Today we’d like to introduce you to Fox Michaels
Hi Fox, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstory with our readers?
FOX MICHAELS: YEAR ONE
Hi, I’m Fox Michaels. Primarily, I do music that I describe as alternative indie power pop. But in addition to the musician label, I’m an artist, writer, and actor. Most importantly though, I’m a born and raised San Diegan. By way of Chula Vista. I’ve been committing to this project for one year now but I’ll do my best to give the abridged version of how I got here because if I gave you the whole story you’d be dead before you got to the end of the article.
A child of the 90s, the early mush of my mind was steeped in the bright colors of Nickelodeon cartoons and video game franchises like Sonic the Hedgehog and Crash Bandicoot, as well as an inherited love of PeeWee’s Playhouse from my 80s born cousin. My first dream was to become a cartoonist. I played sports but never had the makings of a varsity athlete. I grew up with lots of Motown classics, 60s pop, British Invasion, singer-songwriters of the 70s, and 90s punk rock and pop hits. It never occurred to me to be a musician until the age of twelve when I found an unopened CD of ‘Nimrod’ by Green Day. Then everything changed. Music became my life’s greatest love. Becoming one of the great American songwriters and a true rock and roller has been my mission since the day I picked up a guitar. Being an artistic kid with a more traumatic than average childhood, all the guilt you get from being Catholic, and a big San Diego sports fan all my life naturally gave me the blues and a lot to write about.
I sharpened my musical schtick as a teen playing bass and singing harmonies in my church band, writing around the clock at home, expanding my music taste. I spent post high school/early college trying to find a group of good, dedicated musicians to start a band with. I did not find them. My early 20’s were spent expending the energy it takes to afford to survive with no great direction or help in school. Eventually picked up acting. Made great strides in deepening my overall artistry and performance skills in the acting program at Grossmont (great acting program!). Around the time I finished the program I wanted to try pursuing music again. I was reconnected with a friend I went to high school with who wanted to start a band, and The Miles were born. Succinctly put, a garage rock trio. I played bass, wrote about half of the music, and sang lead for about 60% of the songs we played. The first year and a half of the project was a great start for us. Enter COVID stage left. We’re all aware of how disruptive it was to so many industries, including the music/entertainment industry. Wasn’t sure if we were going to get to come back. During the lockdown era, I begrudgingly developed the idea of releasing music as a solo artist. Once restrictions were lifted, The Miles resumed but our progress stalled a bit. My main focus was still that project but I did join another project looking for a bass player, a band called Poems. Indie pop-rock band. Originally from Washington state and relocated the project down here a couple years ago. The Miles stopped playing a little over a year ago. Poems is still very active and awesome but despite the band’s potential, I still have an immense amount of artistic output available that is not suitable for the project. I needed something to fill the emotional void The Miles left, so about one year ago I decided it was finally time to dedicate time and attention to a solo project. So that’s when Fox Michaels really began (my real name is Sam, I promise I don’t speak in the third person).
My initial issue of not being able to find the right group of musicians for a live band relieved somewhat by now having spent some time in the San Diego music scene since 2018. One of my now dearest friends and PHENOMENAL singer-songwriter in his own right, Samer Bakri, kicked things off by offering to play bass for me. So The Real Nice Rascals were created. It’s the Fox Michaels band, not dissimilar in concept to Zappa’s Mothers of Invention. The Rascals are a semi-rotating lineup of other local musicians with their own projects. Live shows and recording started. We released a double single, “Irrelevant” and “Something Good” recorded at Tristan Brooks’ Simon Sounds Studio this past February. “Irrelevant” got a music video with LA based artist Salvador Cresta (has worked with artists like J.W. Francis). April provided one of the bigger achievements of my first year, a 4/2o cabaret holiday special I wrote and performed with other SD artists at the Clark Cabaret at Diversionary Theatre. It was a show about the struggles of the modern musician, it was live and original music, it was something I don’t see many people in this city trying to do. So I was pretty proud of that even though it took a lot out of me to try and put together. My goals for Fox Michaels go beyond just the music I’m releasing. I wouldn’t go so far as to say Fox is an entirely separate character from who I am as a person, but I truly feel that I won’t find success by making this music project just about the music. There are hardly any platforms for independent artists to succeed that they don’t build themselves. It’s not like the radio really helps break new artists anymore. I have a bit of a bone to pick with our local radio stations who would likely sooner spin Red Hot Chili Peppers and Sublime records around the clock for another 30 years before they take a closer look at all the great music (not just mine) being produced right in our own backyard and relegating it to a couple of hours on Sunday nights and hardly spoken of the rest of the week…but I digress.
The summer was a huge struggle as my momentum stalled and my mental health once again took a severe nose dive (I struggle with debilitating depression constantly!). Trying to be a solo music artist with no business acumen, a limited network, and extreme distaste for trying to play the social media game in this day and age is for the outright insane. But here I am. If it weren’t for my loving and truly supportive partner, I would have packed it in by now for sure. But I’m trying to bounce back and finish the year strong with another single, “DGAF Olympics”, and potentially another music video. I’m learning to plan things better and work on my administrative skills. Being a good songwriter/artist means absolute jack diddly squat if you’re not good at networking, you can’t keep a calendar, and you’re not annoyingly persistent in getting answers from people. Three things I’m terrible at and three things that were handled by record labels in the days when the music industry actually developed artists. Those days are long gone though, so do I quit? I know people who have. Do I give up pursuing the vocation I’ve given up any hope of a normal life for? I thought I’d feel like a superstar by now at this point in life instead of what I do feel like, the cockroach hanging on after a nuclear blast. Galumphing from can to can until I become a…I don’t know, a supercockroach or something at least. Anyhow, the second full year of this project is rapidly approaching for this here ol’ roach and I need to keep getting better at all the things I was never meant to be good at, and I have to start aiming the shots better in 2025 now that the project has been a little more fleshed out. It feels impossible but I don’t have much of a choice but to be up to the task. This is who I am, for better or for worse. So we’ll see how year two goes.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
It has not been a smooth road! I’ve had mental health struggles essentially as far back as I can remember. So a lot of my life is just trying to manage daily tasks, let alone build a successful entertainment career on top of that. No one I know trying to do this is making even close to enough money to be able to focus on their music career full time. Can barely keep roofs over our head. In addition to that, the music industry doesn’t develop artists anymore. To get to the point where you might get signed and receive the support of a record label, you have to be pretty far along and you have to kind of already be making it before you even get that chance.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
As I said, my life’s dream is to be a known songwriter. I would say I’m pretty strong melodically, I’m really good at writing ear worms. I don’t think that always translates to a “good” song per se but over the years I’ve received many comments about my songs getting stuck in peoples’ heads. Which I suppose counts for something! I’m also a fan of my own lyric writing. I grew up with a great love of words and the English language so I’m pretty good with wordplay and memorable lines. At this level, people don’t tend to pay much attention to your lyrics, but if they ever did, there’s a lot of fun stuff happening really! I think I’ve gotten better at putting my personality into my lyrics.
We’d love to hear about any fond memories you have from when you were growing up?
My favorite childhood memory is probably either just kind of a collection of all the great shows and movies I watched as a kid, or it would be just the memories of me being so excited to learn guitar and bass that most days after school the first year I started learning I would ignore my homework and practice for hours and hours on end until my fingers bled. The passion I felt in wanting to become a better songwriter was something I wish I could feel again.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: @fox_michaels
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/foxmichaelsmusic
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@foxmichaelsmusic
- Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/foxmichaels
- Other: Main photo credit: Paloma Louise (@instinctive_groove_ on Instagram)
Image Credits
Paloma Louise, Ty Fox, Ellie Cope.
