After performing to a sellout crowd at the Somerville Theater just under two weeks ago, Dispatch stormed back into town yesterday to perform for another sellout crowd - this time in Tufts' own Dewick-MacPhie Hall. The Middlebury, Vermont-based trio has been canvassing the Northeast in support of its fourth album to date, Who Are We Living For.
Composed of instrument-swapping members Chat "Chay" Urmston, Pete Heimbold, and Brad "Braddigan" Corrigan, the reggae-funk-rock group arrived on campus Wednesday afternoon to sound-check before Dewick opened its doors for dinner. Somewhere in between the tuning of guitars and the serving of Wednesday night ice cream, the band found time to talk.
"Tufts always seemed like a natural go-to for us," said Urmston. Dispatch has been playing at private preparatory schools and colleges in the Northeast since its inception five years ago, but Wednesday night's show was its first visit to Tufts. Though the group is currently opening for The Samples, the band points out that they'd rather be headlining all the time - even if at smaller venues.
"There are just some problems with opening...it's not the philosophy we want to be a part of," said Corrigan, alluding to some friction that has arisen between the road crews of the two bands.
"There are just some tensions that don't need to exist," added Urmston.
Despite these difficulties, the band is quick to point out that opening for a more recognized band does have its advantages. For one thing, Dispatch has been able to play in larger-sized venues with better acoustics than college gymnasiums and dining halls. Within the past week, Dispatch has played abbreviated sets at the celebrated Irving Plaza in New York and Avalon on Lansdowne Street, clubs that Corrigan called "the best you can imagine."
After completing two more dates with The Samples, the band will continue to build its fan base, grassroots-style. Next weekend they'll appear at Williams College for the fifth year in a row. All 1,500 tickets for the show have already been sold.
"A lot of colleges think they have to bring in a $25,000 act, hoping they can get someone to draw a crowd," noted Corrigan. "Last year, Holy Cross must have paid $15,000 for Better than Ezra. We opened for them, and half the crowd was there to see us."
"That was the problem at the Samples shows: we outdrew them," said Heimbold confidently.
Despite the band's ability to draw fans to its live shows, it hasn't sold more than 40,000 copies of its four records combined. Does the band think the Napster revolution is hurting them? Absolutely not.
"For a live band, it's the dream," said Corrigan. Recently, the band played a show at Bucknell University in Pennsylvania. Though the Keystone State is a little bit out of the band's traditional stomping grounds, the crowd there was ready.
"Now people know the music and the words, and they're waiting," said Corrigan. "It's awesome with a capital A."
The previously quiet Heimbold agreed. "Before, the problem was with the record companies; they were the ones controlling the music. Now, the listeners decide what they want to hear."
So if the band's live work is so well-recognized, why did it recently change its name from One Fell Swoop to Dispatch?
"There was a band in St. Louis with the same name," according to Heimbold. "An alternative country band."
Despite the name change, the band's work has remained consistent over the past five years. With an increasingly positive reputation as a great live band and talent agents from several corporations seeking to represent them, Dispatch is and will continue to be a band to keep your eyes - and ears - on.
