Wave, and supported acts such as Son Volt, Ray Lamontagne, and Guster, and also appeared for a performance at Sundance Film Festival. Johnson became a member of The Shins in late 2006 and toured with that band until 2010. He has described his time in that band as "a total game changer" and influential on Fruit Bats’ work creatively and professionally. Of his time with that band he said, "there is no way that you don’t get the DNA of the music. It seeps into you. I got to totally climb inside of those songs, it was a good influence on me because those are amazing songs… That showed me the inner workings of a successful band with songs that are super connective…I really grew up being in that band. It was a total education for me." In 2009, after a three-year break while Johnson toured with The Shins, Fruit Bats released the album The Ruminant Band. This album marked a sonic departure for the band, with a ragged, guitar heavy folk-rock sound. Johnson has described this album "a better use of my influences" and has also stated the album was a creative and stylistic watershed for him. The album was also something of a critical breakthrough for Fruit Bats, getting positive reviews from Pitchfork, The AV Club and Robert Christgau The band also made another TV appearance, this time on The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson. It was also on this album cycle that the band made the first of many appearances at Portland's Pickathon Music Festival. Fruit Bats’ final album for Sub Pop, Tripper, came out in August 2011. It was the first of several releases by the band produced by Thom Monahan. It featured appearances by J. Mascis, Neal Casal and Richard Swift, and made it to the top 15 of the Billboard Heatseekers chart, the first Fruit Bats record to make that list. The album's single "You’re Too Weird" is often remembered for its very 1980s music video, in which Johnson plays a heavily styled version of himself. Tripper’s subsequent tours would see Fruit Bats make appearances at Bonnaroo and The Dave Matthews Band Caravan. Fruit Bats were featured on the 2011 soundtrack for the Jesse Peretz film Our Idiot Brother, starring Paul Rudd. Johnson served as the soundtrack's producer, and also composed the score for the film. In November 2013, Eric D. Johnson announced