Joel Young Blog.com

Today I was grooving to a little Pandora Radio and some good old school Dashboard Confessional came across my playlist. Not only did this simple acoustic sound bring back a lot of old memories, but I made me think about what this band did in their time.

If you’re not familiar with Dashboard they are a band that had a very simple start. Chris Carrabba was just another emo kid singing lead for the popular band Further Seems Forever when he up and left their electrified and energizing sound to do his own thing; just him and an acoustic guitar singing songs about girls, breakups, and feelings. And so Dashboard Confessional was born. Sounds pretty cheesy, but anyone who tells you they weren’t digging the sound at one point in time is just lying to seem more like a man.

The reason I was always impressed with Carrabba is that he popularized his music without any frills. In fact, when he finally added a band his popularity seemed to wain a bit in the transition. One of the trademarks of his live show is that he would often back off the mic for extended periods of time to allow the audience to sing the words, which they all knew by heart. It was unlike anything anyone else was doing and it was engaging thousands of people with simplicity. His open heart approach allowed him to attract men and women alike to his music.

In all of this I think there is something for the church to learn. We don’t need flashing lights and fancy sets to engage people. We trick ourselves into thinking that people always need a “killer show” to maintain interest, when what they really want is a genuinely honest approach. There’s certainly nothing wrong with throwing down a quality presentation, but it all has to start with simplicity and honesty.

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