In February, Dashboard Confessional's Chris Carrabba scrapped an album's worth of material because it felt too safe.
"People who were already Dashboard fans probably would have liked those songs," he says. "And people who weren't would have had the same complaints as ever."
After two weeks of making demos in Florida, Carrabba teamed with Bob Dylan and U2 producer Daniel Lanois to work on fourteen songs in Lanois' Toronto home studio for the follow-up to 2004's A Mark, A Mission, A Brand, A Scar.
The new songs, such as the U2-ish "Heaven Here," rely less on anthemic guitar riffs than they do on heady sonic textures -- and ought to help Dashboard shake off the emo tag once and for all.
While Carrabba was in Toronto, he was treated to a late-night visit from the Band's Robbie Robertson. "He came by one night with a bottle of wine and said, 'Chris, can I hear your record?'" says the thirty-year-old singer, still incredulous. "You don't say no to Robbie Robertson."
Dashboard Confessional kick off a U.S. tour this Saturday in East Lansing, Michigan, and plans to release the still-untitled new album early next year.
Dashboard Confessional tour dates:
8/27: East Lansing, MI, Michigan State University
9/5: Seattle, Bumbershoot Festival
9/9: Boston, Avalon
9/10: Oneonta, NY, SUNY/Oneonta
9/23: Athens, GA, University of Georgia
9/29: Poughkeepsie, NY, Marist College
9/30: Rochester, NY, University of Rochester
10/1: Bowling Green, OH, Bowling Green State University
10/17: East Stroudsburg, PA, East Stroudsburg University
