Fruit Bats

Fruit Bats are from Chicago, Illinois. The line up is a bit nebulous, but revolves around Eric Johnson (guitars, keys, songwriting) and Gillian Lisee (keys, bass, mandolin). Eric sings most of the leads, everybody else sings with him.

Fruit Bats started out in the mid-nineties as young Eric Johnson (not the virtuoso guitar player nor the Archers of Loaf guy) sat in his bedroom like so many other young people at that time and discovered the joys of the 4-track machine. He went on to form the short lived band I Rowboat, whose Velvet Underground-ish sounds managed to win no more than a small Chicago fanbase. One day Johnson and two other Rowboaters, guitarist Dan Strack and drummer Brian Belval decided to dip their collective toes in folk music. This side project was dubbed Fruit Bats, named after a type of large, flying, fruit-eating tropical mammal. Recordings were made, tapes were dubbed, and all was forgotten.

A couple of years down the road, I Rowboat was dissolving, and Johnson found himself playing banjo and guitar in almost-legendary folk weirdos Califone. Spurred on by Califone/Perishable Records honchos Tim Rutili and Ben Massarella, Johnson and Strack set out to finally record the album they thought was destined to link The Holy Modal Rounders and Rumors-era Fleetwood Mac. That record was the Fruit Bats debut, Echolocation, produced by Brian Deck (Red Red Meat, Modest Mouse, Souled American, etc...) at Clava Sound.

Two years and six national tours later, amidst numerous line-up shifts, the band found its sound evolving from bizarro folk-rock into lush cinematic pop music. This caught the ear of the good folks at Seattle’s fabled Sub Pop records, who swooped the Fruit Bats up in late 2002 for a recording deal.

Stuff happened after that, too, but you can ask the Fruit Bats about that when you see them.