Dashboard Confessional
brings evocative style to Disney Springs’ House of Blues on Sunday.
Even though Chris Carrabba was born in Connecticut, the Dashboard Confessional frontman prefers Florida weather over the cold. “I wish I was FaceTime-ing with you so you could see what it looks like here,” he said on the phone from Quebec.
Beginning in 1999, Carrabba has led Dashboard out of Boca Raton, where he has lived since he was 16. The band released its seventh studio album, “Crooked Shadows,” in January and will be hitting the House of Blues in Disney Springs on Sunday. (6:30 p.m., 1490 E. Buena Vista Drive, Lake Buena Vista, $33-$63, live nation.com)
Carrabba, 42, shared his thoughts on the new album, his connection to his fans and his relationship with being known as emo. Questions and answers have been edited for length and clarity.
Question: Was there any particular idea you were exploring in the new album?
Answer: I think there were two main themes
that I was dealing with. One was committing to being there for the ones you love, which is a fantastic responsibility and can be joyous. But it can also leave you guilt-ridden because there’s no way to get it right.
At the same time, I was looking at a lot of social inequities that I thought we had advanced beyond but seemed to be regressing.
Q: Emo (a form of punk with confessional, emotional lyrics) has been a heavily debated term. Is that a term you connect with?
A: I feel we are part of that genre and part of that culture. I only ever felt out of place being called emo two times. One was in the beginning because I thought it was an appropriated term that applied to these heroes of mine. I got over that when these people we looked up to gave us a nod of approval.
And then a little bit later, there was a period where I didn’t feel associated with other people’s definitions of emo … It became this lightning rod of criticism, and it became a word that was used to tease people. But … I think
the new kids who do it now do it with a great appreciation for the genre.
Q: You write very personal songs. Are those uncomfortable to share with your fans?
A: It’s personal to me, but it’s not necessarily about me. I trade in the art of shared emotionality. A chord structure will have an emotional arc to it, and I will try to face that feeling as a lyricist and try to relate that feeling in almost a vignette if I can. … It’s there to be appropriated.
Q: Are you as big a fan of yourself as your fans are?
A: I think that I get to be a fan of doing it. This relationship we have with our fan base is reciprocal. In the live setting, they sing without restraint and then so will I, and it all mixes into a thing that couldn’t have happened if either of us wasn’t there.
Q: You kind of look younger now than when you started. Are you a vampire?
A: I think it’s because I discovered a hairstyle early that worked for me.