Dashboard Confessional Will Always Be There for You

Pop quiz: Name a bigger 21st-century emo band than Dashboard Confessional.

Time’s up. Answer: Trick question – Dashboard Confessional is the biggest.

What originally started as the solo side project of lead vocalist and guitarist Chris Carrabba while he was still fronting Further Seems Forever, the Florida group burst onto the scene and immediately into the mainstream after its second and third albums – The Places You Have Come to Fear the Most (2001) and A Mark, a Mission, a Brand, a Scar (2003) – reached certified-gold status.

Ever since then, even after the band took a brief hiatus to focus on other creative endeavors between 2011 and 2015, Dashboard cemented itself as an indie darling-turned-rock star, while continually delivering what scene kids crave most, thanks to Carrabba’s vulnerable lyricism. From the very beginning, he wore his heart on his sleeve and made anyone who ever listened to Dashboard feel comfortable doing the same.

“Screaming Infidelities” and “Hands Down” are all-time emo anthems, and they never get old, according to Carrabba, especially since those songs never left the setlist since they were released. “We’ve continued playing these songs, new songs, but also the old songs,” he says. “They’re living things to me. They exist in the now, as has our audience as we’ve played them.”

As the preeminent emo band, Dashboard – which currently includes bassist Scott Schoenbeck, guitarists Armon Jay and Kenny Bridges, drummer Chris Kamrada and backing vocalist Abigail Kelly – has carved out a consistent career, regularly releasing new music since returning from its hiatus nearly a decade ago. Most recently, Carrabba & Co. teamed up with fellow emo-loving pop-punk crooners BOYS LIKE GIRLS for a new single, “Watch the Fire,” released last month via Nettwerk Music Group. And, yes, it’s as good as you expect it to be, in all its acoustic-guitar glory.

Carrabba has worked with Martin Johnson, the singer and guitarist of BOYS LIKE GIRLS, before, but the opportunity to co-write a song hadn’t presented itself until after the two bands planned their first tour together.

“We’re buds from the scene. … We kept running into each other really far away, though, like, the-other-side-of-the-world far away. Every time we did, we kept talking about how is it that we’ve never really done shows together. Before you know it, we were booking a tour,” Carrabba explains, adding that he and Johnson, who lives down the street from him, were just passing the time when they naturally began collaborating on a tune that would eventually become “Watch the Fire.”

“We didn’t really have an agenda to do a single together,” he continues. “We just started hanging out because we were looking toward the summer. We just couldn’t wait. Before you know it, somebody picked up a guitar – I think it was me – and we started writing a song.”

The fresh track is the perfect appetizer to the upcoming three-course live shows. The Denver stop is slated for Wednesday, October 16, at the Fillmore Auditorium. Taylor Acorn is also on the bill.

Carrabba, who is thoughtful and insightful when discussing Dashboard’s emo impact and enduring spirit, is open to and accepting of everything he and his bandmates can provide for people, whether that’s “a wellspring of nostalgia” or a fresh, initial experience. Either way, it’s like “a serotonin delivery system,” he says.

“You get deeply attached to music that finds you in a formative phase in your life,” Carrabba adds. “Whatever you’re going through, the music that gets you through it or helps you celebrate it creates a pathway of some kind, like a neural pathway.

“I think some people use it as a way to maybe visit who they were for a minute. I think that’s really healthy. … Art is supposed to be instructive in a way that is meaningful for your needs, whatever those needs might be.”

After all, he still considers himself a fan of the scene, so he loves seeing the resurgent popularity in emo, including the comeback of the Vans Warped Tour. Dashboard also played the inaugural When We Were Young festival in 2022.

“As a kid that grew up listening to that music, I have a lot of pride in being part of it,” he says, adding that he’s happy for his peers – bands that are experiencing a career renaissance, in particular. “We’ve been very lucky that whether the scene is having a moment or not, we have had a pretty healthy career.”

That’s why he says “gratitude abounds” when talking about his appreciation for the fans and music that has made up the scene over the past two-plus decades.

“I don’t think you’re talking to a guy who didn’t ever appreciate it. It’s something I wanted so badly in my life, and I have not stopped wanting it so badly in my life,” he shares. “I am constantly so thrilled, and more than a little bit astonished, that I continue to have it in my life.

Plus, Carrabba concludes, “It is still a community of people ready to sing their hearts out.”

Dashboard Confessional, with BOYS LIKE GIRLS and Taylor Acorn, 5:30 p.m. Wednesday, October 16, Fillmore Auditorium, 1510 Clarkson Street. Tickets are $60.