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Ok, millennials, this may be hard to process, but January marked the twentieth anniversary of Dashboard Confessional’s emo masterpiece “Screaming Infidelities.” I know, I know. Where does the time go?
But stifle those angsty flashbacks because there’s good news. Late last month the band released their ninth album, All the Truth That I Can Tell, once again mixing the vulnerability and punk spirit that helped define a whole generation of rock, and it finds founder Chris Carrabba in Y2K-era form.
For many fans, the new tunes feel like a callback to Dashboard’s early days, with Carrabba seemingly writing of the truth he’s found after surviving a traumatic time: The Franklin-based frontman and songwriter endured a harrowing motorcycle wreck in 2020, one that severed muscles in his arms and shoulders and threatened to end his career—if not worse. But surprisingly, this album was completed before the accident. Carrabba spoke with Nashville Lifestyles about why that’s so hard to believe and joining his emo brethren for the massive When We Were Young Festival in Las Vegas this October.
Like a musical crystal ball:
[The album is] called All the Truth That I Can Tell, and it was strangely prescient. It was written and recorded not long before my accident—pre- pandemic—and as a writer, I was looking inward and saying, ‘Who am I now? How did I get here?’ I was surprised to find I was somebody who had overcome a lot of challenges and difficulties. In my youth, I’m not sure I would have predicted that I could get through this stuff, so it felt good to acknowledge as a grown up that, yeah, those were hard times, but I got through. When you’re younger you just complain. I’ll be honest, I am patently shocked that I did not write this record after the accident. If I didn’t know for myself that I finished this thing before that wreck, I would not know it [by listening]. That’s why I want to make sure I’m honest about it up front, because I think the story of it being about an accident and getting through it, that’s a meaty hook, but I don’t want to falsify it. It just feels so much about that to me.
A classic sound reborn:
With my first two records I was just in one place, one state of mind emotionally and place of inspiration, and I had moved to a new place after that. But I’ll be honest, I know that my fan base – that’s what they wanted more of. ... And personally, I’ve wanted to get back to that place since the moment I left it. The one thing I was acutely aware of about that emotional space was that, for me, if I’m not there, there’s no manufacturing it. I’ve been waiting to get back to that place and hoping. So, to people saying [the new album] relates sonically to those early records, I can only hope there’s a sense of satisfaction in that. I’m comfortable with who I was and who he became, and I think this record is a fantastic companion to those two records, without ignoring the time in between. I hope there’s another one like this in me, and I hope it’s next.
On the road again:
It feels amazing [to be going on tour with Jimmy Eat World]. Last year was complicated because I had to go through all that physical therapy and go through learning how to be a human being again, and I also had to learn how to play guitar. It took over a year to learn how at a level you would expect to be in front of people, but I got there and then the tour was canceled because the Delta numbers had skyrocketed. When the tour was canceled last year, I know I still had more work to do. I needed two more surgeries, and I’ve had them now, so I don’t have those things living in my mind. I woke up one day over the holiday break and realized maybe I’m better. Maybe I just feel whole now, a year-and-a-half after.
Nashville strong:
I think this is year eight for me, and I’ve loved every minute of living in Nashville. Having moved here from a lot of cities in America and abroad, in every one of them—even the big ones like New York and L.A.—I had to explain what I did for a living a lot. You had to almost apologize for yourself, for the field you’ve excelled in. But when you come here and you just say this is what I do, everybody thinks of it as a value in the world, and of course you would do that for a living! And you must be a very hard worker. It’s a wonderful way to be viewed, and that has made me even more proud of the field I chose. To be among friends and strangers who appreciate the whole industry I’m in and what it is, and not think I’m a slacker? You would be surprised how many people from the graduating class of my era of emo and indie rock and punk rock live here. We are a community unto ourselves, and I’ve found that I have the deepest roots of my adult life here.