Chris Carrabba Credit: Handout
Like Bob Dylan before him, Chris Carrabba of Dashboard Confessional faced a backlash from fans when he switched up his style and went from acoustic to electric in 2003.
Now the 35-year-old musician is returning to his acoustic roots — at least for a while — with a solo tour celebrating the 10th anniversary of his acoustic debut album, “The Swiss Army Romance.”
In conjunction with the tour, the album has been re-mastered onto five 7-inch vinyl records designed to fold in and out of a Swiss Army knife case as though they were blades.
amNewYork spoke with Carrabba.
How do you feel about touring solo?
I’d done thousands of shows that way and I knew how to do it really well, which meant it was no longer quite as exciting. But now I don’t know how to do it as well; it’s a little more terrifying, which means it’ll be really exciting.
How do you think your fans will react?
I’ve read — on Twitter or Facebook — that there are people that really liked what I did in the beginning, and some of them that didn’t connect with what I did later are excited to see this again. So some of them that I lost, thankfully, I didn’t lose them forever.
What’s next after this tour?
[My other band “Further Seems Forever”] is going to do shows; I don’t know how many. I’m really excited about it. … I never really got the chance, with those songs or with that band, to enjoy the music.
Did you remember how to play the older songs?
I think I was excited that I didn’t remember. I didn’t know what was hidden in the other songs.
Have you grown since “The Swiss Army Romance”?
I think I’m a different person in a lot of ways, but I had a certain ethos about how I was going to approach the music business and that kept it from changing me too much.
If you go: Dashboard Confessional is playing Webster Hall Tuesday at 7:30. 125 E. 11th St., 212-353-1600. Sold out.
