We were lucky to catch up with Jonathan Fox recently and have shared our conversation below.

Jonathan, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. One of the toughest things about progressing in your creative career is that there are almost always unexpected problems that come up – problems that you often can’t read about in advance, can’t prepare for, etc. Have you had such and experience and if so, can you tell us the story of one of those unexpected problems you’ve encountered?

Last March I was riding my bike in Austin when a van swerved across the bike-lane causing a crash and really horrible accident. I broke my spine in two places, fractured my ribs and elbow, suffered a concussion, and needed stitches in my head. It was the worst pain I’ve ever felt in my life, with nerve pain up through my legs and into my feet. Uncontrollable spasms. It felt like I was being tortured or electrocuted. It’s still hard to believe that was me. That I went through that. A neurosurgeon performed emergency spinal surgery, and miraculously, by millimeters, I can still walk and am not paralyzed. A significant amount of hardware remains in my body today, and the recuperation process is ongoing—it’s been about a year and a half since the accident.

Jonathan, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

I’ve been playing music since I was a 10 year old punk kid in the suburbs and found an unused guitar in my sisters room. I played at talent shows and won a few battle of the bands and songwriting contests throughout school and I just kept wanting more every time I tried to write a song or went out and performed. My sole project for the last few years has been Foxtales, which began as more of a recording project in my bedroom, then evolved into a live indie-pop, dance-rock band with some good friends here in Austin.

Throughout the years I’ve played different instruments in several bands both back home in DFW, in Alabama for a stint, and here in Austin for the past decade. I played in a country band and toured around the state for a while, played bass in a rock band later in Austin, was a sound engineer here and there, pretty much any music job you could think of. Bass is probably the most fun to write with right now; songwriting as a whole feels like my real mission.

I think the Foxtales records set us apart in a stylistic way as well as our musicality performing live. The Austin music scene is really vibrant with a lot of rock and heavy guitar acts, and we lean into a bit of a different niche than that. Though we’ve all played in heavier rock bands around town in the past. If you would’ve asked younger me, he would have always had a guitar in his hand over a synth. Our live show is killer as well. The guys I get to play with are the best and we all share an enthusiasm for effects and new sounds that we can bring to the show.

These days I don’t have any allegiance to one instrument or genre. I like playing with different sounds and different approaches and letting the music dictate where a song goes and what it’s about. Allow it to be a mystery still. I’m influenced by tons of popular music, but then also find myself hating anything too derivative. I listen to all kinds of music, play all kinds of music. So with Foxtales you’re getting a mix of pop, chillwave, indie, rock, electronic, hip-hop, everything.

We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.

Right before the bike accident Foxtales had just performed some great shows during SXSW, we had more listeners streaming the music than ever before, and it felt like we were catching a wave leading into big headlining show in April that I’d been planning for months. The accident was the day before that April show, so we had to drop out, and I went home to recover for several months at my parents’ place in DFW. Everything was put on hold.

I had to accept a new reality and go from there. I didn’t know how it would turn out or if I’d be able to do what I was doing before. If I could run or play sports or play music, or if I’d even want to. Sometimes you have to keep fighting for a future that you can’t see or imagine yet. You just do a little something each day that might steer you in the right direction, or at least keep from falling any deeper or making things worse. Over a year since the accident, so many challenges, tested patience and time spent recovering mentally and physically, Foxtales has scheduled our biggest headlining show to-date on August 24th at Mohawk to celebrate the release of a new record. Featuring Clarence James and Daydream Twins, the late-summer concert is something we’re really excited about, and feels like we’re getting back to where we were before the accident.

What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?

Self-knowledge and introspection. The songwriting process in and of itself is so self-examining and reflective. For me is a mixture of play and expression. Typically when I’m writing the musical and instrumental parts I’m just playing, goofing, enjoying myself; fiddling around. I start improvising, then I hear something I like. So I follow it. I repeat it, and play some more, and repeat some more and just go on and on until it feels finished. Most of the time it feels pretty effortless. When I’m writing the words and the melody it begins to be a little more emotionally expressive and thoughtful, by searching vocally for what feels right and what matches the music. It ends up more of a catharsis and reflection by the end, sometimes historic even. I can’t really explain where it comes from or how it happens past that. It’s still a big mystery to me how these sounds are coming together or why I’m choosing to follow this idea or where the idea even came from. More often than not it feels like a song is already in existence, and I’m just discovering it: brushing the dirt and dust away so that it can be recognized. When I think about it like that I can only assume whatever is in my head or what I observe or what is in my heart is what’s getting out. I find a lot of meaning in my life that way. The deeper you dig trying to explain art creation the more it sounds religious. I think that’s some proof as to the spiritual gravity of it all.

Through that process, done over and over again for so long gives me a glimpse into myself and how I really feel about things; what things have been truly import to me or made an impact on me. Things that I wondered about life and couldn’t find answers to. It’s a great feeling to connect with your own song years later and enjoy it just to enjoy it. To realize that my younger self went through something and made it out. Created something that can still effect me years later. Felt so much hurt and found the courage to grow from it. I feel proud of my to have been so vulnerable and daring.

Also rewarding are the experiences that music has brought to me. Being on stage in front of hundreds of people doing something that I love. Something that is meaningful to me. The people I’ve met. Shared music with, performed with, collaborated with. And the pieces of art and personal history that I get to look back on and access.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/foxtalesmusic/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCjoQ-YjkC6qSJWSf3CqHOrQ
• Other: https://open.spotify.com/artist/4XcFsYxwgTQL8bWhWMEZgN?si=wsrojCgBTN-cLsia-Tc7jA

Image Credits
Primary Photo – No Credit Additional Photos labeled “Promo” and “Live” shot by Kaylee Hartman