Fruit Bats’ Eric D. Johnson Tells Young Artists To Follow Their Spirits

In a recent feature for Santa Cruz Weekly, Fruit Bats’ Eric D. Johnson says, “My advice to younger musicians, not to quote my own advice as I don’t claim to be this font of wisdom, is not wanting to know the odds. Just do your thing because if you’re doing it for anyone other than yourself and your own spirit — maybe it’ll work, but if it doesn’t, at least you died trying.” Read more here.

Johnson has, by all measures, succeeded. And he hasn’t died yet! New album Baby Man is at radio now from Merge. About the project, he says, “I don’t have a hard and fast rule, but it turned into a mandate of minimalism… Of course, having Thom Monahan on board, his sonic skill is far from minimalist, so it’s sort of big-sounding in some ways with very simple layers.”