When Dashboard Confessional debuted with 2000's “Swiss Army Romance,” the band was only Chris Carrabba and his acoustic guitar. He gradually built Dashboard Confessional into a full band that became a touchstone for sensitive fans feeling their way through the world.
On Saturday, Carrabba goes bigger by teaming with the Louisville Orchestra, which might be as far as he can take this expansion thing. There's no place left to go.
“That's right,” Carrabba said, laughing. “They'll have to come with us, I guess.”
For a guy who's been a full-time musician for more than a decade, Carrabba is pretty shaky about Saturday's BB&T Strings Attached performance. Dashboard has never performed with an orchestra, and he can't help thinking about what could go wrong in a situation where improvisation cannot happen and a mistake could bring 70 musicians to a jarring stop.
“In my mind, there are only potential pitfalls,” he said. “I'm so nervous about it, even though I know that it'll be thrilling and it'll be a new experience for me musically, but it's all about the pitfalls at the moment. I'm just minding my P's and Q's because I don't want to be the guy who screws it up.”
Diehard Dashboard fans wouldn't hold it against him. Carrabba loyalists are passionate, in no small part because of his ability to write songs that directly reflect the agonies of youth — specifically that special place where boys and girls gather to break each other's hearts.
Carrabba's songs should give the orchestra plenty of drama to work with. He's known for lyrics that don't hold back when it comes to his heart being prominently displayed on his sleeve, and he has spread his diary over six albums. The latest, “Alter the Ending,” is scheduled for release Nov. 11.
Carrabba helped take emo — short for emotional — into the mainstream. More quiet and accessible than early emo bands, Dashboard Confessional quickly broke out of the underground with 2001's “The Places You Have Come to Fear the Most” and then secured its status with 2003's “A Mark, A Mission, A Brand, A Scar.” He followed that with a rock 'n' roll album that polarized fans, 2006's “Dusk and Summer,” and then a softer, more acoustic album in “The Shade of Poison Trees.”
Rather than leaning one direction or the other for “Alter the Ending,” Carrabba and the band chose both; it's a two-disc set, one electric and one acoustic.
“I have an affinity for both ways and an appreciation for both ways — it's strange how a song can have such different personalities. I wrote all of the songs on the new album on a guitar or piano … and you hear how you think they're supposed to go and that's how you chase it.”
The acoustic version was done almost by accident. The band had finished “Alter the Ending” and were sitting around playing guitars one afternoon when an unexpected fire was lit. They played one of the new songs with nothing but acoustic guitars, liked it, and then tried another.
“Before you know it we were back in the studio, and mind you, we were so over being in the studio at this point. We were so excited about not having to be in the studio for another year, but there was such a kinetic energy that we said, ‘Well, let's record these songs and see how they fare.'”
Only two or three “Alter the Ending” songs will be performed Saturday, which means that Carrabba has put together a best-of set of songs arranged for orchestra by Bill Myers. The band has been practicing for months, playing along with the scores, but Carrabba still worries.
“A friend who's done a lot of these things said, ‘Don't worry. If you make a mistake, you're right. They're your songs, so you can just say, “No, I was right,”'” Carrabba said, laughing. “I don't know if I can fall back on that, but that was the advice I was given.”
