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 has known since 1988, long distance from the Chevron gas station that he worked at, so that all his calls would be charged to Chevron.[11]
Discussion
Prior to his coma in 2004, Putnam overdosed on heroin in 1998. In a 2007 interview, he said: "In 1998 I was dead for 10 minutes from a heroin overdose. The EMT's used that stuff to revive people and it didn't work. They tried it a second time for the hell of it and it worked. All I remember was waking up in my kitchen having no idea where I was. On the way to the hospital, the EMT told me I was probably going to have brain damage the rest of my life. By the time I got to the hospital I was completely back to normal though. I didn't see any 'mystic visions' or anything that time either."[16]
But he continued the grindcore for over ten years though.
There was friction between Putnam and Six Feet Under vocalist Chris Barnes. According to Putnam's defunct website, Putnam and Josh Martin (Anal Cunt guitarist) went to a Six Feet Under show while they were touring for their first album to hand out fliers looking for a drummer. They heckled Barnes during the Six Feet Under set, with Putnam yelling "Ha ha! You got kicked out of Cannibal Corpse!" leading to an altercation between the three after Six Feet Under finished playing. The incident culminated with Six Feet Under's roadies ganging up on Putnam, while Martin grabbed Barnes' wrists, and ended when Barnes fled to his tour bus and hid there. Anal Cunt released the song "Chris Barnes Is a Pussy" on their 1999 album It Just Gets Worse in retaliation.[17]
Seth Putnam while suffering from severe indigestion.
