Pete Francis

CTG: Why did Dispatch split?

Pete: Because we are 3 monster. No, I think it's sort of one of those things, 8 years in a band and working on songs, I think thats a good amount. Some people can go on through lifetimes, but I don't know how. I think it was just a healthy thing to go do our own projects, but what's cool is that the band grew without us playing or making records. We didn't sign a record deal. One would think 'ok, sign a deal and get bigger,' but we didn't sign a deal, infact we didn't play or record and it got bigger. That part was cool. I think by not playing together then coming back and doing these shows at The Garden, we sort of grew in our own way as musicians and probably played better for it.

CTG: Dispatch: Zimbabwe was incredibly successful. You sold out 3 nights in a row at Madison Square Garden, which had never been done before by a independent group, what was the cause of that event?
Pete: We had talked about doing a concert and we were discussing different causes and what could be cool, something in our country or something that we all can relate to. Brad and Chad brought to me the idea of doing a benefit concert for Zimbabwe. I knew Chad had been there before college, when he was like 19, he loved it and i remember him telling me all about it. When he told me some of the terrible things that were going on with the people, social injustice, and disease, we talked about it more and all agreed it would be a cool cause to get behind. It's not only we're interested in the country, but also have friends and family there.

CTG: Is that how the song Elias came about?
Pete: Yeah, Chad wrote that song about his friend Elias and started the Elias Foundation. Then we met some people, The Davies, really loving, wonderful people who are helping a lot of the suffering.

CTG: How did it feel to make music history with The Last Dispatch?
Pete: I guess I wasn't thinking much about music history as much as 'oh shit, there are a lot of people here.' I honestly felt like I could feel electricity in the air, something about that day was pretty amazing. That probably, I would say, is my favorite concert I have ever played in my life. Madison Square Garden of course was unreal, but something about the Boston show... the fact that it was unexpected, and a beautiful day, and people were cool, and they didn't shut us down, and it was really about music and independent music.