![]() ![]() ![]() "I never wanted this project to be all about me," Carraba states. Not wanting to bill himself as a solo artist, Carraba came up with the name Dashboard Confessional, an allusion to a couplet ("on the way home/this car hears my confession") in his song "The Sharp Hint of New Tears." In January 2000, Fleisher finally persuaded Carraba to open for Vagrant artist Saves The Day at Blue Note Records in North Miami. "But I really thought no one would be into it, which didn't help my stage fright any." "She nagged me constantly to record or play out," Carraba recalls. Still, he kept his music to himself, over the vehement protests of Fleisher. So he picked up his acoustic guitar and banged out his frustrations, amassing an album's worth of material in a year's time. With a large local following, several regional tours and a record deal with Seattle indie Tooth & Nail records, Further Seems Forever raised Carraba's profile, yet frustrated his creativity, as he had no say in the band's songwriting. Not wanting to give up the rock just yet, Carraba instead joined emo-punk band Further Seems Forever as their lead vocalist. Fleisher, who had released a single for The Vacant Andy's, was duly impressed and immediately wanted to sign Carraba's new project. With little confidence that anyone would want to hear a punk-rock singer belt out acoustic material, Carraba made three copies: one for himself, one for his mom and one for Fiddler records owner Amy Fleisher. "It felt natural." Carraba recalls.Ī week later Carraba entered the studio and put the three songs to tape. With time to kill and his guitar in the office, an inspired Carraba knocked out three acoustic tunes before the school bell rang. In September 1998, a 23-year-old Carraba showed up an hour early to his job as an elementary school administrator. ![]() In a Dashboard Confessional world, boys do cry - and that's perfectly okay. With his matinee-idol looks and tattooed flesh, Carraba is an emo-punk Trojan Horse, drawing in the backpack chicks and tough guys with his dazzling smile and indie cred, then slaying them with his haunting acoustic melodies and tough-love tales. More likely, Dashboard Confessional is the harbinger of an acoustic punk revolution. Leaning against the Orbit nightclub's wall for support, Carraba manages a wan smile when asked to account for his surprising success and replies: "I don't know man, it was all just an accident."Īs Carraba's musical hero Elvis Costello once sang: "Accidents will happen." But while Carraba's ashes-to-phoenix rise from singer/guitarist of obscure Boca Raton, Florida, emo-punk band The Vacant Andy's to indie-rock icon can be traced to a three-song demo he made three copies of, his breakthrough is no mere accident. If that wasn't enough, on this night he kicked off the second half of a 285-date, yearlong tour. He's also weathered a firestorm of controversy over his decision to switch label affiliation from major-label farm club Drive-Thru to red-hot indie Vagrant. It's a steamy February night in Boynton Beach, Florida, and Chris Carraba is exhausted.Ĭarraba, the one-man, acoustic emo-rock army professionally known as Dashboard Confessional, has just completed The Things You Have Come to Fear the Most, his second album in nine months. ![]()
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