At the beginning of February I reviewed a DVD, Dispatch Zimbabwe: Live At Madison Square Garden, and it was my introduction to the three young men who had been involved with the band Dispatch. As those folk who were loyal followers of the group know the individuals had gone their separate ways back in 2006, and this was the first time they had played together since then.
As I had been really impressed by what I had seen on this DVD, I was interested in seeing what each of them were doing "post-Dispatch". Chad Stokes Urmston had played guitar and some bass for Dispatch and is now fronting his own trio, State Radio. I contacted their management team and asked if I could get a review copy of their new disc Year Of The Crow and maybe talk with Chad.
Thanks to State Radio's management people and Chad himself all the above was able to happen. It should have been easy, I was supposed to phone Chad Wednesday at 3:30 in the afternoon, and I got him at the second number I was given to contact him at. Unfortunately the connection wasn't the best and we kept having to start over again as we'd get cut off periodically. In spite of the technological difficulties, we managed to get through the questions I had for him, and have a pretty cool conversation too.
What I really enjoyed about our conversation was that it was obvious he genuinely believed in what he sings about, and that he is that person who sings with compassion, anger, sadness, and hope about the world. It might sound like a cliche, but it was a pleasure to spend time with him, and he felt like the type of person who I would have a good time hanging out with.
There was something we needed to clarify before we really got underway. In the Dispatch information I had received with the DVD listed Chad last name as Urmston, but with all the PR stuff I received with the State Radio Disc his last name was given as Stokes. So the first question I asked was simply what's your name
Chad: "My mIddle name is Stokes and I use that now because it's easier for people to say and handle then Urmston - but I still consider my name to be Chad Urmston.
Can you give me some biographical detail - I don't know much about you - Your background where you grew up. There was something about growing up in a progressive hockey playing family
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