Fruit Bats landing at Maquoketa’s Codfish Hollow

In some respects, Eric D. Johnson’s list of influences may seem a bit — unusual.

He can (and gladly will) enthuse at length about his faves, including ’80s new-wave-turned-post-rock act Talk Talk on one hand, and the Grateful Dead on the other. He has an equal amount of enthusiasm for these disparate acts, as well as a host of others.

In some respects, that’s not surprising, as his life’s been a blend of changes, of opposites, and of allowing opportunities to meet with his own innate talent. So let’s start out an early March conversation with him by time-traveling to the Windy City during a particularly exciting time in Chicago’s rock history.

There, Johnson was exposed to other bands that would directly impact him. And, in one case, a band that would take him on as a member.

“When I was starting out in Chicago, it was the mid-to-late ’90s. The prevailing vibe was post-rock, like Tortoise, stuff like that,” he said, in advance of an ambitious slate of national touring in 2023. One of those stops will be April 15 at Codfish Hollow Barnstormers in rural Maquoketa.

“The Smashing Pumpkins were huge at that point. But on the more indie local scene, at places like Lounge Ax, the big guns were post-rock bands,” he said. “I was a kid doing four-track recordings. I had this jumbled sort of influences list. I definitely didn’t fit in with post-rock, and they were all older than me. I was interested in folk music and indie rock and experimental music. The bands Souled American and Red Red Meat and Califone are where I found my kinship.

“I was working at the Old Town School of Folk Music, playing in old-time bands,” he continued. “I thought that there’s gotta be a way of blending these all together.

“Miraculously, I got a job in the band Califone. I was a huge fan of theirs and their predecessor, Red Red Meat. I was playing banjo through delay pedals with them, stuff like that. They had a small record label and I got absorbed into their world. In my memory, I was unambitious.

“That time was like that, though, these low-stakes things. This was in the time before the early-2000s sweepstakes and I wound up absorbed into that, later. But I was truly humble then, in the sense that I hoped that I could get a gig at the Empty Bottle on a Tuesday night.”

Along with being under Califone’s tent, Johnson began to release music under the name Fruit Bats. The album “Echolocation” arrived in 2001 on Califone’s Perishable imprint. Within a relatively short period of time, Johnson and Fruit Bats signed on with Sub Pop Records and four Fruit Bats albums were released between 2003 and 2011. That period overlapped with his time with The Shins, with whom he was an adjunct member from 2006 to 2010.

Simultaneously, he was enjoying creative independence with his own project to go along with the popularity of The Shins.

In 2013, Fruit Bats ended, if only briefly. His next project, EDJ was born, but by 2015 he brought back the name Fruit Bats. In some respects that was something of a technical thing only, as Johnson was the constant — the songwriting machine of each.

After 2016’s release of “Absolute Loser” on Easy Sound Recording Company, Johnson landed with Merge Records, with whom he’s currently affiliated. That label has released his last four albums.

Asked about his surfing through some labels over the years, he joked about the term “finding the right fit,” as “I guess that the phrase ‘finding the right fit’ implies that there are choices. I’ve been very lucky and have fallen into good worlds, been in the right place and right time.

“I’ve been lucky to be invited to some parties, both metaphorically and literally. Like when I was on the small label in Chicago, Perishable, at a time when my scope was really small. I wanted people who were cool to think I was cool in some way,” he said.

“Then little things would keep happening. I signed to Sub Pop in 2002 because of friends who were already there. Even though they were signing bands that’d become huge bands, they liked my weird little folk record. If I got more ambitious later, they were still interested in me.”

That “weird little folk record,” “Mouthfuls,” is now 20 years old. Markers like that have begun to appear with a bit more regularity, indicating that more than a little bit of time’s passed since his four-track origins and his current status as a nationally-touring artist.

As his catalog has grown and his sound has changed, even if subtly, over different blocks of time, Johnson is faced with decisions. What tracks resonate with old-head fans? What songs are going to appeal to different corners of his fan base? How to build a touring set list that’s going to make him as excited as said fans?

He confessed some tracks on older albums are tried and true, and others he’d personally pass on.

“It’s partly based on ‘I don’t wanna play this song for the 1,000th time.’ There are a good handful of songs that are clear audience favorites that get you excited to play them. You know those are going to work. There are new things that come along,” he said.

“We lean on the last 10 years of Fruit Bats records. The earlier stuff is less epic and we’re playing bigger rooms now. Some are just personal choices — ‘I love playing this song,’ or I just want to bring something back.”

At times, Johnson and crew have played whole records, start-to-finish. It’s a process he enjoys, although it does have limits.

“How you sequence a set list is a lot different than an album,” he said. “There are strong differences between a record, which you’re listening to through some headphones or speakers, to playing for a room of 900 people.”

These days, those people are coming from some interesting places, as Fruit Bats’ fan base pulls on rock fans of all sorts. Those inclined toward jam bands come around, thanks to continued good press in places like “Relix” and “Jambase.” Listeners inclined to the lovely, languorous folk leanings of Fruit Bats are there. And so are The Smashing Pumpkins fans.

During the pandemic, Johnson recorded the entirety of The Smashing Pumpkins’ linchpin album “Siamese Dream,” a project that was, in some ways, meant to kill some time in an interesting, creative fashion. It’s become more than that since, drawing Johnson a whole swath of new listeners.

“It was done for a series from Turntable Kitchen,” he said. “It’s about interesting artists covering interesting artists. It sounded cool to get a little money for production and it wound up the perfect amount to do an album literally in my bedroom during the early part of the pandemic. It was a fun thing to do and I didn’t expect anybody but my very small fan base to be interested.”

Instead, it provided a chance for those late-adopting folks to discover both Johnson’s catalog and his newest album, “A River Running Through Your Heart.”

And now they get to catch it all live, including some of those Pumpkins tracks.

“It’s an all-encompassing national tour,” he said. “We’re going to play as many places as we can.”

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