Multi-instrumentalists, Chad Urmston, Brad Corrigan, and Pete Heimbold, formed Dispatch after meeting at Middlebury College in Vermont in 1996. The band's first gig was at Cosmic Cantina in Durham, North Carolina. Dispatch relocated to Boston, Massachusetts after they graduated from college. It was here that the band honed their live shows, during which the trio would showcase their versatile musical talents by swapping instrument duties mid-jam.
Despite getting very little airplay, Dispatch's fan base swiftly grew beyond Boston thanks to their music being shared for free on the peer-to-peer program, Napster. Francis told Daily News America that exposure through Napster meant Dispatch "suddenly went from playing mostly New York and Boston to touring California." Dispatch were avid supporters of Napster and even attended its congressional hearings in 2001, which ultimately resulted in the program being shut down that same year.
In 1994, while visiting Zimbabwe, Urmston met a local gardener named Elias Sithole. Despite living in poverty, Sithole told Urmston of his hope to send his three sons to university in the future. Urmston was inspired to put Sithole's story to song in "Elias." In 2005, Dispatch helped to form the Elias Fund, which successfully raised funds for all three of Sithole's children. The charity has since expanded into helping "communities across Zimbabwe to build a promising future for their children through poverty alleviation."
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