Dispatch's Pete Francis To Play Talkhouse

Indie icon Pete Francis of Dispatch will take the stage at the Stephen Talkhouse in Amagansett on June 12 at 8 PM. Dispatch was the first indie band to sell-out the legendary arena Madison Square Garden and now returns with a variety of fresh creative endeavors including new band, Dragon Crest Collective.

Dispatch held a farewell outdoor concert that attracted over 110,000 fans from 25 countries, making it the largest independent music event in history. Now Pete Francis embarks on a new era of inspired creativity with a multitude of new projects, including an invigorating hip-hop flavored band, Dragon Crest Collective, whose debut, Volume 1, dropped yesterday. The album was created in Francis’s self-built home studio in Connecticut.

Dragon Crest Collective is a homespun, collaboration-fueled foray into the most groove-heavy territory the singer/songwriter/multi-instrumentalist has ever explored. “In all my years of making music, one of my favorite things is when a concert feels like a party,” said Francis. “I wanted to make this record feel like a party too, lighthearted and fun and rockin’ even though it’s got its serious moments.”

On Volume 1, Francis drew much inspiration from the fusion of groove-powered instrumentals and lo-fi hip-hop that the Beastie Boys offered up on their 1992 classic Check Your Head. Dragon Crest Collective finds the Dispatch co-founder teaming up with Danny “dbone” Golden (keyboards, drum programming), Paul Maddison (guitar, bass), and Kenny Shaw (drums) to create a joyfully hip-hop-inspired take on alt-rock. Special guests on the album include guitarist Darian Cunning (who tears through a transcendent solo on the bass-soaked, ultra-danceable “King Kong”) and the Funky Dawgz Brass Band (who heat up tracks like the chant-along-worthy party jam “Dance Dance Dance Dance” with their fiery horn work). The album release will be preceded by the first single, “Turn Me On,” an unbridled paean to family life, bursting with joyous and revelatory rhymes and rockin’ hip-hop grooves.

Tickets to the Stephen Talkhouse show on June 12 are $20 in advance and $30 at the door. Visit www.stephentalkhouse.com.