 1986 to 1988, Putnam played bass in the thrash metal band Executioner. He was also in a band called Satan's Warriors for a brief period of time. Putnam also owned his own record label called "Wicked Sick Records", and had a subsidiary label called "Stridecore Records" that only had one release which was Anal Cunt's The 5,643 Song EP.

Anal Cunt

After leaving Executioner Putnam then had the idea to start a 'noise/blurcore' band and went on to record a demo in his mother's attic. His band Anal Cunt was then formed on March 1, 1988, Putnam later stated he came up with the band's name by choosing the two stupidest words to combine together to form a band name. When Putnam started the band he initially wanted to just release one demo tape however the band ended up turning into something bigger. It has been reported that he spent the previous day contemplating suicide,

Anal Cunt's 1997 album I Like It When You Die contained the track "You're in a Coma". Putnam's reaction to the resulting irony of being in a coma was published in the Boston Phoenix: "Actually, it turned out it was just as gay as the song I wrote nine years ago – being in a coma was just as fuckin' stupid as I wrote it was." Putnam still continued to drink and use heroin following his coma, but not the same extent that he had prior to the coma.

Death On June 11, 2011, Putnam died of a suspected heart attack at the age of 43. He is buried at Newton Cemetery in Newton, Massachusetts.

Following his death many tributes were made in Putnams honor from fellow musicians such as Mike Williams, Scott Hull of Pig Destroyer and Steve Austin of Today is the Day. Philip Anselmo of Pantera stated:

Personality Despite his shock humor and turbulent lifestyle, Putnam was often described by fans and peers as a warm, intelligent, and sensitive person. Putnam saw himself as a comedian and used music as an outlet. When he reached high school, he had lost interest in excelling in education or academics, becoming more of a slacker and underachiever. By the time he had graduated school, Putnam had left the Catholic religion in which he was raised. After graduating from Newton North High School in 1985, Putnam showed no interest in attending college or university.

Putnam also made up his own religion when he was a child. He stated his all-time favorite bands were Negative Approach and The Village People, and that his favorite movie was The Bad Bunch. He also stated that he didn’t pay attention to any music that was made after 1985. explores Putnam in detail, with his peers expressing the duality of his nature: former bandmates Tim Morse and Scott Hull describe Putnam often being personable and relaxed, but Hull also notes that he'd often get arrested causing trouble on the street.

In 2019, Brutal Truth and Venomous Concept vocalist Kevin Sharp did an interview with Metal Underground and talked about a conversation he had with Seth after his coma. He also said that Putnam was an "encyclopedia of music".

According to Eyehategod vocalist Mike Williams, Putnam was a normal guy off-stage and very quiet and soft-spoken. Williams also stated that he used to call Putnam, whom he had known since 1988, long distance from the Chevron gas station that he worked at, so that all his calls would be charged to Chevron.

Feuds and incidents

Chris Barnes In 1996, Putnam attended a Six Feet Under show to recruit a new drummer for Anal Cunt. During Six Feet Under’s set Putnam began to heckle vocalist Chris Barnes, following the show, Barnes grabbed Putnam by the shirt resulting in him challenging Barnes to a fight outside the venue. According to Putnam as he was exiting the venue he was jumped by Six Feet Under’s roadies, and was thrown out of the venue.

Despite the feud between the two Putnam later stated in 2003, that he became a fan of Six Feet Under’s music.

Hatebreed incident Anal Cunt were booked to play at the second New England Metal and Hardcore Festival in 2000. Misfits headlined the main stage, Anal Cunt headlined the second stage and Hatebreed headlined the Commercial Street Cafe. Problems arose when the Hatebreed set was shut down due to problems with the sound system, so security moved Hatebreed to Anal Cunt's stage, and set them up to play before them. This apparently upset the audience that were expecting to see Anal Cunt, and according to Josh Martin, vocalist Jamey Jasta got angry and called the crowd a bunch of "washed up metalheads" and allegedly claimed that Hatebreed were more popular and sold more records than Anal Cunt. Putnam and Martin were at the bar next door not knowing what was going on, but returned by the time the Hatebreed set was over to see that Putnam was yelled at by Jasta. A melee then ensued. Martin, who owned a VHS tape of the fight (which ended up getting lost), claimed that Putnam was standing 20 feet away watching the melee ensue. Putnam was arrested by the end of the night, along with his wife.

In February 2021, Jamey Jasta interviewed Jimmy Bower from Eyehategod on his podcast "The Jasta Show". Jasta mentioned a story where Putnam requested a mop to make sure the stage was clean because people were skating on it and eventually ended up attacking the audience with it instead. He also said he used to distribute Anal Cunt's albums and book their shows. Bower told stories of Putnam using a fire extinguisher on stage and getting foam all over Eyehategod's gear.

In 2008, interview with the BrooklynVegan Putnam stated he would have liked to meet both Barnes and Jasta "so [he] can beat the living shit out of both of their little pussy asses."

Dropdead Putnam invited members of the band Dropdead to an Anal Cunt show on October 31, 2000. During the set, Putnam mocked Dropdead's lyrics before turning his attention to the audience. In response, Dropdead vocalist Bob Otis Putnam off the stage, prompting a fight that was ultimately broken up by police. Putnam later stated that the feud had been resolved after he spoke with Dropdead guitarist Ben Barnett.

Shit Scum Shit Scum formed in 1988 after Putnam saw an ad looking for musicians. Putnam chose to call after seeing Cryptic Slaughter as the only influence as not many people in Boston were into that band. Putnam eventually invited Fred Ordonez to see Satan's Warriors (which was their last show). Anal Cunt was also playing what was supposed to be their last show but Ordonez and his friends never showed up. Putnam did another show with Anal Cunt so Ordonez could see them, while Shit Scum also did their first show on the same day. Putnam was eventually invited to a studio to play bass on their first demo called "Self Mutilation". They later did a show in January, 1990. Putnam and Ordonez (without Wayne, who was their drummer) went to a studio that college rock bands mainly performed at. The engineer did not like them and tried convincing them to quit. The record was eventually finished and they ended up owing the studio money so the studio kept the master reel.

Full Blown A.I.D.S. Full Blown A.I.D.S. started in 1997 while Putnam was jamming with his friend and cousin. In 1998, he wrote some songs and recorded a demo of "No One Cares" with Nate Linehan on drums. In 2002 he moved to Texas for a while but eventually moved back to Boston. In 2003 the band went into the studio and recorded some songs and mixed them in a day. They eventually put out two EPs and a compilation CD in 2008, with both EPs and the song "Throwing Cars at People on Coke with Thor".

Death's Head Quartet The Death's Head Quartet was a jazz/noise improvisational band that featured Putnam on bass and vocals, Chris Joyce on guitar, Robert Williams on drums, and Jim Hobbs on saxophone.

You're Fired You're Fired started in 2002. Within two months they had a nine-song demo recorded which eventually became the Warning EP and was released in 2002. After Putnam died, they made an EP called The End with Paulie Kraynak on guitar. Most of the riffs were written by Putnam and the album was also recorded with Putnam's Gibson SG, Marshall cabinet and the Ampeg SS-140C amplifier head borrowed from Paulie Kraynak that was also used on the Warning EP. The End was released in 2012 on vinyl and it also can be purchased on BandCamp along with the Warning EP. The song "Throw It Off" from their last EP was originally an Anal Cunt song with different lyrics.

Upsidedown Cross Upsidedown Cross started in 1989 after Larry Lifeless' band "Kilslug" had a violent breakup. The first lineup featured Larry (vocals), Cheez (bass), and Scott Vangel (guitar) who went by "Shoehorn" in the band. Taang! Records thought the band were too insane to deal with, and wouldn't sign them unless Rico Pertoleum (ex-Kilslug) was in the band, he was kicked out after the songwriting for the first record was done. J. Mascis from Dinosaur Jr. filled in on drums for the first album. Throughout the 90's they had different lineup changes and had a few more releases. Seth Putnam ended up joining them on guitar and did one show with them which also turned out to be the band's last show before they eventually broke up, Seth ended up moving to Texas. There were plans to get the band back together with Josh Martin on guitar. According to Josh, Cheez wasn't in any state to be playing an instrument, so he ended up starting Adolf Satan instead. When Seth moved back to Boston him and Josh became the two guitarists for the band, Seth ended up quitting the band in March 2003. Seth and Josh never recorded anything with the band despite Seth being credited on their split with Sloth, Cheez decided to put out an old recording and credit the lineup they had at the time. In 2011 Upsidedown Cross became a two-piece with Seth on drums and Larry on vocals and guitar. Some rehearsal footage exists of the band.

Cannibal Hitler Not much info exists on this band, they have one known cassette release on Wicked Sick Records (Putnam's label) called "Don't Worry It's All Grindcore" which came out in 1989. Some of his other lesser known projects include Vaginal Jesus, Sirhan Sirhan and Adolph Satan.

Seven Minutes of Nausea Putnam played drums on their "Disobediant Loser" EP and Fred Ordonez (credited as "Fred Kase") who used to be in Anal Cunt played guitar on the same EP along with Matthias Weigand playing bass. They later did a split album with his other band Anal Cunt.

Impaled Northern Moonforest Impaled Northern Moonforest was a black metal band Putnam formed in the late 1990s. Like many of his bands, the group started out as a joke. They released one self titled EP that heavily parodies the black metal genre.

Siege

When the Boston based hardcore band Siege reformed in 1991 Putnam auditioned to be their new vocalist, replacing Kevin Mahoney.

Bands he filled in or did a guest appearance for Adolf Satan (bass and drums at several live performances) Fear of God (drums at one live performance) Flächenbrand (drums at one song at one live performance) Haggis (vocal duet with Wattie Buchan from The Exploited on the song "A Calling to Arms") Kilslug (guitar at two live performances) Nightstick (vocals at two live performances) Pantera (in 1996, Putnam did guest vocals on The Great Southern Trendkill for their songs "The Great Southern Trendkill", "War Nerve", "13 Steps to Nowhere", and "Suicide Note Pt. II"). Scissorfight Slapshot (additional vocals on some songs on the "Live At SO36" album, also appears in their "Live In Germany 1993" VHS) Thor (vocals and guitar on the song "Throwing Cars at People on Coke with Thor) Today Is the Day (did vocals on their song "Butterflies") Discordance Axis (additional vocals on "Ruin Trajectory" at their show at CBGB's in August, 1995) Nunslaughter (spoken intro on the "Gruesome" live album) Deceased (sung a cover of "Black Metal" by Venom with them)