Dispatch (band)

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Dispatch
Promotional photograph of Dispatch.
Background information
Origin	Middlebury, Vermont, USA
Genre(s)	Rock
Years active	1996-2004
Label(s)	Bomber Universal
Associated acts	State Radio (Chad Urmston's band)
Website	http://www.dispatchmusic.com/
Members
Chad Urmston Pete Heimbold Brad Corrigan

Dispatch was an American roots jam band formed at Middlebury College in Middlebury, Vermont. They were active from 1996 to 2004.

1 Band history
2 The Elias Fund
3 The Last Dispatch documentary
4 The Relief Project
5 Discography
6 Band members
7 External links

[edit] Band history

[edit] The beginnings

The band originated in the early 1990s as One Fell Swoop, and The Longfellow Frenzy, but soon changed their name to Dispatch, after a dispute with another band of the same name. Chad Urmston, Brad Corrigan, and Pete Heimbold, who were all attending Middlebury College in Middlebury, Vermont comprised the band's lineup throughout their entire career. Their music drew upon several influences, such as acoustic folk-rock, reggae, and funk.

Dispatch gained much recognition outside of New England, without any help from a label, thanks to peer-to-peer file sharing programs such as Napster. Dispatch stayed together long enough to release four studio albums and three live ones. During concerts, the band was known to improvise upon their album releases, often resulting in a song running twice the length of the original. The group was also fond of switching instruments and lead/harmonized vocal duties when playing live.

[edit] "The Last Dispatch"

Main article: The Last Dispatch

Upon the announcement of its break-up in late 2003, the band scheduled one final concert. The free show was performed at the Hatch Shell in Boston on July 31, 2004. "The Last Dispatch," as it was referred, is said to be the largest concert in independent music history, where roughly 110,000 fans attended the show. The original prediction of the turnout was between 10,000 and 30,000. Fans reportedly flocked from Italy, Portugal, South Africa, and Australia among others. The performance was released as a three-disc set (2 CD, 1 DVD) later that year, entitled All Points Bulletin, along with an earlier show in Somerville, Massachusetts.

[edit] Post-breakup

All three of the band's members are currently still in the music industry. Urmston is now the frontman of State Radio, while Corrigan (now credited as Braddigan, a nickname by which he was known since his time with Dispatch) and Heimbold (now credited as Pete Francis, his middle name) are successfully pursuing solo efforts.

[edit] The Elias Fund

After the song "Elias," written by Urmston after his experience living and teaching in Zimbabwe, the Elias Fund was formed to send children from the ravaged country to college.

[edit] The Last Dispatch documentary

Dispatch came out with a movie entitled The Last Dispatch in July 2005, which chronicles their final 12 days together as a band and tells the story of how they became "the band that redefined independent music history". The film was released and previewed in Boston. Urmston, Corrigan, and Heimbold attended the showing and celebrated throughout the weekend with their fans. The film was released on DVD September 26th, 2006.

[edit] The Relief Project

On December 22, 2005, Corrigan helped to organize a benefit concert, known as The Relief Project, at Irving Plaza in New York, New York. Along with several other performers, Corrigan invited Heimbold and State Radio to play. The three reunited very briefly, playing the song "Here We Go" as an encore. Corrigan stated there that he plans further Relief Project concerts featuring all three and perhaps sometime in 2007, a major Dispatch reunion concert or tour.