Hey! Fruit Bats
Having spent a year and half touring as a non-permanent member of the Shins, as well as working with Vetiver, Eric Johnson has recently returned to his own band Fruit Bats, with whom he has recorded and released the well-received album The Ruminant Band. This coming Thursday, 17 December, Fruit Bats visit our fair city and hit our favourite subterranean nightspot the Roadhouse – so we caught up with Eric.
Hello Eric. How are you? How’s your day been?
It’s going well – though right now I have not left the Travelodge Nottingham. But I’ve got coffee on the way, which is going to start my day off. We’ve been touring a bunch in France and Spain and although I love the espresso there, I like the British/American tradition of a nice large cup in the morning.
How is your current tour going?
It’s been great! We’ve been mainly touring in southern Europe with Vetiver, who are our dear friends (and make amazing music). So it’s been one long sweet mellow hang. We’ve just begun the UK portion of the tour without them. The first two shows have been amazing. I’ve been pretty surprised by the turn-outs, in fact.
You toured with the Shins for a while now. How did you find that experience compared to your one with Fruit Bats?
I always maintain that the two are incomparable. The Shins is about the most fun day job imaginable. The Fruit Bats is my show, so all the highs are mine, and the lows. Being in the Shins is like being an astronaut or lion tamer. Its an unrealistic, rare and cool experience. Fruit Bats is more of a blue-collar gig. Hard work, little money, but kinda soulful. It’s probably a better job than hard labour, though.
Do you and James Mercer feed off each other creatively?
Maybe, I’m not too sure. Both bands have been around for the same amount of time (I think Fruit Bats a bit longer, in fact). James and I hang out a lot, we’re good friends. But mainly we just listen to music, drink beers, and talk about geeky scientific subjects (something we’re both into). So creative trading is probably subliminal. We’ve never written together or anything…
You’ve said in previous interviews that with The Ruminant Band you’ve let the other members of the band have more of an input into the creative process. Has this been an easy step to take?
Yes, its been quite easy. Fruit Bats has been so much of a solo project in many ways until now, that this felt like me starting a new band. We even briefly considered a name change. ‘The Ruminant Band’ was a name we came up with for the new band. We ended up keeping Fruit Bats and naming the record that instead. It’s kind of got double meaning.
How did you end up getting Tim Rutili (of Califone) to contribute to The Ruminant Band?
I used to play in Califone, and Tim was a huge reason why Fruit Bats got off the ground. He was something of a big brother to me. We did The Ruminant Band at Clava Studio, which is Graeme’s (our drummer’s) studio. It’s in a sweet little Italian neighbourhood called Bridgeport on the South Side of Chicago. When you record there you’ll almost consistently be stuffed on amazing food from around the ‘hood. Clava is also the home base for Califone, and those dudes are usually around. Tim happened to be working in the office while we were recording and came in to do some tracks. He was on the first Fruit Bats record too, and was even in the live band for a couple of shows way back when!
You’ve also said that you come from a background of bluegrass and folk. What particularly attracts you to them?
When I was 20, I found a banjo used and cheap at a music store. I decided to learn it at the Old Town School of Folk Music in Chicago, and found that I was kind of good at it. I ended up getting a teaching gig there eventually. Then I just fell in with that scene. Around that time at Old Town you had a lot of great players and writers working there – Andrew Bird was teaching violin, there were people from Califone, Pinetop Seven, Handsome Family etc. This was around 1996-1997. American folk music makes sense to me. I like the alchemy of it being this music from the British isles put through an African filter in America. It’s simple but in its simplicity there are multiple ways you can mutate it…
What else influences your song-writing other than bluegrass and folk?
I grew up on 1970s and 80s pop radio. My mom listened to the ’soft rock’ station all the time and there’s no way that didn’t work its way in there. I’ve got as much 10cc or Hall & Oates or Little River Band floating around in my brain as I do The Band and Neil Young. I love the old Upstate New York and Topanga and Laurel Canyon heroes, and I love the Brit folk mavericks, Richard Thompson, Incredible String Band, Vashti Bunyan, and I love the Kinks more than most things. I’ve got both Americana and Anglophilic tendencies. I love a lot of modern bands, too… Beta Band, Gorkys Zygotic Mynci and Super Furries were pretty huge for me when I was making the first Fruit Bats record at the turn of the century.
Have you spent much time in Manchester before, and if so what did you think of the place?
I love Manchester. I’ve visited a few times over the last five years. It was actually the first city I ever visited in the UK. It reminds me somewhat of Chicago, my home town. Cities that are overshadowed by their larger neighbours (like London and New York), usually have a character that’s more essential and perfect. Manchester doesn’t feel like anywhere else, just like Manchester. Plus so many insanely killer bands come from there that its hard not to be completely swept up in the history of it all. I’m a huge fan of the city.
You’re signed to Sub Pop, famous for putting forward grunge luminaries Nirvana and Soundgarden. Which of the current crop on the label do you like?
I like a lot of them. Vetiver, Fleet Foxes, Blitzen Trapper, Iron and Wine, Beach House… man, the list could go on.
Fruit Bats play at the Roadhouse on Thursday 17 December, with support from Piney Gir and Puzzle Muteson. More information.
Interview by Chris Gilliver of CityLifers
Possibly related to this: Tags:
fruit bats • sub pop • the roadhouse • the shins • vetiver
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