THREE TIMES A CHARM? If a cat has nine lives, how many lives does a Cat Power show have? We’re on number three right now, as the already postponed (because of injury) arrival of Chan Marshall has been rescheduled yet again — this time not at the Coolidge Corner Theatre, where the demure indie singer/songwriter was to have performed months ago, but at the Middle East’s downstairs room on Thursday, April 4. Since that’s within this week’s coverage period, we wouldn’t ordinarily mention it as a " future " event — but every time we list a Cat Power show, we wind up back here the next week telling you to hold onto your tickets. Will she or won’t she? Your guess is as good as ours; but if she doesn’t show this time, we give up. That’s April 4 at the Middle East, 480 Mass Ave in Central Square; call (617) 864-EAST.
MALDEN ROCK CITY: Not exactly noted as a thriving rock-and-roll metropolis, the town of Malden nonetheless does have its home-town heroes. And a bunch of them — we hesitate to say " all " — will gang up for the Malden Music Fest 2002, which benefits the construction of a new Malden YMCA. Former Extreme/Van Halen singer Gary Cherone will play an acoustic set of songs from his new band Tribe of Judah; he’ll also sit in with his brother Markus’s band SuperZero. Current DeNiros frontman Jon Surrette will convene a reunion of his punk-era group Boy’s Life. Malden High grad Linda Bean (ex-Orbit) will bring her punk band Frigate. And eternal one-man-band " Preacher Jack " Coughlin will ramble on. That’s April 27 at 5 p.m. in the Malden High School auditorium, 77 Salem Street. It’s all-ages, and tickets are $20; call (617) 423-NEXT.
NEXT WEEKEND:
Dashboard Confessional
Dashboard Confessional’s The Places You Have Come To Fear the Most (Vagrant) was not only one of last year’s biggest indie breakthroughs, it was also one of the most surprising. Plunging into depths of heartbreak that seemed severe even for emo, main man Chris Carrabba got rid of the genre’s hardcore framework (he was in the still-active Florida punk band Further Seems Forever when he started performing as Dashboard Confessional) and put its melodic and poetic hallmarks in an unlikely new context: the unplugged singer/songwriter format. He’s not the first rock dude to go acoustic, of course, but few have seen their songwriting and performance skills jell the way Carrabba’s have since the switch — and even fewer have been rewarded with Carrabba’s exploding sales numbers.
Dashboard have been playing to increasingly large crowds in the year since Places was released; this Thursday, they’ll headline the Worcester Palladium. And if Carrabba can’t quite explain how he’s gotten a nation of hardcore kids excited about music that could loosely be described as folk rock, he’s not complaining. " At first, I think it was the scene I came out of; I only knew those bands to play with, you know? And then, I think there’s a sing-along nature to DC shows that’s similar to the hardcore scene, so maybe there’s some crossover. I’m pleased — you don’t necessarily get to pick your audience, but they’re the ones I would choose. They’re kids like me and my friends. "
Officially, DC is just Carrabba and his guitar, but the singer has been traveling with a guitarist, bassist, and drummer he calls his " dream band " for most of the past year. That line-up recorded Summers Kiss (Eulogy), a new EP of four songs that had appeared as Carrabba solo versions on the first DC full-length, The Swiss Army Romance (Drive-Thru). The band also recently released an EP of all-new material called So Impossible (Vagrant), a lilting collection of schoolboy-crush songs that’s as giddy as Places was destitute. It’s a confident left turn that suggests Carrabba’s in it for the long run.
" It’s a snapshot of a really happy time in my life. There’s nothing bittersweet about it; it’s just kind of sweet. And I was happy about that. There’s many things that I’m wary of, and a big one is becoming a parody of myself. I’ll keep pushing the envelopes. People are always saying, ‘Your songs are very sad.’ So now I’m like, ‘Well, here ya go. Here’s something that’s not.’ "
Carrabba allows that ’90s-punk standard-bearers Jawbox and Jawbreaker remain big influences on his writing, but he also acknowledges a debt to pre-mosh performers like Elvis Costello ( " I feel like he almost created the anti-love song " ) and John Lennon. " Lennon has something that I didn’t realize till recently how much I emulate. I don’t think I try to sing like him, but there’s a rage in what he does that’s kinda quiet. It’s just under this polished surface, this enraged man. And I love that. "
Dashboard Confessional perform next Thursday, April 4, at the Palladium in Worcester. Call (508) 797-9696.
BY SEAN RICHARDSON
