Seth Edward Putnam (May 15, 1968 – June 11, 2011)[1] was an American musician best known as the founder and sole consistent member of grindcore band Anal Cunt.

Despite his shock humor and turbulent lifestyle, Putnam was often described by fans and peers as a warm, intelligent, and sensitive person.

[4] In school, classmates who knew Putnam described him as intelligent and stern, but unmotivated, apathetic and often an underwhelming student.

In his own words, Putnam often blamed brutal fights with Catholic school nuns for helping to shape his cynical personality.

After graduating from Newton North High School in 1985, Putnam showed no interest in attending college or university.

The 2018 grindcore documentary Slave to the Grind[7] explores Putnam in detail, with his peers expressing the duality of his nature:[8] 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.

[8] Discordance Axis singer Jon Chang notes that he was really close to Putnam for years, but describes him as a "really disturbed guy" and a "backstabbing piece of shit at the end of his life".

[9][10][11][12][13] 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.

Anal Cunt members John Kozik, Tim Morse, and Paul Kraynak eventually stopped playing and audience members (including Quigley) started to yell at Putnam, telling him to leave the venue and repeatedly saying "Call the fucking cops!"

[16][17] On October 12, 2004, Putnam was hospitalized after ingesting a cocktail of crack cocaine, alcohol, heroin, and two months' worth of Ambien sleeping pills.

[18] It has been reported that he spent the previous day contemplating suicide,[18] though exact circumstances surrounding the drug overdose are vague.

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.

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.

There was an opening for a band to play live over the radio, so Putnam got a lineup together and made a four-song demo with him on drums and vocals, and his cousin Drew on guitar.

In early 1997, Putnam and Josh Martin came up with the idea of starting a joke black metal band and decided to record a demo.

They didn't use actual drums because someone was sleeping in the room next to them, so Martin played his acoustic guitar while Putnam did vocals and percussion by slapping his leg and a mattress.

Matthias Weigand (head of Ecocentric Records) liked the cover of the song "Shit Scum" and wanted to put out a 7-inch.

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.

The first lineup featured Larry (vocals), Cheez (bass), and Scott Vangel (guitar) who went by "Shoehorn" in the band.

Insult started in 1992 as a four piece (Derek Coughlin only did vocals at the time)[37] and decided to record an album in 1997 after releasing a few demo tapes, it was going horribly for them so they got Putnam to come in and produce their album, the album was called "I Wanna Be a Burn Victim", Putnam eventually became their bass player and did a west coast tour with them in 1998 along with a split 7-inch with Ruido and a live show over the radio which was released on a split with Anal Cunt, both the 7-inch and the live split were released in 1999.

Person Killer was a one-man project Putnam started around 1995, he made a demo and sent it to Earache Records along with a T-shirt, a pin, and a letter that didn't reveal the sender's name.

They got back together years later with Putnam doing guitar and vocals, Paulie Kraynak on bass and Josh Randall (FUKK/Full Blown A.I.D.S live drummer)[41] on drums.

Putnam did the percussion on an old plastic bank of the comic book character "The Thing" while his cousin played guitar.

[43] In 2004 Putnam and Mike Williams from Eyehategod got the idea of starting a band and writing a record with all "anti-cop songs" after e-mailing each other about their recent troubles with the police.

[27] A variety of riffs were written that were described as "Venom meets The Germs", but due to Williams being arrested and Putnam's eventual death no material was ever recorded and the idea for the band dissolved.

In 2002 Seth started Ondskap with a guy from Norway who also helped him run his website; there were plans for them to record music for a three-way split CD with two other unknown bands.

[44] 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.

label that released material from Putnam's bands such as the "Manson Is Jesus" EP by Shit Scum, the Psycho/Satan's Warriors split 7-inch, a compilation called "Killed by the Machinery of Sorrow" which has two Shit Scum songs and a Post Mortem song, and the "Fast Boston HC" CD by Anal Cunt.

[50] The name for this band is currently unknown; it featured Seth Putnam on drums, Tim Morse on guitar, and Mike Mahan doing poetry.

[50] This band featured Seth on backing vocals, Josh Martin on guitar and Nate Linehan on drums.