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{ True Madness Magazine }
Music Reviews
Dashboard Confessional, A Mark, A Mission, A Brand, A Scar
Vagrant, 2003
By Joey Eddy
Alternative rock outfit, Dashboard Confessional, hails from Boca Raton, FL, where singer and songwriter Christopher Carrabba is quickly solidifying his claim to fame. Starting off slowly, Carrabba, former lead singer of emo-rock band Further Seems Forever, made eyes tear up and hormones rise to the first recorded sounds on his first LP, The Swiss Army Romance. While this album furthered the career of the now acoustic artist, it had yet to cement his standing as an up and coming musician who elicited emotions from teenagers across the country.
In March 2001, Dashboard Confessional released an album which would be memorized by fans in mere weeks. The Places We Have Come To Fear The Most placed Carrabba in the spotlight of the indie rock (emo) genre and clearly became the voice of a scene.
After his startling and unexpected rise to the top, thousands prepared for Dashboard Confessional's third release which would provide fans nation wide with countless new lyrics to scribble in class and sing at the top of their lungs. What did they get?
While A Mark, A Mission, A Brand, A Scar was not released recently (in fact, released in late July of 2003), the bonus edition has been released in order to satisfy fans expecting "special features" which are included in the album. The newest LP from Dashboard Confessional is by far the most complex album to explain.
Before 2003, Chris Carrabba was a solo-artist who wrote acoustic ballads based on previous romantic entanglements and tragic events with family and friends. It was a one man show. In fact, he left a popular and successful Further Seems Forever in order to venture into a solo career. Carrabba succeeded.
So why were my ears introduced to a band? Dashboard Confessional has taken a bold leap forward and solidified their ranks. Scott Schoenbeck (Bass), John Lefler (Second Guitar), and Mike Marsh (Drums) are the newest editions to this newly formed soft rock outlet.
And while many may have approved of this sudden change there is a quite a few who are baffled. The album is packed full of catchy ballads which have the same flair and understanding fans require, but, where is the soul? Where is the picturesque Carrabba driving home from a disastrous love affair assuring himself that he had done his best? Where are the dashboard confessionals?
Plenty of Carrabba's fans felt as if they were being let into a private moment with an artist whom dealt with what the world dealt with. Carrabba didn't care about fame, fortune and stature. Dashboard was about the romance of life and the pain it often dealt. The fans were looking into a window laid out for them to be assured that even the beautiful and well off didn't leave perfect lives.
Christopher Carrabba himself looks like a pin-up model. His jet black hair slicked back in a retro cut, a strong jaw, and auburn eyes displayed a man who didn't look like he had problems getting girls in high school.
But, there was something inside this man which made him an artist. Something singular, simple and wonderful which made fellow musicians want to write with such honesty and fans cry out in adoration. Live shows were packed with this energy and Carrabba wouldn't leave the stage after a show. He'd stay and discuss the future with those who are his family on the road, to those who comfort, to those who understand what it means to feel like there was something missing in life.
Though, time will tell if the addition of a band will, in fact, create less personable and comfortable songs from Carrabba and company.
Christopher Carrabba and Dashboard Confessional are not role models. Nor is he a man to be idolized or looked up to. He is just like one of us.
He lives. He loves. He feels pain.
And then he tells us about it.
Rating: 3 out of 5
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