
He was a member of the band until 2011, and made appearances on Saturday Night Live, The Tonight Show, and Late Night With Conan O’Brien. Johnson joined The Shins in late 2006, after joining the band in the studio for their third studio album, Wincing the Night Away (2007). In early 2021, Fruit Bats made their first network television performance since 2009, performing on Late Night With Seth Meyers. That same year, Johnson recorded a full-album cover of Smashing Pumpkins’ 1993 album Siamese Dream. In 2020, they released The Pet Parade, which was recorded remotely during the COVID-19 pandemic with producer (and Johnson’s Bonny Light Horseman bandmate) Josh Kaufman. In 2018, Fruit Bats signed to Merge Records and the following year released their seventh studio album Gold Past Life, of which Variety wrote, “there won’t be many albums in 2019 with as many quotable, cut-to-the-marrow lines as this one has.” This led to the album Absolute Loser, which featured the popular single “Humbug Mountain Song.” In 2015, My Morning Jacket invited Johnson to open a tour with his EDJ project, and instead Johnson opted to re-form Fruit Bats to do the tour. The subsequent release was not a commercial success, and was later described by Johnson as a “career stalling move.” In 2014, Johnson released an album under the name EDJ. Fruit Bats (reformation in 2015-present) They played what was to be their farewell show at the Aladdin Theater in Portland, Oregon on November 16, 2013. In November 2013, Johnson announced he would be dissolving Fruit Bats.
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They played at festivals such as Sasquatch Festival, Bonnaroo Music Festival, and Le Guess Who, and made TV appearances on Last Call with Carson Daly and The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson.įruit Bats' 2003 song "When U Love Somebody" was featured in the film Youth in Revolt, and has been covered by bands such as The Decemberists, Said the Whale, and Guster. They would go on to record four records on the label. Fruit Bats (2001-2013 hiatus) įruit Bats signed to Sub Pop in 2002 and became part of the label's early 2000s folk-rock boom. It was on tour with Califone that he befriended the members of Modest Mouse and The Shins, who took an interest in Fruit Bats and made an introduction to the record label Sub Pop. In early 2000, he became a member of the experimental folk-rock group Califone.

In the late 1990’s, Johnson fronted an indie-rock band called I Rowboat. Johnson did not attend college but instead moved to Chicago and became involved with the local music scene there, getting a job at the Old Town School of Folk Music where he taught classes and worked as a house manager for concerts. He planned on becoming a filmmaker or screenwriter but discovered an interest in songwriting after joining a local band in high school. Johnson moved around the midwest as a child and spent his adolescent and teenage years in Chicago’s Western Suburbs. 2.7 Live appearances and festival production.

2.3 Fruit Bats (reformation in 2015-present).In 2009, they released The Ruminant Band. In 2008, the Fruit Bats began working together again, with revised membership of Johnson, Christopher Sherman, Ron Lewis, Graeme Gibson, and Sam Wagster. Johnson played with The Shins and Vetiver. Spurred on by Califone/Perishable Records honchos Tim Rutili and Ben Massarella, the group recorded their first album, Echolocation, released in 2001.Īfter tours with Gorky's Zygotic Mynci, Modest Mouse and The Shins, Fruit Bats signed with Sub Pop in late summer 2002, recording their second album, 2003's Mouthfuls, which included new bandmate Gillian Lisee.Īfter relocating to Seattle, the group released their third album, Spelled in Bones, in 2005. When I Rowboat split up, Fruit Bats became Johnson's main focus. Spurred on by Califone/Perishable Records honchos Tim Rutili and Ben Massarella, the group recorded their first album, Echolocation, released in 2001. Originally part of short-lived Chicago group I Rowboat, Johnson and two of his fellow Rowboat members, guitarist Dan Strack and drummer Brian Belval, created Fruit Bats as a side-project. Johnson, the band's main songwriter and only constant member.

Fruit Bats is led by guitarist, pianist and singer Eric D.
