Dispatch

Chad Urmston (My Dispatch picture page)

Dispatch is a band made up of three guys from Massachusetts: Pete Francis, Brad Braddigan, and Chad Urmston. They all went to the same college together. When they were starting their band they would go to different record companies and try to get a deal, but everyone closed the door on them, saying they didn’t like the kind of music they played. Their music is a soft kind of reggae. After that they decided to go independent, and after recording one or two albums they then got calls from all the record companies asking them to sign. Obviously, they said no to them.

The members of Dispatch care about people and children less fortunate than most of us. They have gone to Zimbabwe to help the children there learn. When they were there, one of the band members, Chad Urmston, met this guy named Alias, and they liked him so much they decided to write a song about him. Brad Braddigan and Chad Urmston were both in the Peace Corps.

Dispatch is having a huge fundraiser to raise money to send Alias' son, Manuel, to college. They are asking all the fans of Dispatch to hopefully make a small donation toward this cause. Over the past summer Dispatch had their last concert ever. I went to it and it was incredible. This is when I heard about the fundraiser for Manuel. The concert had an even bigger outcome than even the band imagined. They only expected 2,000 people to attend but 110,000 showed up - and keep in mind it was a free show so its pretty crazy that that many people have heard about Dispatch.

The reason that Dispatch is breaking up is because they are getting too big. They never wanted money or to be famous. The only reason they started a band was to make music and to make people happy. Even if there is no more Dispatch they're all starting new bands for them to play in; Brad Braddigan is solo, Pete Francis is also solo, and Chad Urmston created State Radio.