A Mark, a Mission, a Brand, a Scar is the third studio album by American rock band Dashboard Confessional.

The project's second album The Places You Have Come to Fear the Most (2001),[1] released through independent label Vagrant Records,[2] featured a full band on a few of the songs.

The So Impossible EP, made in collaboration with guitarist Dan Hoerner of Sunny Day Real Estate, was released in December.

As Dashboard Confessional was becoming a staple at radio and on MTV, the project solidified its line-up as a group: Carrabba, bassist Scott Schoenbeck, guitarist John Lefler and drummer Mike Marsh.

[7] Gil Norton produced the majority of the songs, except "Ghost of a Good Thing" and "If You Can't Leave It Be, Might as Well Make It Bleed", which were credited to Carrabba.

[4] Carrabba said the final recordings sounded exactly like the demos he made, both note-for-note and structurally, with the exception of "Ghost of a Good Thing".

Norton and Adrian Bushby, who also served as engineer, mixed the album at Strongroom Studios in London, UK.

[15] The verses sections are sung with a whisper, while the choruses are yelled, with the bridges being a mix of the two techniques; Carrabba's vocal was compared to Third Eye Blind frontman Stephan Jenkins.

[7] Early acoustic versions of "Hands Down" appeared on the So Impossible EP[4] and the MTV Unplugged 2.0 (2002) live album.

[7] "Rapid Hope Loss" was written early in the writing process,[18] and credited to Carrabba and Mike Stroud.

[7] In early August, the band appeared on the Late Show with David Letterman and Last Call with Carson Daly.

[36] Additional support on select dates came from Say Anything, Motion City Soundtrack, The Format, Hot Water Music and Head Automatica.

[36][38][39] A Mark, a Mission, a Brand, a Scar debuted at number 2 on the Billboard 200 chart, selling 122,000 copies in its first week.