Dispatch - Circles Around The Sun [CD]

Dispatch is Chad Stokes, Brad Corrigan, and Pete Francis. With Circles Around The Sun they return with their first studio album in over a decade. After forming in New England, USA in 1996 and through intense word of mouth and fan loyalty on the East Coast, Dispatch went on to become one of the biggest draws on the live music scene, and arguably one of the biggest independent rock bands in history. The band released their debut album in 1996, an acoustic-driven folk-pop affair called Silent Steeples, on their own Bomber Records followed by 1998's reggae-flavoured Bang Bang. In 1999 the band released their third album Four Day Trials. Despite being supportive of file sharing, they scanned over 600,000 albums and over 1.5 million tracks in the US without a record label. Then just as they were on the way up, they decided to disband to pursue solo endeavours, but not before one last show in summer 2004 in Boston. 110,000 people attended the band's "Farewell" show, which Rolling Stone called the largest independent music event in history. In 2007, the band got back together to play a reunion show to benefit Zimbabwe at New York's legendary Madison Square Garden. They sold out three nights and were the first ever indie band to sell out the arena playing to over 56,000 people. In 2009 at the request of the Prime Minister of Zimbabwe, they performed at the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC. In 2011 the trio decided to record new music, which led to last year's Dispatch EP and now Circles Around The Sun, and performing 13 sold out shows; 125,000 tickets sold and raising $300,000 for charity. In Spring 2012 the band played its first tour in Europe including Shepherd's Bush Empire in London before performances including Bonnaroo and Outside Lands.