Dispatch Interview - Chadwick Stokes

Interview with Chadwick Stokes of Dispatch

I was lucky to grab some time recently to interview Chadwick Stokes of Dispatch – we had a patchy zoom while he was on tour but still managed to talk about some deep issues – and definitely the fun stuff too! They just played here in Denver and I was sad to miss the show, but I don’t plan to miss it in the future (hint hint Mexico). ❤️

Formed by Chadwick Stokes and Brad Corrigan while in college in Vermont – Dispatch has forged their own path outside the mainstream music industry as one of the most successful artists in the roots-rock scene. Over the course of a slew of acclaimed studio and live albums and countless tours and festivals, the band has gone on to become one of biggest success stories in independent music history, selling out three nights at Madison Square Garden and also drawing over 100,000 fans to a massive outdoor show in their adopted hometown of Boston without any traditional radio or major label support.

I love hearing success stories like this. Many congrats to Dispatch and thanks to Chadwick for taking the time to chat!

Header photo by Mike Smith


Interview with Dispatch


Interview with Dispatch - Dispatch & OAR Tour 2022

Aimee:
Okay, I know that this is your first co-headline tour with OAR. How did that come about?

Chad:
That had kind of been talked about for a few years, for like 20 years, and we just never put it together. We were both on our own separate journeys. When we had played together briefly when we were basically teenagers, our drummer almost got in a fight with their tour manager. So, there was some animosity –

Aimee:
Animosity?

Chad:
There was a little residual. It wasn’t bad. People often put us in the same sentence together, but the one time we played together, it wasn’t as amicable as it could have been. Then time went by, and of course, we all grew up, became less testosterone-filled and became more well-rounded human beings. Then I think when this idea came up, as it had for a few years… The stars aligned and they were all available. So it was just kind of everything, that the journeys that were weaving in and out of each other finally kind of came parallel. Just kind of like a timing thing.

Aimee:
Well, I love that reconciliation as friends and as bands. Obviously, I know you guys have been around forever, and then you took a break. And now you’re back with your eighth album, right? That’s just such a big accomplishment. So, if you could talk about your history a bit.

Chad:
Oh, thanks. Yeah. We’ve always taken a lot of pride in being independent and, I don’t know, staying on the path that we felt was best for the band and best for the music. We have had kind of a history where we’ve taken time off, and the band’s broken up. And there’s times when we loved each other and times when we couldn’t run fast enough away from each other. So, that’s the same story with many bands, but it feels great at this point to be here where we’re at now, and to be out on the road. And we miss Pete, but we try to honor him every night when we get up there, and his legacy is with us. [Founding member Pete Francis amicably left the band recently to work on his mental health.] So, it’s been a bumpy road, but we’ve always been super proud of not being with the major labels, or on any labels for so long. That is something that makes me really proud to be part of this band.

Aimee:
Tell me about the new album, Break Our Fall. It feels like it has a lot of strong themes going on in there. Was it recorded before the pandemic or during the pandemic?

Chad:
It was both. It was recorded just before the pandemic hit in February of 2020, and then we finished it during the pandemic. And so there were some lyrics that were changed. George Floyd was murdered. You had that idiot in the White House, with basically gross negligence in terms of handling the pandemic, and hundreds of thousands of people who died, who could have been saved. There was so much happening, so we retooled some of the lyrics and even put out an extra song, called “Promised Land.” It has some heavy themes. My cousin died by suicide, and that’s really what “Break Our Fall,” the song, is about. And so there’s all sorts of heaviness, but also a lot of love in the record. If we can all love each other more, I’m still an optimist that if we just pull it together as people… there is hope.

Aimee:
Well, I love that, and I’m very sorry for your loss. And it’s been a rough couple of years… We lost one of our best friends to COVID. So, it’s been just a really rough time for a lot of people right now.

Chad:
Yeah. Yeah. I’m sorry.

Aimee:
But I’m glad for artists like you that give people a place to, I guess, go through the feelings of all that. You know what I mean?

Chad:
Yeah. Yeah.

Aimee:
Well, and then, okay, so a little lighter question. Do you have any fun stress relievers while you’re on tour?

Chad:
Yeah! Well, it’s always fun to explore the city a little bit. One of the guitarists and I yesterday went to do yoga in a nearby town, which was hilarious, because we don’t do it very often and we’re very inflexible. It was mostly women in their 60s, and they were all laughing at us the whole time. So stuff like that, super fun. We went surfing the other day near San Diego. We got a football on the bus for some truck stop football. It’s stuff like that that keeps us going.

Aimee:
That’s great. And then I saw you guys are playing in Mexico in December.

Chad:
Yeah. I’ve never been to Mexico, so I’m really psyched to check it out. And it’s a weekend with OAR and G Love and some great artists, and just a crazy weekend, I guess. I haven’t done many of these destination type things, but it’s essentially like a festival down in Mexico. And I’m going to bring the family and everything, so I’m psyched.

Dispatch Mexico Concert 2022

Aimee:
Mexico is one of my favorite places on earth. I am sure it will be awesome. And lastly, I know there are some causes that are near and dear to the bands heart.

Chad:
Yeah, for sure. The cause of this tour is trying to end mass incarceration. We’ve teamed up with The Multi-Faith Initiative to End Mass Incarceration, which is a national organization that people call EMI. And I’m sure you could check out their website, but we are essentially doing what we can to be part of the dismantling of this terrible justice system that our country employs. We have some t-shirts and posters that are designed and made by returning citizens, those who have been in prison and now are looking for jobs and looking for a second chance in life. We’re selling those every night. And then we’re also doing some record sealing events in different cities, in conjunction with the district attorney… It’s kind of like record expungement, but it’s called record sealing. That makes a second chance actually possible, in terms of returning citizens getting employment. It’s available in a bunch of different cities, and it’s pretty easy process online. But a lot of people don’t know about it, so we’re trying to spread awareness in that way, too.


The Dispatch + O.A.R. tour continues into September!

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