Dispatch Kids Rock the Harvard Scene

By ANTOINETTE C. NWANDU

CRimson staff writer

An unsuspecting visitor who happened upon Sanders Theater last Monday night would not have been able to detect that the treacherous midterm season has descended on the campus. The theater, usually reserved for sleepy-eyed Social Analysis 10 students and sedate Harvard-Radcliffe Orchestra concert-goers, was filled to the brim with anxious fans awaiting the three rambunctious frontmen with Boston roots better known as Dispatch. Braddigan (Brad Corrigan), Chetro (Chad Urmston), and Repete (Pete Heimbold) turned what would have been a great opportunity to catch up on study and sleep into an energy-filled, dancing-in-the-isles, let’s-break-some-guitar-strings, sing-along fest that didn’t let out until a little before midnight.

Devoted Dispatch fans and first-timers alike could hardly stay in their seats as the band urged them to clap along to crowd pleasers like “Bang, Bang,” “Small Change,” “Bats in the Belfry” and “The General.” Chetro, donning a black Rage Against the Machine t-shirt and a head full of the happiest blond curls ever, enchanted listeners with his smooth reggae-influenced vocals, while Braddigan provided intricate drum solos à la The Who’s Keith Moon and Repete pounded out bass lines soulful enough to hold their own against some of funk’s greatest.

With a hectic tour schedule on the horizon and the Nov. 6 release of their latest album, Gut the Van, a live compilation of many popular Dispatch songs, Braddigon, Chetro and Repete are not looking to slow down any time soon. Armed with a growing fan base and the word-of-mouth popularity that landed them an opportunity to play the FleetBoston Pavilion last June, Dispatch are an up-and-coming phenomenon with enough pull to get students all too concerned with grades to stay out way past their bedtimes. Longtime Dispatch fan Kerry M. Houlihan ’05 said, “It was a little surreal to see Dispatch playing in Sanders because I’m used to seeing them in tiny venues in New York City. I had just seen the Glee Club performing in Sanders the other night, so having the Veritas symbols illuminated by the flashing lights was definitely a different experience.”

From the Ground Up

The boys from Dispatch are no strangers to the Boston music scene. After getting their start at Vermont’s Middlebury College as One Fell Swoop, the three returned home to Boston and began gigging at local venues like the Middle East and Avalon. “We started out playing in these tiny little rooms in Brookline,” said Repete, “and it’s great because the fans in places like that are so receptive.” Dispatch has gained a local following on many college campuses and regional bars, a start many liken to that of the Dave Matthews Band.

In the early days, Dispatch had to do it all themselves—drive from venue to venue in their trusty used van, “Wimpy,” and set up their own audio equipment in hopes that the shows in the Wetlands or the small local bars would grow into something bigger. As is usually the case with underground talent, the local fanbase began to grow strong and devout. “Sometimes before a show people will come up to us and tell us that they drove from Pennsylvania to see us. That kind of thing first started happening when we played the Middle East again and again” said Chetro. Though they remember the Central Square venue as being “like a dungeon and really gritty,” Chetro acknowledged that when trying to get the music to the people,“that’s just how you do it. We were psyched to get in there and psyched to get out.” And Dispatch did get out; as their songs spread via word of mouth and Internet music trading, the smaller venues simply couldn’t contain the demand for their unique brand of rock and roll.

In some respects, this little band would have been without a leg to stand on if not for the explosion of Internet music trading that reached a feverishly high pitch only a few months ago. With all of the hullabaloo over copyright laws and getting the music into the hands of the people, Dispatch stands outside of the whole corporate fight to stop Internet trading. As an unsigned band that has yet to positively acknowledge the offers from both Epic and Dreamworks, Dispatch “can’t not be cool with that [Internet trading] because of the way Napster’s helped us out so much,” said Repete. Repete feels that the impulse to trade songs freely online is a good one. He stated, “If bands would just give a song or two to Napster...then they could get their music out all over the place.”

Comenting on the turn that many Internet trading sites have begun taking, Chetro added, “It makes sense that they’re going towards some sort of subscription-based infrastructure. We got to know Napster really well and found that CD sales actually went up. It was a resurgence of our music and of independent music in general and not just the big poppy N’ Sync-to-Creed spectrum.”

In fact, the band’s success on Napster was cited as a major component to their being able to play FleetBoston this summer. Melis Sancaktar ’03, who has been listening to Dispatch for a little over a year, first learned about the band when she saw them in concert. “After that I was a Dispatch fan and started downloading all the mp3s I could find and eventually just bought all of their albums which now have a regular spot in my CD player,” she said.

Like many small, unsigned bands that have come before, Dispatch understand how important their connection to the fans is. Relying on listeners to do what a distribution team would for a larger band, Dispatch have created what they like to call their “D-Team.” ‘Reps’ across the country can log onto the Dispatch website and report on anything from ticket sales to album sales and the growth of the band’s local following. Chetro admits that the administration needed to maintain the D-Team on the band’s side of things have, at times, fallen by the wayside, which if nothing else is a testament to the loyalty of fans who have been following Dispatch since the mid-90s. “It’s not like [people] signed up to be reps, they’re just a part of our team. Everyone who followed us when we played the Wetlands for four years...just feels like they’re part of this whole movement and we’ve been really receptive to that,” said Chetro.

When faced with concepts like “stardom” and ‘fame,” Dispatch try to keep a collective level head. While they enjoy playing the bigger venues and reaching more people with their music, the guys don’t like to think of themselves as rockstars. Chetro explained, “As far as a level of stardom goes, that doesn’t really register.” Repete agreed, “It’s still for us all about the people and our show. All of a sudden we’re playing in a room that’s really big but that doesn’t mean we can be like, ‘Yeah now we’re a big deal.’” With their growing success, Dispatch now have a few amenities usually reserved for full-fledged rock acts, including a dedicated road team and stage manager, a new van affectionately named “Peggy” and plans to participate in a charity compilation album, Bands From America, that will include tracks from the String Cheese Incident, G-Love and the Special Sauce and Guster, among others.

In addition to participating in the compilation, Dispatch hope to add their name to other charity and relief efforts in the aftermath of Sept. 11. “We wanted to do something on Sept. 30,” said Braddigan, “but that was too soon, especially in New York. It’s kind of tricky By ANTOINETTE C. NWANDU

CRimson staff writer

An unsuspecting visitor who happened upon Sanders Theater last Monday night would not have been able to detect that the treacherous midterm season has descended on the campus. The theater, usually reserved for sleepy-eyed Social Analysis10 students and sedate Harvard-Radcliffe Orchestra concert-goers, was filled to the brim with anxious fans awaiting the three rambunctious frontmen with Boston roots better known as Dispatch. Braddigan (Brad Corrigan), Chetro (Chad Urmston), and Repete (Pete Heimbold) turned what would have been a great opportunity to catch up on study and sleep into an energy-filled, dancing-in-the-isles, let’s-break-some-guitar-strings, sing-along fest that didn’t let out until a little before midnight.

Devoted Dispatch fans and first-timers alike could hardly stay in their seats as the band urged them to clap along to crowd pleasers like “Bang, Bang,” “Small Change,” “Bats in the Belfry” and “The General.” Chetro, donning a black Rage Against the Machine t-shirt and a head full of the happiest blond curls ever, enchanted listeners with his smooth reggae-influenced vocals, while Braddigan provided intricate drum solos à la The Who’s Keith Moon and Repete pounded out bass lines soulful enough to hold their own against some of funk’s greatest.

With a hectic tour schedule on the horizon and the Nov. 6 release of their latest album, Gut the Van, a live compilation of many popular Dispatch songs, Braddigon, Chetro and Repete are not looking to slow down any time soon. Armed with a growing fan base and the word-of-mouth popularity that landed them an opportunity to play the FleetBoston Pavilion last June, Dispatch are an up-and-coming phenomenon with enough pull to get students all too concerned with grades to stay out way past their bedtimes. Longtime Dispatch fan Kerry M. Houlihan ’05 said, “It was a little surreal to see Dispatch playing in Sanders because I’m used to seeing them in tiny venues in New York City. I had just seen the Glee Club performing in Sanders the other night, so having the Veritas symbols illuminated by the flashing lights was definitely a different experience.”

From the Ground Up

The boys from Dispatch are no strangers to the Boston music scene. After getting their start at Vermont’s

Middlebury College as One Fell Swoop, the three returned home to Boston and began gigging at local venues like the Middle East and Avalon. “We started out playing in these tiny little rooms in Brookline,” said Repete, “and it’s great because the fans in places like that are so receptive.” Dispatch has gained a local following on many college campuses and regional bars, a start many liken to that of the Dave Matthews Band.

In the early days, Dispatch had to do it all themselves—drive from venue to venue in their trusty used van, “Wimpy,” and set up their own audio equipment in hopes that the shows in the Wetlands or the small local bars would grow into something bigger. As is usually the case with underground talent, the local fanbase began to grow strong and devout. “Sometimes before a show people will come up to us and tell us that they drove from Pennsylvania to see us. That kind of thing first started happening when we played the Middle East again and again” said Chetro. Though they remember the Central Square venue as being “like a dungeon and really gritty,” Chetro acknowledged that when trying to get the music to the people,“that’s just how you do it. We were psyched to get in there and psyched to get out.” And Dispatch did get out, as their songs spread via word of mouth and Internet music trading, the smaller venues simply couldn’t contain the demand for their unique brand of rock and roll.

In some respects, this little band would have been without a leg to stand on if not for the explosion of Internet music trading that reached a feverishly high pitch only a few months ago. With all of the hullabaloo over copyright laws and getting the music into the hands of the people, Dispatch stands outside of the whole corporate fight to stop Internet trading. As an unsigned band that has yet to positively acknowledge the offers from both Epic and Dreamworks, Dispatch “can’t not be cool with that [Internet trading] because of the way Napster’s helped us out so much,” said Repete. Repete feels that the impulse to trade songs freely online is a good one. He stated, “If bands would just give a song or two to Napster...then they could get their music out all over the place.”

Comenting on the turn that many Internet trading sites have begun taking, Chetro added, “It makes sense that they’re going towards some sort of subscription-based infrastructure. We got to know Napster really well and found that CD sales actually went up. It was a resurgence of our music and of independent music in general and not just the big poppy N’ Sync-to-Creed spectrum.”

In fact, the band’s success on Napster was cited as a major component to their being able to play FleetBoston this summer. Melis Sancaktar ’03, who has been listening to Dispatch for a little over a year, first learned about the band when she saw them in concert. “After that I was a Dispatch fan and started downloading all the mp3s I could find and eventually just bought all of their albums which now have a regular spot in my CD player,” she said.

Like many small, unsigned bands that have come before, Dispatch understand how important their connection to the fans is. Relying on listeners to do what a distribution team would for a larger band, Dispatch have created what they like to call their “D-Team.” ‘Reps’ across the country can log onto the Dispatch website and report on anything from ticket sales to album sales and the growth of the band’s local following. Chetro admits that the administration needed to maintain the D-Team on the band’s side of things have, at times, fallen by the wayside, which if nothing else is a testament to the loyalty of fans who have been following Dispatch since the mid-90s. “It’s not like [people] signed up to be reps, they’re just a part of our team. Everyone who followed us when we played the Wetlands for four years...just feels like they’re part of this whole movement and we’ve been really receptive to that,” said Chetro.

When faced with concepts like “stardom” and ‘fame,” Dispatch try to keep a collective level head. While they enjoy playing the bigger venues and reaching more people with their music, the guys don’t like to think of themselves as rockstars. Chad explained, “As far as a level of stardom goes, that doesn’t really register.” Pete agreed, “It’s still for us all about the people and our show. All of a sudden we’re playing in a room that’s really big but that doesn’t mean we can be like, ‘Yeah now we’re a big deal.’” With their growing success, Dispatch now have a few amenities usually reserved for full-fledged rock acts, including a dedicated road team and stage manager, a new van affectionately named “Peggy” and plans to participate in a charity compilation album, Bands From America, that will include tracks from the String Cheese Incident, G-Love and the Special Sauce and Guster, among others.

In addition to participating in the compilation, Dispatch hope to add their name to other charity and relief efforts in the aftermath of Sept. 11. “We wanted to do something on Sept. 30,” said Braddigan, “but that was too soon, especially in New York. It’s kind of tricky because there’s so much negative energy to turn around, but you also don’t want to do it at a time that is insensitive to other people.” While setting up for their next song, Chetro thanked the members of the Islamic Society for hosting the singer/songwriter Yusuf Islam, formerly known as Cat Stevens, last year; because of that event the bandmembers were able to meet one of their musical influences. The acknowledgement also appeared to be an attempt to create unity with a minority group cast into the public spotlight because of the religious affiliation of those responsible for the recent terrorist attacks.

Classifying That Dispatch Sound

The eclectic Dispatch sound—with its reggae rhythms, rap-style verses, grunge electric guitar solos and bongo drum jams—evolved out of the more acoustically driven One Fell Swoop sound. Talking about their early days, Chad commented that, “We were all pretty affected by grunge and we had that electric sort of Pearl Jam, Soundgarden sound in the back of our minds. It was just a matter of producing that sound. In the beginning

the only thing we had in our lives was the acoustic stuff, but that changed over time.” In live performances Dispatch not only know how to keep the crowd pumped with rip-roaring guitar tricks and drum beats, but also feature a brand of play that keeps all of them in the foreground.

Though they no longer classify thier music as “tri-vocal funkcoustic instrument-swap groove,” Dispatch still cling to the three-frontman style that gained them that label. Braddigan is more than just a drummer, lending his voice and guitar playing skills to many of the tracks. Similarly, Chetro and Repete also “instrument-sawp” during any given show, ensuring that each song will have a sound and feel slightly different from the one before it. “When you try to categorize [our music], it doesn’t really work,” said Repete. He attributed that eclectic, hard-to-pin-down sound to the band’s varying musical tastes. Dispatch acknowledge everyone from Peter Gabriel and Cat Stevens to Stevie Wonder and Al Green when talking about their personal tastes; other influences and favorite bands include Radiohead, Rage Against the Machine, Pink Floyd, The Red Hot Chili Peppers and Dire Straits. Slightly older than the other two, Braddigan admitted that he has “deep roots in the hair bands. Actually AC/DC is what got me into rock and roll.”

Because all three member of Dispatch sing and play a variety of instruments, it would be harder for them to fall into the trap that causes tension in many bands, namely the lead-singer-vs.-back-up-guys rut. Not only do Braddigon, Chetro and Repete each write some of the Dispatch tunes, but each of them is also involved with separate solo projects, an outlet for more individual creativity. “I don’t think any of us would let the others [take the spotlight],” affirmed Chetro, “we’ve always had moments when one or two of us didn’t like the direction the other one was going, but this has always been about compromise.” With not-so-distant memories of long, crowded van rides to and from shows during which the three band members became very used to each other’s company, the guys understand that every aspect of the band has to be a team effort. They also realize that no matter where this rock thing will take them, the bottom line is to not take themselves too seriously. “some people think [our silly nicknames] are stupid and that’s cool,” said Repete. Chad, Brad and Pete use the nicknames to poke fun of idea of personae; Pete’s brother began calling Chad “Chetro,” and then the names just sort of stuck.

Because Dispatch have been together for so long, much of the material for their songs naturally stems from their shared experiences. Their most widely recognized song, “The General,” is about a grandfatherly commanding officer who frees his soldiers from their responsibilities; the backstory being that Chad’s grandfather, who served in WWII, used to admire Dispatch when they first started out. The band had to make a tough decsion to continue recording the song when Chad’s grandfather passed away and subsequently added a recording of the war veteran speaking about his experiences in combat that can only be heard when the song is played at full volume. “Those two ideas,” said Chad, “the grandfather figure and the war, kind of came together in the song and it’s kind of a tribute to him.”

Playing “The General” got the greatest crowd response from the band, but venues much like the one at Sanders Theater only ensure that other lesser known tracks and albums will become relatively more mainstream. As the crowd poured out of the theater, many of them stopped off to purchase CDs, t-shirts and posters, a testament to the band’s Monday night success.