Someone honestly describe Dashboard Confessional

So, is this a case where Dashboard Confessional are more like a less memorable Goo Goo Dolls or Lemonheads, with some minor "emo" elements?

Thanks jess and Yancey, in any case. Please keep the descriptions coming.

I don't like Sunny Day, but I do like No Knife's Fire in the City, by the way.

Jess... yes, didn't mean to jump the gun. I'd happily encourage the ILE to kick down still. You may be right after all.

That is true. Technically, Dashboard Confessional IS Christopher Carraba. DC is not the typical band. Carraba is the only constant member. He gets other musicians to play with him as needed. Carraba considered being a solo act and using his own name, but felt it wouldn't let him achieve his primary goal of having his audience sing along and be a part of the performance. The *real* DC thus becomes a *group* composed of Carraba, the musicians, and the audience singing songs in unison or together alternately. Last summer, MTV's "Unplugged" featured DC; it fantastically showed how Carraba's audience participation concept works.

Perhaps a reason many people have difficulty with DC's songs is that they are not lyrically poetic. In his unique rebellious buck-the-trend style, Carraba doesn't write his songs in traditional stanzas. His songs are prose set to music. Please read his songs; they're good short stories.

Another reason may be Carraba focuses on intimate and intense emo-tional subjects. He plunges directly into a Pandora's box of feelings and continues to dive deeper. Songs center on sad situations with significant feelings of angst and despair. Carraba offers few silver linings amid the dark clouds.

Another possible reason ... Carrba's songs lack refrains. Without a repeated verse to interrupt the progression of the song, there is no aesthestic distance to comfort listeners.

Carraba's tunes and lyrics are good. Unfortuately when he unites them, his delivery can come across as jolting instead of harmonic. He often sounds like his is shouting out in rage more than singing melodically. For some songs that works brilliantly, yet others need a more wistful or melancholic delivery. Interestingly, the best part of the MTV show was his audience singing his novella-like songs from memory in a way that made them sound lyrical.

Can someone describe ... Dashboard Confessional ... without citing once how good or bad looking Chris

That seems impossible. Not just for Carraba, but for any singer or group. Appearance is a significant part of artistic persona. Listeners who find a singer or band unattractive are less likely to find their music appealing. And obviously, vice versa. That's not to say that everyone who finds a singer or band attractive will like their music, but they will be more apt to listen. As you noted DonutBitch, perhaps your friends judged DC more on Carraba than they did his music.

Diatribe over.

Personal note: Do I get a cookie for following your order and babbling ad nauseum, Sire?

And just to say ... I am not Christopher Carraba. Though I would gladly play beach blanket bingo with him any day. Or night. ;-)