“The pandemic has changed my life in a truly amazing way,” explains musician Neil Erickson, who started singing during his childhood in Santa Cruz, performed with his high school choir at Carnegie Hall, and then picked up a guitar a decade ago. “While it has caused such unfortunate turmoil to many across the country, I have been blessed with the opportunity to pursue music. If it wasn’t for this pandemic, I wouldn’t be making music right now.”
Prior to the pandemic, Erickson was studying journalism at SBCC and editing The Channels. The Isla Vista resident started playing live shows around that college community just before COVID showed up. “I had never had more joy and bliss in my life,” he said of seeing so many people dance and smile to his sound. Suddenly, with the shutdown, he was distraught.
“I had just gotten my first taste of this, and now it was completely gone,” said Erickson. “I took that energy and passion that I had and eventually learned to channel it into recording music, something I had never done before.”