Dashboard Confessional is Christopher Carrabbas creation--an outlet for introspective moments of solitude. Two years ago, the now 25-year-old singer-songwriter turned to song to get out what was inside. From the acceptance his two albums, The Swiss Army Romance and The Places You Have Come to Fear the Most, have received from not-easily-won-over punk rock audiences around the country, there are a lot of people who relate. Carrabbas style is intimate and visceral. Unlike the raucous punk sounds of his previous bands, Further Seems Forever and The Vacant Andys, Dashboard is a quiet affair: Carrabbas acoustic accompanied by simple bass and drums.
A native of Connecticut, Carabba was always interested in music, singing in the school chorus and messing around with a guitar his uncle gave him at 15. He didnt get serious with his playing until a few years later. Carrabbas mother encouraged him in music, even sitting him down in front of MTV when it premiered and telling him thats what he was going to do. Before his music career took off, he was a teacher and school administrator at an elementary school in South Florida.
Carrabbas leap of faith began when he left his former band, donated his belongings to Goodwill and hopped in a van to start his first tour with Dashboard Confessional. Carrabbas fans were won by word-of-mouth and albums bought by the handful at local shows around Florida. Dashboard's first headlining gig in North Carolina was so sold out that fans that had driven hours to hear Carrabba loitered outside to catch a glimpse through the doorway. The venue was unable to stay open for a second show, so Carrabba brought his guitar outside to play for those who had waited.
The Places You Have Come To Fear The Most was originally released in April of 2001, and in four short months sold more than 40,000 units. After co-headlining a summer of sold out shows on the Vagrant America Tour, including two nights at New Yorks Irving Plaza, four nights in Chicago and two at the House of Blues in Los Angeles, Dashboard Confessionals album was re-launched that fall. Courtesy of Vagrant Records.