Chris Carrabba, known for his emotionally-charged lyrics and acoustic guitar reveries as the frontman for Dashboard Confessional, will take the stage Saturday at Local 506 with his new folk-inspired band Twin Forks. The band released its debut self-titled EP on Tuesday, and senior writer John Howell, Jr. spoke with Carrabba about the upcoming show, his new style and songwriting.
Diversions: When did you begin thinking about a new direction for your music, and why the change?
Chris Carrabba: I think I began thinking about a new direction three or four years ago without knowing what it was, just knowing that I needed one. My solution at the time was to change my playing style as radically as I could. So, I started studying Travis picking style in a further endeavor to broaden my solo shows. Basically your thumb is playing the base line and your fingers are playing the lead guitar line.
And then you’re singing, of course, a different melody. So it’s like you’re accompanying yourself. It took a long time playing that before songs just started happening naturally. I recorded a few “barn-burners” still within that template, but a more adrenalized, upbeat version. It began as a very delicate thing. And I like that, but I also like to stomp my feet.
We went off to play at a festival called Hardly Strictly Bluegrass, which kind of sums up what we are in a funny way. When we played those songs that had that boot-stomping feature, it was a bit of a eureka moment. And right there at that show was when Twin Forks was born.
Dive: What’s the story behind a rule you made not to use the words “love” and “heart in your songs?
CC: I set those rules for myself, but they’re arbitrary. I set a lot of rules for myself as I go, but I stick to them. When I feel like I’ve exhausted language to replace those words, that’s when I go back to using them. I spent literally three years writing songs without using any of those words. When I came back, it was truly the right time to use those words. I know that’s standard verbiage, but it’s also the right thing for the story, for the song, for the moment. The point is to try and excel without them, and then at some point use them when it’s really the most potent way they can be used.
Dive: Do you feel pressure to reinvent your style and prove your skills as a musician, and do you enjoy the challenge?
CC: The answer is probably yes, on some levels. I think I’d like to be regarded as a good guitarist. I don’t know that I’m not, or that I am. This is the first style of playing where I said here’s a set of rules, and if I can excel within the parameters of these rules, then I can consider myself a good player.
Dive: For you, how does a song evolve? Is there a particular method or process you follow?
CC: You find a fruitful place a songwriter. Either a physical place, or a state of mind. I really stay in that place until there are no more damn songs there to find. And then I have to change it. You’ve got to go to whatever tree is bearing fruit, I guess. So many people write songs so many different ways.
Variation as a writer is represented well on this record. “Scraping Up the Pieces” is one of those odd moments where I wrote the lyrics very quickly without a guitar. I did have a guitar part in mind. I grabbed a piece of paper and wrote all the lyrics and then some for that song. Most often what I’ll do is I’ll be playing the guitar and I’ll just sing the melody with a little bit of nonsense words.
The thing is, there is some sense in those words. You don’t realize you’ve been working out a story in your head before you ever picked up that guitar. When it goes well, it’s like this seamless euphoria. But when it doesn’t go well, the truth is you’re not spending enough time away from the songwriting process. Like living and allowing stories to form throughout your daily life. Sometimes you get so determined to write the song that you get writer’s block because you’re more focused on the action of writing songs than you are living your life and collecting the stories that happen. That’s where the seed is planted.
Dive: Is your songwriting a cathartic exercise, or more of a calculated design?
CC: Songwriting can be cathartic, but it’s more euphoric. I grew up skateboarding, and it’s very similar. It’s a really frustrating thing when you’ve almost got a trick skillfully mastered. You can do everything except land it with two feet. When you finally land a skateboard trick two-footed and you can do it into another trick, it’s a euphoric feeling. And that’s what I feel like when I’m writing.
Dive: Is there anyone that you dream of being on stage with, or just jamming with in the studio?
CC: Gosh, there’s so many. Brandi Carlile comes to mind. I’m a big fan. Kanene from The Lone Bellow and I did a little duet on stage one night and it was electrical. I’d love to do something with her at some point live again.
Dive: Does the new band lend itself more to larger audiences or small venues?
CC: We’ve played a lot of big festivals and done very well. By that I mean we were able, I feel, to connect with the audience and move the audience even though there were a large number of them. I’ve made no secret that I personally like smaller shows better. I’m really enjoying the state of the band. I don’t know whether we’ll play bigger and bigger venues. The only way we would be willing to do that is if we discover we’re able to radiate joy within that number of people.
Dive: Do you and the band have any pre-show superstitions?
CC: We’re creatures of habit. If that’s like pre-show superstitions then we do have a lot of them. None of them are particularly crowd pleasing, that’s why they take place backstage. The one thing we do is play covers that we love. Stuff that’s well beyond our skill level and we get a good laugh at ourselves for crashing and burning. We have fun doing it. It gets the mistakes that are inevitable out of the way before we actually get on stage. Not that we never make mistakes on stage. That’s kind of the best part of shows actually. You kind of blow it and then suddenly you’re in new territory that you didn’t expect.
Dive: What can the audience expect at the show?
CC: It’s a really joyous experience. I’ve never had this much fun in a band and I’ve been in a lot of bands that were a lot of fun. I think we all feel that way. It’s celebratory. Of what, I don’t know. I guess that we are allowed to be in a band, how much more lucky could we be? I think it radiates through the room and then right back to us. When you go to a show, I think you feel like that if it’s any good.
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