“Like a lot of the better things to impact my life in a good way, I’d have to say, I was pretty late to the party as far as my love of vinyl goes. When I was younger, I was too cool for vinyl, if you can believe that.”
“My parents split up when I was two or three, but I’ll never forget my Dad and his stereo. It’s funny, at least to me, to remember stuff about your parent when they were dumb kids, but I guess they had to do it before we could. Anyway, I don’t know if I just have a great memory, or if that turntable and record collection was just so important to my Dad that I’ll never forget it, probably a little of both. I remember a lot of Conway Twitty and Eagles, yeah the f’n Eagles. Could be the reason for the late bloom.
I grew up in El Paso, TX (which matters for this story), and I remember being around seventeen when the drummer from the band I was in, made me come along with him to this guy Jim’s house he had started hanging out with. Sitting in this guy’s driveway that night, he told us all the things he thought our band needed to be doing different to get more out of all the work we were putting in to it.
Everything he said made so much sense, I mean I was really floating on a cloud of ambition, ready to take this guy’s gospel to work! But then, as we were saying our goodbyes, he handed me and my friend a handful of 7 inches of his new band, At The Drive-In. I remember thinking, “What the hell does this guy know, who’s gonna buy a little record, and what kind of a band name is ‘At The Drive-In’?”
What can I say, life is a slow burn.
Not so long after that, I pulled my head out of my ass, and I was fortunate enough to spend the better part of my life in bands that were able to tour full-time. Along the way we were given some really great records over the years from different bands, promoters, etc. A few years ago, I decided I needed to take a break from playing music full-time. The stack of records I had built up over the years, from all the bands we’d played with and promoters we’d worked with were like a locked photo album, I didn’t have a record player.
After my constant whining, three or so years ago, my wife got me a little record player for Christmas. It was the greatest gift ever, but I wore that bitch out in no time!
That’s when I decided it was time to call my Dad. After all, he was still bragging about the awesome turntable he had bought back in the Stone Age, even though it had been packed away for years. It really took a lot of courage for me to ask my Dad if I could have his record player, and I’ve got to say that I wasn’t surprised that he said no—but he did say I could “borrow” it!
When my Dad brought me his prized turntable, we spent a lot of unnecessary time setting it up. He made sure to let me know how much it cost when he bought it, and how much money that would be in today’s dollars. I might be “borrowing” the most expensive record player in history. My Dad was proud to hand down a new family memento, I was glad to get it, and my Step-Mom was glad to get some crap out of the attic. Everyone was happy.
Sure, bands make great songs, but more importantly, bands make great albums. I love vinyl, because I’m in love with the act of listening to an album. I love to indecisively flip through my records trying to pick what’s next; I love the commitment that comes with my decision. I’m addicted, and at the rate I’m going, we’re going to have to move to accommodate my addiction. Guess I’m not as cool as I use to be.”
—Jared Putnam
The March Divide’s debut album Music for Film will be released on February 12th via Dead Letter Records.
