When: 7.00pm on Thursday 17 December 2009
Where: The Roadhouse, 8 Newton Street, Manchester M1 2AN

We’re delighted to introduce Manchester music fans to Fruit Bats!

Fruit Bats are led by guitarist, pianist and singer Eric D Johnson, the band’s main songwriter and only constant member. Originally part of short-lived Chicago group I Rowboat, Johnson and two of his fellow Rowboat members, guitarist Dan Strack and drummer Brian Belval, created Fruit Bats as a side-project.

When I Rowboat split up, Fruit Bats became Johnson’s main focus. Spurred on by Califone/Perishable Records honchos Tim Rutili and Ben Massarella, the group recorded their first album, Echolocation, released in 2001.

After tours with Gorky’s Zygotic Mynci, Modest Mouse and the Shins (with whom, alongside Vetiver, Johnson also plays), Fruit Bats signed with Sub Pop in late summer 2002, recording their second album, 2003’s Mouthfuls. The group released their third album, Spelled in Bones, in 2005, and their latest, The Ruminant Band, this year.

We’ve secured the services of very special guest Piney Gir. Piney Gir (pronounced as in ‘girl’; real name Angela Penhaligon) was born in Kansas and is now based in London.

Her latest album, The Yearling, combines delicate heartbreak folk with straight to the bop pop, while plying her way with a campfire narrative and all of it dipped in the gal’s never less than pin-sharp eye for a great story about the wanderings of the heart. Its production takes a nod from German electronica, spanning its way to warm 70s FM radio with a loving how-do-you-do to musique concrète. She’s been a star of the bill at Glastonbury, Big Chill, Bestival, Truck and too many more festivals to mention.

Tour support comes from the Isle of Wight’s Puzzle Muteson – a member of the esteemed Bedroom Community.

Tickets are available from the venue, Piccadilly Records, www.ticketline.co.uk and on 0161 832 1111.