Less than 18 months on from playing their first ever show, DISPUTE have just found themselves playing crowds a couple of thousand strong, as they support AFI on their UK tour. “We feel pretty lucky” says Jeremy Lux, lead singer and long-time friend of AFI’s Davey Havok. “It’s a great opportunity and we wanted it really badly. We’ve paid for our own flights, our tour bus – literally we’ve funded ourselves to come and do this. In fact, we’ll be lucky if we actually break-even on this tour, but it has definitely been worth it”.
On stage, Dispute seem as though they have been doing this all their lives. A large venue, packed to capacity with another band’s fans, cannot be the easiest of audiences and could make many a stalwart rocker tremble – Dispute seem calmly self-assured and very comfortable in their own stage-shoes. In London, they maturely soldier on through terrible sound (some techie’s head should roll) and in Manchester, they gate-crash fellow support act The Explosion’s set, semi-naked and sporting builders’ hats. Personality is certainly not a thing this band lacks.
Despite the name, Dispute is not a political band – 4 of 5 members are straight edge and vegan or vegetarian, but there is no hint of moral preaching in their lyrics. There is, however, great depth and personal meaning to some of their songs: for example, ‘Kiss the case’ written about the loss of their friend Ernie Cortez. Ernie was the bass player for hardcore band Powerhouse, who died of stomach cancer, without even telling those close to him that he was ill. The lyrics are not overly emotional: “We stand in line and wait our turn. We kiss the case of no return,”
|
but making the finality of death so factual and undeniable, makes the song even more powerful.
The fact that they are inspired by artists as diverse as The Beatles, Queens of the Stone Age and Rancid, may explain why Dispute’s music is difficult to pigeon-hole, as they flit from hardcore to pop-punk, song by song. “We like a little bit of the artists we emulate to come out in our songs” Lux explains, and he’s right - you can easily discern which influence was at play with each song. Far from being disjointed, this means their live set keeps you on your toes.
By the 4th show of the tour, you can recognise which AFI fans have been to the preceding shows, because now the first few rows of people are singing along to Dispute. Outside Brixton after the London show, some German fans have gathered, clutching their Dispute merch and asking for autographs. The boys look bashful, but this is a great start for a band with so much promise.
With a full length album in the pipe-line and such a big tour under their belt, it looks as though Dispute’s spectacular dedication will pay off. “We live for what we do” says Lux “We’ve put our all in to the future of this band.” Well, you can’t argue with that.
(Check out vexedrecords.com and myspace.com/disputecalifornia.)
|
