Concert in your area for Rock, Metal, and Indie & Alt.
Formed of cousins Jordan Dreyer on vocals and Brad Vander Lugt on drums, La Dispute invited guitarists Kevin Whittemore and Derek Sterenberg, and bassist Adam Kool to complete the line-up. The band’s earliest performances came around the local area, largely in people’s front rooms and at the Division Avenue Arts Collective (local arts centre) in Downtown Grand Rapids. La Dispute released their debut EP “Vancouver” in 2006 marking the departure of Chad Sternberg who was replaced by his older brother Derek. The material was the only release La Dispute would make through Friction Records and the group didn’t consider themselves a serious band until the arrival of Adam Vass and departure of Derek Sternberg and Adam Kool.
In early 2008 La Dispute signed with Southern California label No Sleep Records which soon after the band release an exclusive vinyl record “Untitled 7”” formed of two original tracks. Ahead of their debut album release, the band released an anticipatory EP titled “Here, Hear” which had a proclivity to the avant-garde.
Towards the tail end of 2008 La Dispute released their debut album “Somewhere at the Bottom of the River Between Vega and Altair”. The album earned positive reviews from critics and fans alike, was supported by three shows in their home state of Michigan, U.S. and shortly after released the second part of their experimental EP project “Here, Hear II”. The year after in December 2009, the band released the third part in the EP series “Here, Hear III” and a Christmas EP with the name “Winter Tour Holiday CD-R featuring the cover “Twas The Night Before Christmas” and the original song “First Snow in Silent Grand Rapids”.
In support of post-hardcore band Alexisonfire across the U.S., La Dispute embarked on a nationwide tour and released a split 7” extended play with Touché Amoré entitled “Searching for a Pulse/The Worth of the World”. In spring 2011 La Dispute released a split EP with acoustic singer, songwriter Andrew Koji Shiraki with the name “Never Come Undone” and embarked on a European tour alongside Touché Amoré and Norwegian band Death Is Not Glamorous, including shows at Hevy Festival in the UK and Leperfest in Belgium.
La Dispute’s second full-length album arrived in 2011 entitled “Wildlife” spawning the singles “The Most Beautiful Bitter Fruit” and “Harder Harmonies”. Subsequentlyy the band embarked on a nationwide tour of the U.S. alongside Thrice, Moving Mountains and O’Brother, and worldwide tour including the majority Europe and Australia.
After more religiously-devoted touring including shows at the UK’s Download Festival along with Greenfield Festival and Hurricane Festival, the band announced they had left No Sleep Records and were forming their own label with the name Better Living. La Dispute’s third studio album “Rooms of the House” was released via Big Scary Monsters on March 18, 2014 to positive reviews and was supported by more relentless touring with over 70 shows play in 16 countries worldwide.
La Dispute have a strange effect on people. They’re a heavy band. Post-hardcore? Spoken word? Tambourine? Yep. Yet, everyone loves it. So much so that they’re playing this year’s NME/Radio 1 stage at Reading & Leeds. It’s bizarre to see a band from the punk sub-genres gracing the stage; especially one who, on paper, are so unaccessible.
But, when you see them live, it all makes sense. As Jordan Dreyer stumbles across the stage; screaming, singing and speaking - sometimes all at once, the entire crowd is always transfixed.
The guitar work is always flawless live, providing the band’s unique melodies while the drumming is consistent and exciting. They succeed in crossing the genres because they pay no attention to genres. The songs are poppy and heavy at the same time.
When tracks like “Said the King to the River” and “Andria” come out, the crowd goes wild. Pushing, shoving, screaming as loud as is humanly possible. Yet, none of this compares to the final section of “King Park” which manages to cause riot-like movement in the audience. The band are unique, even for a genre like post-hardcore, and manage to pull everyone in. With career-spanning setlist with all the fan-favourites, spectacular musicianship and amazing crowd interaction; there’s not much which comes close to a La Dispute show.
Maxq333
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