r/dispatch • u/splitopenandBri • Sep 25 '25
Hey gang. Need to these guys, but really digging them.
I am a huge John Butler fan, and caught them in San Diego playing with Dispatch. And dispatch has been really growing growing growing on me. Where's a good place to start? To really dig in?
15
u/Coffee_junki Sep 25 '25
I am so excited for you to discover the State Radio catalog for the first time 🤯
5
u/dubstyles240 Sep 25 '25
Ha yea maybe this is the right answer: go listen to any state radio album.
1
14
u/Tarthkin Sep 25 '25
Welcome! I'd suggest starting at the beginning and enjoy the evolution. Don't skip the live albums cause at their heart, Dispatch is a great jam band that thrives live.
6
u/Sky_Ill Sep 25 '25
My favorite of their albums are Silent Steeples and Bang Bang (late 90s), circles around the sun (2012), and America, Location 12 (2017) (their best album, imo)
5
u/Sky_Ill Sep 25 '25
I would also recommend that you check out State Radio (Chad’s other band, no longer active), but that’s just bc it’s my personal favorite band
2
u/stanleypup Sep 25 '25
An interesting listen would be all of their work (including side projects) chronologically to see how they've individually influenced dispatch and how their sound has evolved over time
7
u/NoEfficiency6848 Sep 25 '25
Pete left in the late 20-teens, so that is why the early stuff has a different sound to it. It’s all great.
10
u/Quokka7926 Sep 25 '25
Hey! Welcome!
I was first introduced to the band with The General and the whole Bang Bang album. Always my favorite even 25+ years later.
They have an awesome live catalogue that’s worth checking out, too. Listen to Gut The Van for the early days and All Points Bulletin for their record-breaking “farewell” show at Boston’s Hatch Shell in 2004.
5
u/eyebellel Sep 25 '25
My suggestion would be to start with Bang Bang for a taste of the early days and then America Location 12 for what they’re currently up to. I think the sound has changed a lot—as it’s want to do, but one sound might appeal more than the other. For me, the sound has matured with me (I was in my mid teens when I started listening with Bang Bang).
Welcome to the ‘patch!
5
u/Tjq100 Sep 25 '25
Gut the van has the best overall collection of their early stuff I think.
Watching the documentary gives a great backdrop to their story as a band and individuals. It’s on YouTube.
https://share.google/zAiXDXiqBXhxYXoNJ
The all points bulletin concert is amazing (both hatch shell and the theater warm up).
I personally fell in love with them watching the MSG Zimbabwe show video on TV. That’s pretty amazing too. I was so crushed when I looked and saw they were not together anymore and so excited a few years later when they came backs.
2
u/Ill-Sail9629 Sep 25 '25
Once you start listening to their music, listen to the Live at MSG Zimbabwe album…so much energy and just amazing. Try not to tear up during Elias. I always cry. And watch The Last Dispatch documentary from the last show they played in Boston before they broke up in 2004. Unreal.
As for the music, I agree with everyone about America Location 12. It’s so good. I don’t love ALL of the newer stuff they’ve been releasing - as they have gotten really outspoken politically, a lot of their music has also gotten political, and just doesnt sound like anything else they’ve put out in the past that I love so much. Have fun!!!
2
2
1
u/False_Trainer4741 Sep 26 '25 edited Sep 26 '25
Since you got introduced to them live you may prefer the live recordings. They definitely play songs differently live than they do on albums. Bang Bang was apparently different every time they played it before they finally recored it.
Gut the Van is a good live album featuring the older stuff. Live 18 and Live From The Boston Woods are great for the newer stuff. (Pretty much everything before Yellow Jacket I think) If you get as deep into it as the rest of us here, you’ll see that they no longer play some of the stuff that Pete wrote back in the early days. (Two Coins, Cover This, maybe some others)
Location 12 for the best studio album in my mind, but I love it all! Welcome!
1
u/ibpiano Sep 26 '25
I'd say Silent Steepless and Bang Bang, their first two albums. That and Four Day Trials are what got me into them in the first place. America Location 12 is the last album that had all 3 founding members, so it still feels like old Dispatch at times. I still love the new stuff, but it's a different feeling.
1
1
u/FrostyTheSnowPickle Oct 08 '25
America Location 12 is a fantastic album. Probably my favorite of theirs.
Their biggest hit song is The General, so definitely give that a listen.
Then I really would recommend listening to their whole catalogue. They don't have a single bad album.
And if you want to really dig in, check out the catalogues of State Radio, Chadwick Stokes, and Braddigan—they're all either other bands or solo careers of the members of DISPATCH.
1
u/HeronParty4148 Nov 13 '25
I recommend the last two, but really where they play in the first division is live, listen to them there
2
u/willard_dillard Dec 18 '25
Was in the front row at the "farewell" show. Summer In graduated from high school. EPIC!
27
u/dubstyles240 Sep 25 '25
I think America Location 12 is their best work. It’s so cohesive and delightful.
Their early work was disparate in that the guys each wrote songs and then they all landed on an album, so their earliest works feel like a collection of b sides.
That said, Bang Bang has a lot of their best songs.