Strong groove, word-of-mouth, deliver veteran band Dispatch to Ravinia
A little reggae, a little ska, and straddling roots rock, folk and “jam band” territory, Dispatch is a group made for the outdoor festival season.
Thirty years in the game, an independent Boston band that built its considerable following almost entirely by word-of-mouth, Dispatch will play the Ravinia Festival in Highland Park on Saturday, June 21.
Supporting its ninth studio album, “Yellow Jacket,” released June 6, and part of a 35-date summer tour that includes appearances at Bonnaroo and Red Rocks, at Ravinia the quintet will play with the John Butler Band and Donavon Frankenreiter.
A June 20 show at Milwaukee’s Summerfest will have Dispatch limber for Ravinia, one of their favorite places to play.
“It’s nice, especially when you’re on tour, to catch a little greenery every now and then. That’s lovely,” said guitarist and bassist Chadwick Stokes, who formed Dispatch with drummer and guitarist Brad Corrigan and former member Pete Francis in the dorms of Middlebury College in Vermont.
The first Dispatch album, “Silent Steeples,” debuted in 1996. Capitalizing on audience connection, the band’s catalog includes six live albums.
“We’ve realized that, as we’ve played with Dispatch quite a long time now, that we like to play outside. I love that about Ravinia, it’s a special spot to play,” said Stokes, lead vocalist.
Chicago in general has been kind to Dispatch. The city follows only Denver in the number of the band’s Spotify listeners. Stokes recalled past stops at Metro, Schubas, Double Door and the former UIC Pavilion, now Credit Union 1 Arena.
“We’ve always loved playing in Chicago. In the beginning, like maybe a lot of smaller bands trying to make it, the cities that first take you in are near and dear,” said Stokes, who lives in Massachusetts.
Evolving into a five-piece in 2016, Dispatch features Stokes and Corrigan, plus Matt Embree on guitar and bass, Jon “J.R.” Reilly on piano and percussion, and multi-instrumentalist Mike Sawitzke.
“We’ve been described all over,” Stokes said of the band’s sound. “I think definitely the way our fan base grew at least tipped its hat to the jam world, and that’s the only way people could explain it or had seen anything like it.
“I think in the beginning I was a little adverse to (the jam band tag),” he said. “We didn’t do epic jams, but I did grow up loving the Grateful Dead, but mostly the songwriting, especially the Jerry (Garcia) and Robert Hunter collabs. But I also loved MC5 and Tool and Rage Against the Machine. We’re kind of all over the place.
“One of the good things about never really having a record company or anyone say, ‘You guys gotta do this,’ we could just kind of go where the wind took us.”
Without benefit of label marketing or even radio play — though Napster gave the band an early boost, Stokes said — the wind has taken Dispatch’s roots rock to millions of people before, during and since a hiatus from about 2002-2011.
A summer 2004 reunion concert in Boston drew more than 110,000 fans. The 2007 announcement of another reunion at Madison Square Garden to raise funds for humanitarian efforts in Zimbabwe led to three sold-out shows.
“We were always kind of a socially conscious band, but I think when we got back together it was clear that a big part of why it’s a fulfilling occupation, if you will, is the causes that we can shine some light on and use our platform responsibly,” Stokes said.
He is the co-founder of Calling All Crows, which unites fans and the music industry to support social causes primarily around feminist issues.
Corrigan just released a documentary film, “Ileana’s Smile,” about a Nicaraguan girl whose family is among many living in La Chureca, the world’s largest open-air landfill. Making numerous trips there, Corrigan in 2005 founded Love Light & Melody to make a difference.
Social consciousness and grievances are included in “Yellow Jacket,” including a collaboration with Ani DiFranco on “Everyone’s in the Street.”
But after Stokes said recent albums “felt kind of chopped up” due to remote production or separate contributions by the band’s members, for “Yellow Jacket” Dispatch piled into Boston’s Rear Window Studios as a unit under producer Craig Welsch.
“We wanted to go back to just banging around in one big room together,” Stokes said.
The refreshing result is tailor-made for a venue like Ravinia.
“It feels good,” Stokes said. “We have a lot more horns on this record, that’s always fun to do live, and I grew up playing trombone. I’m looking forward to that, and a little bit of a return to reggae and ska in this last record, which usually bodes well for the summer tour.”
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Dispatch with John Butler (with band)
With special guest Donavon Frankenreiter
When: 7:30 p.m. Saturday, June 21; gates open at 4:30 p.m.
Where: Ravinia Festival, 201 Ravinia Park Road, Highland Park
Tickets: $49-$115 at ravinia.org/