Name: Christopher Ender Carrabba (guitar/vocals)
Current Band: Scott Shoenbeck (bass), Mike Marsh (drums/backup vocals), and John Leifer (2nd guitar/piano)
Others Who Have played with Chris: Mike Stroud (from Ben Kweller), Dan Bonebrake
Bio: The story of Dashboard Confessional is your basic Wayne's World tale of two friends. When Chris's Uncle Angelo gave him his first guitar at the age of 15 he began teaching himself how to play. Amongst all of the skateboarding he found time to form a band called the Vacant Andys. After they broke up, Chris found himself with another band. Further Seems Forever. After playing a bunch of gigs with them and recording "The Moon Is Down," he asked his producer if he could use left-over studio time to record a couple tapes of his side-gig, Dashboard Confessional (taken from "The Sharp Hint of New Tears"). The tape was originally for his family to listen to, and mainly for his sister. He gave one copy to his sister, and the other one to one of his best friends, Amy Fleisher, who, at the time, was running Fiddler Records. After the two original copies, Amy, decides to make a copy for a couple friends, and then they copy it for a couple friends, and so on, and so on... This was probably a key element for Chris's music. The fact that it was only intended for few to hear causes it to hit on a more personal note, a note that teenagers can relate to. This "Dear diary" effect gives him the air of a human being, instead of an untouchable rock-star. Pretty soon Chris and the guys of FSF went their separate ways, Chris to pursue his acoustic solo act, and FSF to find a new vocalist I guess... Chris then donated all of his belongings to Good Will and packed up a van to take his act on the road. Pretty soon he found his small gigs turning into packed shows. When he headlined his first gig in North Carolina, fans traveled hours just to see him live, and many were stuck outside of the packed venue. After asking the venue if he could do one more show, and not getting the answer he wanted, Chris picked up his guitar and played a second performance in the street for those who waited outside the venue. Carrabba moved on to bigger things, touring for just about a year straight with bands like, Saves the Day, and Midtown. Later he was discovered by some major punk rock labels like Drivethru. Where he recorded "The Swiss Army Romance." After a few minor squabbles, Carrabba decided not to sign with Drivethru, and turned to Vagrant, where he is currently signed. On Vagrant he landed a hit album, "The Places You Have Come to Fear the Most" that climbed to #5 on the Billboard Indie Album charts. He recorded a video for the second track, "Screaming Infidelities" which is now in constant rotation on MTV and in the hand-picked video category on MTV2. And now nominated for the MTV2 Award at MTV's VMA's. He has just kicked off his headlining tour with Hot Rod Circuit, and his new video for track 5 on Places, "Saints and Sailors" has been released. Boasting a powerful voice, playing catchy guitar riffs, and belting out complicated lyrics, Dashboard Confessional is taking the music industry by storm. Girls everywhere would do anything to meet him, and many guys I know would do anything to be him. So is he the next big thing? To many he is, but to himself, he is not. "To me, I'm not. I've heard that before, about bands that ended up being nothing. It would be really cool, don't get me wrong. I'd be so excited. But I'm not blinded by the bright light of fame. That's not where my desires lie. That is sort of like the bile that comes with the beautiful aspect of what I do. I've never attached myself to that dream, that 'I want to be famous' thing. I know it's a possibility. That's not my goal, though. My goal is to effect people because they connect with me."

Written by: Mike Pokryfke (MY GOD THAT TOOK ME FOREVER!)