The Bowdoin Orient

December 1, 2000
Volume CXXXII, Number 10

"Here we go"
A private interview with Dispatch

by JULIE THOMPSON - STAFF WRITER
LAURA NEWMAN - A&E EDITOR

The goal of this interview was to portray the band Dispatch as people, not as enigmas. Therefore, instead of asking hard-hitting questions about the music, we decided to let the conversation ramble. And ramble it did:

Orient: If you could interview yourselves, what would you ask?
Pete Heimbold: That gets dangerous.
Brad Corrigan: We'd just start talking about cotton balls and . . . how often do you deal with the color pink in your life and what does that do to you psychologically . . . heretically . . . apathetically?
Pete: But what do you think? 'Cause otherwise we'll just ramble.
Chad Urmston: Yeah, we're dorks. We're power dorks.
Pete: We wouldn't say anything about the music. We probably wouldn't say anything.
Brad: A Nicolas Cage-type interview. Orient (intelligently): Well . . . I guess that would be bad.
Chad: Nicolas Cage? Brad: Yeah, John Cage's brother.
Pete (taking over the interview): So, guys . . . Tell me a little bit about the music. I've heard a lot of different things. How would you describe yourselves?
Chad: Tribal skank.
Pete: Wow.
Orient: Oh, that's good.
Pete: I sense you're definitely a band with a bit of an identity complex and a mediocrity complex.
Chad: I'd call it more of a crisis.
Pete: Crisis . . .
Orient: Why is that?
Chad: Oh, just because we deal with things in manianical, like, visions.
Pete (thoughtfully): Really.
Orient (encouragingly): That's not necessarily a bad thing.
Brad: They're gonna be, like, looking through the dictionary - what's manianical, dude? (laughs) It's not here in Webster's!
Pete: Chad's a wordsmith.
Orient: That's good to hear. Welcome to the school.

(Laughter on all sides. At this point the interview becomes a bit incoherent, lots of rambling, etc.)

Five minutes later, after discussing the song "The General" for some time . . .

Brad: We're kind of glad that that's one of our . . . that people have connected as much as they have to that song. If there is an anthem that we really feel good about in its message and how funky we play it and how people jump with us and react to it, "The General " is one that we still have a lot of fun with.
Pete: But, I don't think that it's as much about the message as it is about energy in the show. I mean, people can interpret the lyrics any way they want. For me that doesn't concern me as much. For me, what concerns me is the energy that comes from the music. Lyrics can go all different places with people, you know? And I think that's what we've been trying to develop through the live performance.
Orient: So if you have an apathetic crowd, does that make it a bad show for you?
Brad: We walk away feeling like, what happened? It's totally our fault. Orient: What do you guys think of MTV?
Pete: It's pretty terrible.
Chad: MTV2 is okay. Brad: It's so money-based. I don't feel like there's any soul.
Orient: I don't really think there is.
Brad: Remember when you used to watch it because you were so addicted and interested in it. You know, it was new and edgy and you'd be exposed to something that -
Pete: And money controls that. There isn't any good music, no good songs or good films.
Brad: And those stupid shows!
Pete: How many . . . Limp Bizkit, Korn, Backstreet Boys, N'Sync, Britney . . . If I ever flick through it, that's all I see. Where are the bands, you know?
Orient: Did you ever watch it, did you kind of grow up with MTV when it was more quality or -?
Brad: I remember I wasn't ever allowed to watch it as a kid, so I'm sure that's half of it. Whenever I was at my grandparents' house and they would leave the room, I would go right to it.
Orient: I never had cable as a child. I was the same way.
Brad: But still, it was the feeling of being exposed to all of the best music and seeing it visually - what an amazing thing!
Chad: The Black Crowes used to be on it when we were in high school.
Brad: But now I would never watch MTV expecting to find a new band. That's part of the problem. I don't know if we would really like to be on MTV, even if they gave us that opportunity. It just discredits you somehow, being associated with it.
Orient: So what do you think the best way to get a new audience is?
Brad: Napster. MP3s. Touring and Napster.We have fans wherever we go now because people have access to our music.

~Due to the fact that certain band members and Orient staffers like to wax philosophical about album art and the effect of warfare on the psyche, the interview ran a little long.* Can you blame us? The members of Dispatch were interesting, friendly and funny. The concert was fabulous and fun, and whether or not MTV acknowledges it, their incredible skill and dynamic relationship (they could not only play each other's instruments, they were also all amazing singers!) has and will earn them much respect and acclaim in the music world. And we can't think of a band that deserves it more. They also wish to inform anyone who "plays live" to contact Jack Gauthier of Lakewest Recording at lakewestrecording.com. Be sure to check out Dispatch's website at www.dispatchmusic.com.

*Part of the excluded interview contained an in-depth discussion of The General and the aesthetics of album design. We will print this interview at the response of popular demand. Please e-mail lnewman@bowdoin.edu to request this interview segment.

Dispatch chillin' in the Union: Chad (vocals, percussion), Brad (drums, vocals, etc.), and Pete (bass, vocals, etc.).

(Kate Maselli/Bowdoin Orient)