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CC Oh, yeah! I credit Counting Crows for bringing me out of my youthful post-hardcore malaise. [''Mr. Jones''] was like a guilty pleasure for me. I got the record and I listened to it in a very secretive manner, like only in my car on my way to meet my friends, and I'd hide the tape in the ashtray.
LTT ''A Long December'' kind of makes me tear up.
CCIt's the perfect sentimental song because it's honest but it's not showboating its honesty. And he's a poet, so it's not cheesy. The song he sings on my album is called ''So Long, So Long,'' which I coined that night as ''So Long, December.'' I want to be credited as the first person to pick that up because it will be used as an insult, I'm sure.
LTT I have to be honest with you now: I sing ''Hands Down'' [off 2003's A Mark, a Mission, a Brand, a Scar] at karaoke.
CC Yeah? That's what I'm talking about! I have terrifying stage fright when it comes to karaoke. I love going to it, and one day I'd really like to get up there with everybody else. How do you decide what to sing? I'd want to do something like a Fiona Apple song.
LTT For you, I recommend ''Torn'' by Natalie Imbruglia.
CC Maybe I'll steal that idea!
ROUND 4...
MIXING IT UP
We've grown too lazy to trek to the bar, but Carrabba says he would have had a Bud Light.
LTT With a name like Dashboard Confessional, I'm going to assume you like listening to music in your car.
CC Oh, yeah, I love it. I spend very little money on my home stereo and I trick out my car stereo. I love listening to the Streets album A Grand Don't Come for Free; I listen to it daily.
LTT When was the last time you made a mixtape?
CC Last week. It's become a very jokey, Seth Cohen thing to do, but it's still a genuine way to express yourself deeper than you could in your own words. I'm lousy at telling people what I really feel.
LTT Um, I'm sorry, what?
CC Well, if I didn't kind of keep those things inside I wouldn't have to write songs.
ROUND 5...
YOU ARE FORGIVEN
Carrabba's theoretical fifth beverage? JD on the rocks.
LTT Have there been moments when your fans singing along are drowning you out and you're like, Just quit it already?
CC There have been incidents, and it's really rare, that somebody is singing with such zeal, with their whole heart, but so poorly. And you can't ask them to stop, but you kind of wish they would lower their voice because it's impossible to hear your own notes. The funny thing is these kids have incredible pitch, I don't know how they do it. Maybe they practice.
LTT They're singing along to the record!
CC I hope so, because I do. I sing along to the records I love. You're supposed to, right?
LTT That's where karaoke comes from!
CC Let's go do it! After one more drink...
