Fruit Bats (band)

Fruit Bats

Company type	Indie rock band
Industry	Music
Founded	1997 in Chicago, Illinois, United States
Founder	Eric D. Johnson
Headquarters	Chicago , United States
Products	Music albums, live performances

Fruit Bats is an American indie rock ensemble originating in 1997 in Chicago, Illinois, created as the artistic endeavor of vocalist and songwriter Eric D. Johnson. Johnson remains the only consistent member, with a rotating lineup of musicians joining for live shows and studio projects.

Formation and Echolocation Era

During the late 1990s and early 2000s, Eric D. Johnson balanced teaching guitar and banjo at Chicago's Old Town School of Folk Music while fronting the indie rock group I Rowboat. In 2000, he became a multi-instrumentalist for the experimental folk band Califone. Since 1997, Johnson had been crafting homemade cassette recordings under the Fruit Bats moniker, a name he initially coined as a "silly fake punk rock name" for a four-track tape project.

Members of Califone, who operated Perishable Records, decided to release Fruit Bats' debut full-length album after hearing Johnson’s demos. Produced by Brian Deck, Echolocation was released in the fall of 2001. Fruit Bats performed live for the first time at Chicago’s Empty Bottle in March 2001 and toured extensively throughout 2001 and 2002, frequently opening for bands such as The Sadies, Gorky's Zygotic Mynci, Modest Mouse, and The Shins.

Period with Sub Pop

In 2002, Fruit Bats secured a contract with Sub Pop Records thanks to Johnson’s connections with members of Modest Mouse and The Shins. Their inaugural Sub Pop release, Mouthfuls, arrived in April 2003. The band toured consistently alongside labelmates like Iron and Wine and Holopaw, including their debut at Washington state's prominent Sasquatch! Music Festival in 2004. The album’s final track, "When U Love Somebody," became emblematic of their sound, featured in the film Youth in Revolt and covered by artists such as The Decemberists, Guster, and Said the Whale.

Fruit Bats’ sophomore Sub Pop album, Spelled in Bones, was released in 2005. That year marked their first appearance on network television via Last Call with Carson Daly. They co-headlined a tour with Rogue Wave, supported acts including Son Volt, Ray Lamontagne, and Guster, and performed at the prestigious Sundance Film Festival.

Johnson joined The Shins near the end of 2006, touring with them until 2010. He characterized this period as "a total game changer" that deeply influenced Fruit Bats both artistically and professionally by offering valuable exposure to effective band dynamics and songwriting techniques.

Following a three-year hiatus during which Johnson toured with The Shins, Fruit Bats released The Ruminant Band in 2009. This album marked a stylistic transition toward a rawer, guitar-driven folk-rock sound. Johnson described it as "a better use of my influences" and regarded it as a creative turning point. The record garnered favorable critiques from outlets such as Pitchfork, The A.V. Club, and Robert Christgau. The band also made an appearance on The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson and began performing regularly at Portland’s annual Pickathon Music Festival.

Their last album under Sub Pop, Tripper, was released in August 2011. Produced by Thom Monahan, it featured guest contributions from artists including J. Mascis, Neal Casal, and Richard Swift. The album reached the top 15 on the Billboard Heatseekers chart—the first time the band achieved this milestone. The single "You’re Too Weird" gained attention for its retro 1980s-inspired music video starring Johnson himself. Subsequent tours included performances at festivals like Bonnaroo and events such as The Dave Matthews Band Caravan.

In 2011, Fruit Bats contributed to the soundtrack of the film Our Idiot Brother, featuring actor Paul Rudd. Johnson took on production duties for the soundtrack as well as composing its score.

In November 2013, Eric D. Johnson declared that Fruit Bats would disband, culminating with a sold-out farewell concert at Portland’s Aladdin Theatre. The following year, Johnson released an album under the name EDJ, which he described as "essentially a Fruit Bats album."

Reformation 2015–2018

Johnson referred to retiring the Fruit Bats name as "a career-stalling move" and in 2015 announced the band's comeback via Instagram, stating "I miss these old songs." That year, after receiving an invitation from My Morning Jacket to open several shows with his EDJ project, Johnson decided instead to bring back the reassembled Fruit Bats, marking a significant milestone in their live performance career.

In 2016, Fruit Bats unveiled their sixth studio album, Absolute Loser, through the Los Angeles–based label Easy Sound—their first release in five years. The album featured the track "Humbug Mountain Song," which has garnered more than fifty-nine million streams on Spotify. The supporting tour included appearances at Nelsonville Music Festival, Green Man Festival, Newport Folk Festival, and Pickathon. Absolute Loser was recognized by Paste magazine as one of the top albums of 2016.

Merge Records and breakthrough

Fruit Bats signed with the independent North Carolina label Merge Records in 2018.

That same year, Johnson co-founded the folk ensemble Bonny Light Horseman alongside Josh Kaufman and Anais Mitchell; their debut record received two Grammy nominations.

The band's first release on Merge, Gold Past Life (2019), appeared on Billboard’s Heatseeker and Independent album charts. It features streaming successes such as "The Bottom of It," "A Lingering Love," and "Cazadera." This album represents Neal Casal’s final contribution prior to his passing. Variety lauded the record for its compelling songwriting, while No Depression placed it seventh among the best albums of 2019.

In 2020, Fruit Bats issued a complete cover of The Smashing Pumpkins' 1993 album Siamese Dream, recorded solely by Johnson at his home studio in Los Angeles.

The 2021 release The Pet Parade, produced by Josh Kaufman and created remotely during the initial phase of the COVID-19 pandemic, explores themes of childhood reminiscence alongside existential reflection. It received a nomination for Best Americana Album at the 2021 Libera Awards. The single "The Balcony," featuring a puppet cast and co-directed by Johnson—marking his directorial debut—and his wife Annie Beedy, became one of SiriusXMU’s most frequently played tracks in 2021. Fruit Bats also made their first network television appearance since 2009 with a performance on Late Night with Seth Meyers.

In 2022, Fruit Bats released a comprehensive double-disc anthology titled Sometimes A Cloud Is Just a Cloud: Slow Growers, Sleeper Hits and Lost Songs. The first disc compiles well-known tracks, while the second includes B-sides, previously unreleased singles, and early recordings dating back to the 1990s. The title draws from a lyric in their 2019 song "Cazadera."

After delays caused by the pandemic, Fruit Bats embarked on an extensive tour in 2022, opening for My Morning Jacket at the One Big Holiday festival in Cancún. They also completed their first UK tour since 2011, which featured a performance at End of the Road Festival.

"Humbug Mountain Song" was featured in an episode of Better Things aired in April 2022.

Musical style and influences

Fruit Bats’ musical style has transitioned from lo-fi indie Americana evident on Echolocation to incorporating disco elements on Gold Past Life.

Eric D. Johnson, the band's founder, identifies Top 40 radio from the 1970s and 1980s as major influences, along with artists such as The Velvet Underground, Uncle Tupelo, Big Star, the Beatles' White Album, Joni Mitchell, and Talk Talk. He acknowledges that the mid-1990s indie rock scene played a crucial role in shaping his singer/songwriter direction beyond his initial Deadhead influences. Johnson often references Prince within his lyrics.

A devoted admirer of The Grateful Dead, Johnson and Fruit Bats have performed covers including "Wharf Rat" and "They Love Each Other." Johnson has collaborated with projects connected to the Grateful Dead legacy, making guest appearances with Joe Russo's Almost Dead in both 2019 and 2021, as well as performing with Phil Lesh and Friends at the Capitol Theatre in 2021.

Studio Albums

Year	Album Title	Record Label
2001	Echolocation	Perishable Records
2003	Mouthfuls	Sub Pop
2005	Spelled in Bones	Sub Pop
2009	The Ruminant Band	Sub Pop
2011	Tripper	Sub Pop
2016	Absolute Loser	Easy Sound Recording Company
2019	Gold Past Life	Merge Records
2020	Siamese Dream	Turntable Kitchen/Merge Records
2021	The Pet Parade	Merge Records
2023	A River Running to Your Heart	Merge Records
2025	Baby Man	Merge Records

Live and Compilation Releases

Year	Title	Record Label
2004	Tragedy Plus Time Equals Fruit Bats	St Ives
2016	The Glory of Fruit Bats	Easy Sound Recording Company
2016	Live at Pickathon	Easy Sound Recording Company
2019	In Real Life: Live at Spacebomb	Spacebomb
2020	Found a Round Stone: Live in Portland	Merge Records
2022	Sometimes a Cloud is Just a Cloud: Slow Growers, Sleeper Hits and Lost Songs (2001–2021)	Merge Records
2024	Starry-eyed, in Stereo	Merge Records