Itโs been eight years since weโve heard new music from Dashboard Confessional โ aka cue the emo revival! Dashboard Confessional made their comeback known at iHeartRadioโs ALTer EGO 2018 at The Forum in Los Angeles on Friday, January 19, performing for the first time new track โHeart Beat Here,โ the latest to be released off their forthcoming LP, Crooked Shadows.
"Heart Beat Here,โ which dropped just one day before they hit the stage, makes for the perfect return for frontman Chris Carrabba, who offered a seriously powerful vocal over a strong acoustic strum during ALTer EGO. Chris also enlisted the help of the crowd, turning on mics to record an acoustic with them singing the chorus.
The band also performed โVindicated,โ โHands Downโ and politically charged lead single โWe Fight" โ which Chris didn't hold back on.
โThis song is about trying to get rid of [President Donald] Trump,โ Chris told the crowd before performing the track.
โItโs a weird thing when you write a song; you think you know what itโs about, but you donโt [really] until some months later sometimes. So, I thought for sure it was just about how I found a place in the world, which was worth fighting for, which was the music scene that I come from. I wasnโt cool in school. I didnโt fit in. I found this music scene and it fostered this community and it fostered the people in it. You could be black or white, you could be straight or gay, you could be a man or a woman,โ Chris previously told Beats 1 of the rally track. โEverybody was equal and we were equally protected but we were equally encouraged to do something that challenged the status quo. But then the political climate has changed in such a way that, almost days after writing that song, America started to feel really regressive somehow. And all these great strides we made during the last administration had been threatened to be undone, and I realized that people have beliefs worth protecting, worth standing up for and I found a residence in that.โ
โItโs a difficult thing to explain,โ Chris said of the decision to come out with new music now during an interview with The Woody Show prior to hitting the stage. โItโs an impulse you canโt ignore. You can manufacture it and thatโs dangerous territory and thatโs why we waited so long because I didnโt want it to be kind of a reflection of a Dashboard song. We wanted it to be something strong and pure and real.โ
Dashboard Confessional will embark on their 2018 headlining โWe Fightโ tour in March 20, featuring special guests Beach Slang. Crooked Shadows drops February 9.