New San Diego Solo Artists: Who is Fox Michaels?
Meet Fox Michaels. Fox Michaels, also known as Sammy, is in multiple other projects within our San Diego music scene. You may recognize him from the band The Miles, who we just interviewed with. To learn more about Sammy's band, The Miles, click here.
Let's see what Fox Michaels says about his solo project, what inspired him to start it, and where he plans to take it in the future!
Photo taken by Fox Michaels
TELL ME MORE ABOUT YOUR STAGE NAME.
"I don't release anything under my actual name. I've been using the name Fox Michaels for my solo stuff. The name initially came from the create-a-character I would always make in video games that had that feature growing up. So it originated even before I started playing music, I'm pretty sure. I had never intended to use it for music. I almost used the name of my current, defunct band, Mister Chopfyt. (For the solo stuff, I was thinking of releasing.) But I decided to go with Fox Michaels because I had specific plans for Mister Chopfyt down the line. I liked foxes as a kid. I liked that they were sly and quick. Also, I had heard the name Fox Mulder around, as the name originated in the early 2000s when X-Files still had a major cultural cache. I also liked football, so I listened to a lot of Al Michaels, the broadcaster, growing up. My memory tells me that's where the Michaels name came from. So, Fox Michaels, it is."
WHAT MADE YOU WANT TO VENTURE INTO BEING A SOLO ARTIST?
"When I really got into music as a kid, I decided I was going to learn guitar. I did it with the sole purpose of just getting good enough to start being able to write my own songs. I never dreamed of mastering any particular instrument, as I dreamt about writing songs people liked. I wanted to be known as a rock star but, more than that- a renowned songwriter and composer. However, I've never had even a little bit of a desire to make it as a solo artist. I've always wanted to produce in the context of a group. I was never able to get any project of mine even a little bit off the ground until reconnecting with Michael and Kieran to start The Miles. We had a pretty good first year of activity...until the pandemic/shutdown started."
"As many people were, I started questioning my entire future and the idea of making it in the music industry. Was there even going to be a music industry to make it in if things cleared up? Amidst the intense isolation, separation from my pre-Covid life, and panic of my lifelong dream potentially withering away with everything else that was lost during that time- I needed a way out that didn't spell despair. I was in extended talk therapy for the first time in my life, which helped me claw out of the hell I was living in at the time. That, and reaching out to an old friend of mine from high school, who encouraged me to consider picking up an instrument again. Then, releasing music completely on my own since we couldn't do things as a band. That was the start of my commitment to the idea of carving out a place for myself as a 'solo artist' under the name Fox Michaels."
WHAT ARE SOME OF YOUR INFLUENCES?
"Fox Michaels is a project I intend on imbuing with a lot of variety. I've always admired artists who can live in different genres and aesthetics anytime. David Bowie is one of my most prominent examples of an artist who did more than one type of music well and achieved a sound that can only be defined by the era in which he released it. I mostly like pop music, R&B, soul, punk, and singer-songwriter stuff. I like lo-fi stuff as much as I do a slickly produced pop record. One minute I'll be Elliott Smith; the next, I'll be Troye Sivan or some sh*t. It's whatever I feel like the song is.
HAVE YOU PLAYED ANY LIVE SHOWS YET?
"I actually have not played a show as Fox Michaels yet. The closest thing was publicly debuting some songs at a little gathering Ellie Cope had around the time of my birthday last year. Other than that, I played some songs at Writer's Round last Halloween. More recently, I have been workshopping pieces. I plan on eventually releasing as Fox Michaels at the songwriter support group that Amplified has been so graciously holding. But I want to start doing solo acoustic gigs wherever anyone will have me before I am able to assemble a proper band."
WHAT CAN WE EXPECT FROM YOU IN THE FUTURE?
"I've been working with Marc Polit on my debut EP off and on between our various other projects since last year. I'm trying to really get back at it and release at least the first single by the summer. Hoping that once the ball gets rolling, I can finish the album and start working on the next one."
Photo taken by Unknown
