Pocket Fox | Credit: Courtesy

Pocket Fox is en route to becoming one of Santa Barbara’s next big electric folk bands, releasing a full 10-song album this week. I spoke  to Michael Nichols (guitar and vocals), one of the six band members, on a quiet Santa Barbara morning about Pocket Fox and his experience as a musician in general. 

Nichols writes most of the music for the band, and the other members then help shape and mold the songs into what they are ultimately, with the core written by Nichols and the rest as a collaborative effort. 

“This album is mostly music that was written either before or during the pandemic that we shaped together after as a whole band,” he said.

Pocket Fox’s first album ‘Alive’ drops on June 23 | Credit: Courtesy

With the band’s formative years being the pandemic, the members were able to trust each other enough to meet in-person, instead of the Zoom practices a lot of other musicians were forced into. While the rest of the world seemed dead, Pocket Fox was jamming out, preparing for the post-pandemic years and their band’s future. 

And now that that time has arrived, Pocket Fox is working their way into Santa Barbara’s music scene. Already with a SOhO show in their rearview, Pocket Fox seems to be catching the eyes (and ears) of S.B. residents. And the music has also changed with the beach city. 

“I’ve been in Santa Barbara for five years now, and for me personally, it definitely has shaped [the music] in just the changes I’ve undergone in my life. From the community and the weather and the nature. And definitely because as a band, we really take the songs and they get transformed into what they end up being. That definitely changes just because of the group of musicians that are here, in Santa Barbara, that I get to play with,” said Nichols.

Pocket Fox’s first album, Alive (they’ve already released two singles), is set to drop on June 23. Keeping with the electric folk genre, the first track, “Alive,” is a personal favorite of Nichols. Along with the album, Pocket Fox will be promoting Alive at an album release party at Santa Barbara’s Wylde Works on July 1.

In between the album drop and release party, Pocket Fox is main-staging Santa Barbara’s Summer Solstice Celebration at Alameda Park at 1 p.m. on Saturday, June 24. Get a taste of the electric folk goodness at the event, along with the rest of the creativity the celebration offers. 

“The most important thing that drives me is having a band that I get to be a part of that inspires me and that we all inspire each other to do bigger things and grow and change and pursue what we can do with this thing called music,” said Nichols. “Santa Barbara has definitely been the first place I have been where it feels like all those things have come together.”

Pocket Fox members, from top left, Sio Tepper (keys), Ky Takigawa (electric guitar), Kelly Cote (drums), Michael Nichols (guitar, vocals), Josh Jenkins (mandolin), Tristan Cole-Falek (standup bass) | Credit: Courtesy

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