A band that defies convention is coming to Missoula.
The Fruit Bats has only one permanent member, founder Eric D. Johnson, who created the indie rock band in Chicago in 1997. Other musicians join the group for recording sessions and live performances.
Johnson was teaching banjo and guitar in Chicago, appearing with the band Califone, and recording homemade cassettes under the Fruit Bats name. Califone had their own label, Perishable, and after hearing some of the Fruit Bats material, decided to release an album. “Echolocation” dropped in 2001, which was also the year the band made their first live appearance at the Empty Bottle in Chicago.
Fruit Bats released albums on various labels, and then in 2018, the band signed with Merge Records. That year, Johnson formed the band Bonny Light Horseman, with Anais Mitchell and Josh Kaufman. Released in 2020, the self-titled debut album was nominated for two Grammys, one for “Best American Roots Performance” and another for “Best Folk Album.”
Fruit Bats’ latest album is 2026’s “The Landfill,” which one reviewer says could only have come from an artist with the imagination of Johnson, who sees that the earth dug out to make a landfill is piled to form a hill from which people can see the future.
The Fruit Bats will be at Missoula’s Wilma Theatre on October 15. When they plan events like this, organizers can use poster printing to create colorful advertisements for them.
