Postmark Twain is a play on the legendary Mark Twain's name. Both of the guys are big fans of the author and Gaven even used to live on a Mark Twain Drive in Hamilton, but mainly the name stems from the type of music they want to create.
"We're both just almost in awe of everything Mark Twain has done," said Jim Gaven. "The stuff that he's written is like timeless and that's what we're trying to lean towards in our writing. It's just amazing if you were able to write something timeless. And we want to have that kind of impact.
"At first we were just throwing names around and said 'Mark Twain' but we were like we can't call ourselves Mark Twain because that's an author. It's totally ripping someone off. So we were like what is something you could put a place in time, something to mark a date or something. And we came to Postmark Twain."
The two have been getting quite a lot done in a relatively short period of time. Officially, the band didn't even get started until January of 2006. Since then they've been busy scheduling live shows throughout North Jersey and New York City, wrote well over 40 songs, earned a production deal, released a 5-song EP, have been promoting themselves heavily on the Internet through sites like purevolume and myspace, and just might be sealing the deal to score a feature motion picture film!
Their 5-song demo EP was produced by veteran producers Shep & Kenny (Head Automatica, Cute is What We Aim For, Bayside) as part of a production deal.
The record was recorded with several studio musicians, but live Postmark Twain is just Dave and Jim. They've been booking shows in clubs, coffeehouses, wherever they can find work. Unfortunately, there's not many places to play in their backyard as Trenton's club scene is pretty non-existant at this time. Their one local show coming up is a date at the 449 Room in November. Other shows will most likely be scattered across North Jersey where Jim used to play while going to college at Seton Hall University.
It was during one of Jim's solo shows last December that Dave Sanchez first approached Jim about the idea of working together.
"He said he really liked what he heard," recalled Gaven. "He liked the way I pushed myself vocally and how passionate I was about music because he's the same way. He was in a band called Raleigh St. Clair that broke up. They were also from the Trenton area. He just came up to me and said, ' I really like what you're doing and I know that you work your ass off. Would you like to write stuff with me?'
"I was a fan of his band for a while and I loved what they did. I knew they were really hard working and that if I hooked up with him we could make a lot of progress very quickly. And that's what it's been like."
Postmark Twain has definitely been making a lot of progress within a short period of time. One of the best moves they made was purchasing the front page ad for Purevolume.com for one week in August. This led to their songs being listened to nearly 4,000 times per day. In fact, they were ranked as the number one acoustic indie and pop artist for about four of the seven days they were on the front page. This led to thousands upon thousands of people learning about the band and some much needed exposure.
"It's all about the songwriting and that's what Dave and I really pride ourselves on - crafting nice songs lyrically," said Gaven. "If it's good music, it's good music."
Join us for McCarter at the Museum - renowned performing artists in one-night only events at the Princeton University Art Museum.
Jason Robert Brown is a four-time Tony Award-winning composer and lyricist of The Last Five Years, Parade, Songs for a New World, 13, The Bridges of Madison County, Honeymoon In Vegas and The Connector, has performed as a soloist or with his band in venues around the world, including sold-out shows at the London Palladium and Carnegie Hall. His albums as a singer-songwriter include Wearing Someone Else’s Clothes and How We React and How We Recover on Ghostlight, and Coming From Inside the House and Live In Concert with Stephen Sondheim on Concord.
With Special Guest Tony nominee Betsy Wolfe. Tony Award-nominated actress Betsy Wolfe is currently starring as Audrey in the acclaimed Off-Broadway production of Little Shop of Horrors, following her recent Broadway run as Madeline Ashton in the hit musical Death Becomes Her. She previously originated the title role in Joy, the new musical inspired by inventor Joy Mangano, and earned a 2023 Tony Award nomination for Best Featured Actress in a Musical for her celebrated performance as Anne Hathaway in & Juliet. Other Broadway credits include starring as Jenna in Waitress, Cordelia in the acclaimed revival of Falsettos, Bullets Over Broadway, The Mystery of Edwin Drood, Everyday Rapture, and 110 in the Shade, as well as her critically acclaimed performance as Cathy in the Off-Broadway revival of The Last Five Years. Wolfe made her Metropolitan Opera debut in Die Fledermaus and has appeared as a guest artist with more than 65 symphony, pops, and philharmonic orchestras worldwide, including the New York Philharmonic and BBC Symphony Orchestra, with performances at Carnegie Hall and the Kennedy Center. Her screen credits include First One In, Estella Scrooge, CBS’s Instinct, and the film adaptation of The Last Five Years. Wolfe is also the co-founder of BroadwayEvolved, the acclaimed musical theatre training program she launched in 2018 to train and mentor the next generation of theatre artists.
A limited number of early access tickets for McCarter Director’s Circle members and members of the Museum’s Partner Circle are available, on sale Wednesday, September 16, 2026 at 12:00 PM. General public on sale begins Friday, September 18, 2026 at 12:00 PM.
Please be aware there is no public drop-off or parking at the Museum. For visitors with mobility needs, please contact the Museum at least three business days in advance of your visit to request special access to the Museum via Elm Drive. Call 609-258-3788 and select option 1 to speak to a visitor services staff member, or email Louise Barrett at [email protected].
