Halloween Fun!

You won't be able to escape Ballistic Pig this Hallowe'en! We're playing Official's in Ucluelet on October 26th for their party and Jack's in Tofino on October 31st! So get dressed up and come to one (or both) night for some scary rock and roll fun!

If you're looking for some slightly mellower fun Geoff's got another solo gig coming up on October 24th at The Wickaninnish Inn's Driftwood Lounge and of course Jam Night is every Monday at Jack's hosted by your favourite rockin' pigs.

Hope to see you out in the coming weeks. I'm going to leave you with a few tunes to get you in the Hallowe'en mood

Geoff Solo Thursday at Black Rock in Ucluelet

This Thursday, October 17th Geoff will be grabbing his trusty duo of Canadian made acoustic guitars as playing some cover tunes at The Black Rock Resort's Float Lounge in Ucluelet. He's played the room a couple times and it's always been fun. He may be joined on a tune or 2 by our new full-time vocalist Tara so stop in, have some sushi and a martini or whatever and enjoy some tunes.

Music will start around 7pm through to last call at 10ish

Speaking of Geoff's solo set, here's a little bit of heresy to get you in the mood


Coming up in October on the Ballistic Pig calendar: Every Monday is jam nights at Jack's in Tofino (of course). Geoff solo at The Wickaninnish Inn's Driftwood Lounge on October 24th and the (new) full band on October 26th at Official's in Ucluelet's Halloween party!
Hope we see you out there at one of these shows. -Geoff

The Show Goes On!

As I mentioned in the last post we're entering into a new Ballistic Pig Chapter (or BPC). We're turning into a 4 piece with full time female lead vocals and our set will change a bit as well. We're still playing a lot of classic rock but are planning to venture into the 80's and 90's a little more and dabble in more pop and dance type arrangements.  We'll still be screaming Led Zeppelin and such (as well as Motorhead and Iron Maiden) but you'll also hear more things like P!nk, Billie Idol, Roxette and the like. We're also hoping to deepen our repertoire of CCR and 50s/ early 60s rock to get everyone dancing and singing along.

Some of the transition is happening pretty quickly and Ucluelet will get its first taste of the new Ballistic Pig experience at Official's for their Halloween party on October 26th. We've also got a show in Port Alberni at The Blue Marlin Inn (formerly The Arlington) on November 15th. I suspect we'll have a weekend at Jack's in Tofno sometime soon too. If you're booking a holiday party or other event you need entertainment for let us know as we've got a couple other tentative bookings and we wouldn't want you to be disappointed.  We're also planning to play weddings in the coming year so keep that in mind.

Finally, New Ballistic Pig (minus Tara because she's out of town) will be hosting the Monday night jam at Jack's in Tofino just like usual. See you there! -Geoff

End of an Era

Ballistic Pig has a long history and history has chapters. This Monday we'll turn the page on a chapter of Ballistic Pig's tale as we say goodbye to Chester Hamm. Chester and Geoff formed Tofino's first taste of Ballistic Pig a few years ago playing a few gigs with Sebastian Simard. That band crumbled and Ballistic Pig was reborn in August 2012 when Chester and Geoff were asked to cover some cancellations and Jack's Pub in Tofino.

After playing together steadily for more than a year Chester has decided to head across Vancouver Island and set up in the Comox Valley. In order to keep the rock going Ballistic Pig has already began retooling. Geoff will be playing guitar again, leaving the bass to the newest Pig, Jamie Pigkard. Also, Tara 'Hamila' Halil will be joining us full-time on lead vocals. So the squealing will go on.

A huge thank you to Chester for his role in the creation of this generation of Ballistic Pig. It has been a fun year and we're all fortunate to have found  group of like minded musicians in the village of Tofino. Good luck ahead and feel free to crash our gigs with your Strat any time.

Left to Right: Geoff, Nick and Chester after a gig during the "Chester Era"

 Join Ballistic Pig in saying goodbye the The Old Hamm this Monday for jam night at Jack's. It's going to be Chester's last official posting as a Ballistic Pig so let's make it a good one!

Fun at The Fair, Rock at The Rainbow Room and Geoff's Birthday This Weekend at Jack's

Our road trip to Port Alberni last weekend was a blast. Playing in the sun at The Alberni District Fall Fair was sweet! Thanks to Lance LaPoint for setting that up and thanks to Andrew from Sound Advice for making us sound good. While we were at the fair I got to do a short interview on 93.3 The Peak, too. Thanks Jolie. Also I just discovered that our gig was in the paper.. FUN!

Story about the band in The Alberni Valley Times



Posing by The Peak's on-location booth at The Fall Fair
 

After our afternoon at The Fall Fair we went and checked out the salmon ladder at Stamp Falls then went and sound checked at The Rainbow Room. A really cool small room with a great sound system and killer staff. They captured some videos from our show... The audio isn't amazing since the mix was set up for the live sound in the room but it's pretty cool to have. Check it out;

Message In A Bottle, Superstition and Whole Lotta Love



This Friday and Saturday we're back home at Jack's in Tofino, should be a good weekend. My birthday was this week and I hope you come down to celebrate with us. Then, as usual it's jam night on Monday

See you soon bacon-lovers!

Port Alberni Fall Fair, The Rainbow Room and Funky Bass

This coming weekend Ballistic Pig is hitting the road and heading to Port Alberni for a couple gigs on Saturday September 7th. In the early afternoon (1ish) we'll be playing a set at The Alberni District Fall Fair, then we'll be heading down to The Rainbow Room for the night. So if you happen to be in Port, we'd love to see you. (If you're in the Wickaninnish Inn Pro Am golf tournament our stripped down arrangement will be playing there as well on Friday)

On another note, I've been getting a little funky on my bass this weekend. If you're desperate for entertainment I recorded some fun stuff:

Hope to see you this weekend in Port Alberni and tomorrow (Monday) night at Jack's in Tofino for jam night. -Geoff

Pig Video!!

A couple weeks ago we played an outdoor gig in Tofino's Village Green. Warren Rudd was on hand and recorded the event, including some of our performance. The camera's mic didn't deal too well with the loud rockin' but we still think it's worth sharing:



On another note, we've got a couple weeks off (other than jam nights Monday's at Jack's and an Acoustic Pig set at The Ucluelet Night Market on August 30th) but you will still be able to catch one of us on stage at a big music festival this weekend! Geoff will be the emcee at The Otalith Festival in Ucluelet August 23, 24 helping guide you through a fun weekend of great music. Some tickets are still available, details at www.otalithfestival.com

Our next "Full Pig" shows are in Port Alberni on September 7th at The Alberni District Fall Fair and The Rainbow Room. More details soon.

That's it for now, thanks bacon lovers!

This Weekend at Jack's

We had a blast on Friday playing a short outdoors set with Bob Bossin and The Rooftop Runners in the Tofino village green. We had a little bit of video shot and might have managed to record some stuff off the board. So, we might have a fun demo video soon.

Moving on, our next gig is this weekend at Jack's, here's our poster for that gig;

 

If we're lucky, our guest female vocalist Tara will be around to spice things up so come on down. Also, don't forget jam night on Monday!



Pig Friend's Mojave Release Their New Album; Rainy Ghost

Hi folks, Geoff here. Today is a pretty cool day because long time Tofino residents (even though they moved to Victoria now) Paul and Lisa Jarvis release their new album. When they're in rock star form the call themselves Mojave and their new album entitled Rainy Ghost was produced and engineered by Yours Truly (that means me).

An acoustic album on steroids Rainy Ghost was a blast to make and something I'm very proud of. Big thanks to Mario for saving me a bunch of work mixing and putting a lot of his own character into it as well. Of course, thanks to Paul and Lisa for asking me to do it and the Morrisons for the space that turned out to be an unexpectedly good recording studio on Chesterman Beach.

So, you should go to www.mojave.fm and follow the appropriate links to buy it, then you should listen to it a lot and tell your friends to do the same. I'm not saying this because I'll make a penny from every mp3 (I won't, all the proceeds go to buy food for homeless llamas and other hippie things.... seriously). I'm doing it so that you will all be amazed by my genius and nominate me for awards..... not seriously.

The album also features a remix by Alan Churchill and some drums via Tsimka Martin, both awesome Tofino folks.

You can stream it all here for free:

Hopefully Mojave will be able to come to the coast for a CD release event in the near future. Keep tabs on them on Twitter @MojaveBand and if you want to pay me huge sums of money to produce your next album email me at BallisticPig@Gmail.com

Thanks for reading, Ballistic Pig will see you this Friday evening at a free, all ages show at The Tofino Village Green where we'll be one of the entertaining acts at the big Friends Of Clayoquot Sound event for the 20th anniversary of the 1993 mass arrests. (Google it if you need to)

-Geoff

Fun Weekend with The Steadies

Geoff as a walking poster for the show

Well folks, we finally got to play the Tofino Legion. a legendary stage for sure, even if the days of its biggest concerts may seem to be over.  We were fortunate to share the stage with some super great guys, The Steadies. I've been a fan of Earl's bass playing since the Wide Mouth Mason days so I loved it. After a big weekend with that show and a killer jam at Jack's we're happy to be taking a weekend off but we have an outdoor show in the Tofino village green on August 9th as part of the Friends of Clayoquot Sound's 20th Anniversary of the 1993 mass arrests then we're back to Jack's for a weekend of RAWK!




Earl and Nick put the finishing touches on the stage at The Legion

A big thanks to The Legion folks and everyone who came out, we had a blast and it looks like The Steadies are planning to return this fall to support a new album.



Ballistic Pig opening for The Steadies

 

And the main event

 

 

The guys came out to our usual Monday night jam at Jack's, too. Earl didn't play (we'll get to that shortly) but Jason and Juice sure rocked out with the locals;

 



We've got a few gigs coming up as I mentioned; August 9th's FOCS event and August 16th ant 17th at Jack's;

 

Speaking of posters, we gave The Steadies the world famous Ballistic Pig poster treatment;

 And speaking of treatment, Earl fractured his hand surfing! Get well buddy and good luck powering through the rest of the tour.

 

Well, thanks for checking out the blog. Hope to see you at a show, soon. -Geoff

This Weekend in Tofino, Ballistic Pig Opens For The Steadies At The Tofino Legion

It's gonna be a great weekend! Reggae rockers The Steadies are playing at The Tofino Legion on Saturday, July 27th. If you've been following the blog and/or our Facebook and Twitter feeds you know we're excited for this one. We'll be setting the stage with some of our more dancer friendly tunes starting a little after 10pm, then The Steadies will take it home! Ticket are $12 and can be found at The Legion or The Common Loaf Bake Shop. The tricky part is that you'll need to be a Legion member or have one sign you in as a guest, memberships are available at The Legion whenever they are open.

 

So that's your Saturday night planned for you. Then of course Monday is jam night at Jack's. No rest for the wicked.

 

Speaking of which, we're almost booked up for weekend until mid-September including some gigs in Port Alberni during their Alberni District Fall Fair. Check the calendar on the right for dates and keep checking back here for updates.

 

Thanks y'all and rock on. -Geoff

Happy Birthday to "Maggot Brain"

On this day, July 22, 1971 Funkadelic released the album Maggot Brain. The album, not surprisingly, included the title track, Maggot Brain. To this day the song stands as an electric guitar opus, featuring the intense expressions of Eddie Hazel, in a similar school as the likes of Neil Young's Cortez The Killer or any number of great Frank Zappa guitar adventures. If you don't know the piece, here it is (for God's sake, please don't listen to it through your lap top speakers.

If you want some more guitar inspiration here's one that gets me fired up;


And one of Chester's favourite players, Joe Bonamassa;

If theses videos have inspired you Ballistic Pig can help in a couple ways.

-First off Monday nights we host a jam night at Jack's Pub in Tofino's Marina West Motel where you can listen to and play with a ton of local and visiting talent.

-Secondarily we have been known to teach lessons in guitar, bass and drums on occasion... if you're looking for lessons in the Tofino/ Ucluelet area email ballisticpig@gmail.com

Speaking of jam night, you never know who's going to show up. Last week bass guitar virtuoso (and I really mean it) Felipe Gomez gave us all a lesson in the true power of the bass guitar, here's a video I found online. Totally nuts!;

Our next non-jam-night gig is this Saturday night opening for reggae-rock dude, The Steadies. See you there, piglets! -Geoff

The Pig Rig: Geoff's Jazz Bass

Time to have another look at the gear that makes Ballistic Pig squeal. Our fairly mundane subject this time is my 1996 5 string American Standard Fender Jazz Bass. Let's have a look at this workhorse;

Lovingly adorned with images from The Long Beach Surf Shop

 

Headstock chipped from hitting cymbals (sorry to all the drummers who's cymbals I've smashed)

Bass virtuoso Felipe showing me how to play my own bass

Fender made his first prototype electric basses back in 1950 and released the Fender Precision Bass in '51. Ten year's later the Jazz Bass appeared. I used to own a 1972 Precision Bass but never really took to it, when I purchased this instrument used, from a now closed music shop in Regina, I suddenly fell in love with bass, despite the learning curve of the 5th string.  Possibly this can be explained by the fact that I'm a Stratocaster guy more than a Telecaster guy. The Jazz bass is to the Precision Bass as a Stratocaster is to a Telecaster for the most part....

I love my Fender but that doesn't keep me from drooling over the Canadian brand Dingwall's guitars. Much like my Riversong acoustic guitar I love their pursuit of innovation and devotion to quality manufacturing...

So if anyone from Dingwall reads this and you're looking for someone to dump off a "factory second" bass on you can mail it to: Geoff Johnson, Box 323 Tofino BC V0R 2Z0 :p

Speaking of Dingwall basses and things I like; we'll be opening the show for Dingwall player and super talented guy, Earl Pereira and his band The Steadies. The show is at The Tofino Legion on Saturday, July 27th. Tickets are on sale at The Legion or Common Loaf Bake Shop for just $12! Here are a couple videos Earl doing his thing with The Steadies and his old band Wide Mouth Mason

If you're looking for something to do in Tofino this weekend... this is it!

 

 

Thanks for visiting the site... See you at a gig soon. -Geoff

The Pig Rig: Geoff's Riversong Acoustic Guitar

|Hi folks, Geoff here with another update on the gear that keeps the Ballistic Pig machine moving. Generally, in full Ballistic Pig mode I play a late 90s Fender 5 string Jazz Bass. When it's time to "go acoustic" I reach for my BC made Riversong Tradition Canadian Special Edition. It's a modern take on the acoustic guitar that doesn't suffer from plastics and carbon-fibre but benefits from simple human ingenuity and elegant craftsmanship. Before we explain that, here are a few photos of my guitar:

 If you were looking closely you'll have noticed a few key things;

1.) These guitars are, in fact, hand made in Kamloops BC

2.) The sound hole has a weird laser etched plaque in it and there's some weird stuff at the tail where the strap attaches. (more on that in a second)

3.) There's a second sound hole in the side of the guitar. This functions as a monitor of sort while playing and also provides a discrete place to hide the controls for the Fishman USA pickup

4.) The woods used and the craftsmanship are amazing. In fact all the woods used in this guitar are Canadian in origin (Maple, Sitka Spruce and Walnut to be specific)

As mentioned in point 2, there's more happening here than meets the eye. Here's one of the guys from Riversong to explain these unique features, Mike;


If you'd like to read the description of this and other features here's the "Innovations" page of their website

An interesting note; within an hour of posting a picture of my new Riversong when I first bought it Mike had sent me a Facebook friend request and has been readily available to answer questions and was quick to invite me on a factory tour. Very cool... Leo Fender never sent me a Facebook friend request...

I'm not an endorsed Riversong player, I paid the price on the tag for this guitar at Got It, Want It, Need It in Courtenay but I DO choose to share my love with whomever I can..  This is the guitar I use for solo and duo gigs, the one I tend to play at home and the one used for my custom song-writing service and other recording.  Everywhere I play it the sound and look turns heads and every time I pick it up I am pleased to have made the investment.

If you want to see/ hear my Riversong in action I'll be playing a solo set of cover tunes at The Black Rock Oceanfront Resort in Ucluelet tomorrow evening. (July 18)

Lots of other gigs coming up, too. Catch the full Ballistic Pig rock set and Jack's in Tofino Friday and Saturday night, jam night on Monday (also at Jack's) and our opening set with The Steadies at The Tofino Legion on July 27th. Hope you can make it out to some of the shows.  -Geoff

Acoustic Piglet Playing Ucluelet's Black Rock Resort July 18, 2013

Fresh booking! Acoustic Piglet (Geoff's solo set) will be playing in The Float Lounge at The Black Rock Oceanfront Resort in Ucluelet on Thursday July 18th. Come get your acoustic rock and blues on. 19+, no cover. Here's a sensitive poster;

Hope to see some Ukee friends there! -Geoff

New Honorary Pig: Mark Crissinger

Well, we have a deal over here at Ballistic Pig, if you sit in with us for a significant portion of a "real" gig you become an Honorary Pig! On Canada Day last week we were fortunate to have Mark Crissinger sit in for 2 gigs (in one day). Ontarians may know Mark from his days playing guitar with the phenomenon known as Caution Jam.  Before we get around to talking about how awesome Mark's guitar playing is here's a terrible pic of Mark (left) with Chester and Geoff;

Better pictures, some audio of his swanky six-stringin' and some background on Mark can be found on his Reverb Nation page or RIGHT HERE!!

Learn how to get a song on itunes at ReverbNation.com

Mark will be back on the west coast to play in September so keep your ears peeled!!

As far as Ballistic Pig goes our next confirmed (non-jam-night) gig is July 19,20 at Jack's, hope to see you there!

Also, coming up in just a few weeks we'll be opening for 3 time Juno nominee Earl Pereira and his band of super talented and generally awesome guys call The Steadies! That's at The Tofino Legion on July 27th. It's gonna be a reggae-rockin' good time.. For those of you who don't know The Steadies you can check out some of their stuff here.

For the record Earl was also the founding bassist for one of Geoff's absolute favourite 90s bands Wide Mouth Mason



Well, thanks for dropping, talk soon. -GJ

Canada Day at Jack's

Well, Canada Day at Jack's is bound to be a good time and since a lot of our weekly jammers will be "celebrating" all day we thought it made sense to just turn the night into a full gig instead of jam night. So come on down and party the night away July 1st!

 

 

See you there and thanks for everything, Canada!

Geoff "Goes Pro" so Acoustic Pig hits Tuff Beans

Well, Geoff resigned from his day job today... that means he's going to be able to sleep in... that means he's going to be able to stay up late... that means he's going to be able to RAWK MORE.  In celebration of RAWKING MORE we've put together another afternoon Acoustic Pig gig on the Tuff Beans patio for this Sunday, June 23rd. Here's the poster;

Hope to see you there.. Also this weekend don't miss good friends of Ballistic Pig, The Ross Neilsen Band at Jack's in Tofino on Saturday and Sunday as well as Monday night at a great event at Black Rock Resort in Ucluelet.

Thanks Piglets... see you soon!

Ballistic Pig's Long Beach Peninsula Tour Debrief

Well folks... We went on tour this weekend! We played our usual spot in Tofino at Jack's on Friday to kick it off, then carried on down to Official's in Ucluelet last night. We have our "home coming jam" on Monday at Jack's. Ok, so it's not a tour by Beatles standards but we had a hell of a good time!

Here's roughly how things went;

We were helped along Friday by the Storm Surf Shop/ Tofino Brewing Company BrewBQ and Air Band Contest. Geoff, our bass and vocals guy was the MC and was happy to use that opportunity to encourage the 450 odd partiers to head to our gig after the event.... AND THEY DID! Here's Geoff in his 80s punk rocker getup for the air band contest (congrats to the air band Loser Pissed for their big win by the way);



Photo stolen from Natalie Begin, awesome jacket and leopard tights (under the jeans) courtesy of Trish Dixon


We don't have any pics of Friday night at Jack's because we were too busy rocking to a full house but if you have any we'd love to see them... as always you can email them to BallisticPig@gmail.com of post them to our Facebook or Twitter accounts.

Partially recovered, we loaded up the gear and headed down to Official's in Ucluelet. Excited to play a new venue to a new audience and the response was AMAZING! The staff was insanely friendly and we had pretty gals dancing all night! Had a couple of their legendary Karaoke regulars Chris Hansen and Jacqueline Menard sing a few tunes with us, too. Can't wait to go back there, soon.  Again, we were too busy rocking to get any action shots but we did get this "witty" number;

 

You see; Nick forgot to bring a carpet to put his drums on so we used one of the crates we carry cables in and got some heavy rocks from outside to hold his gear in place. When we said we were going to "Bring The Rock To Ucluelet" we f#@%ing meant it! Thanks again to Dale, Ken and all the other awesome staff at Officials

 

If you have any shots from Saturday in Ukee we'd love to see them: BallisticPig@gmail.com

 

So, for now it's our usual jam night at Jack's in Tofino Monday then, this weekend we get to take a break and check out our good friends The Ross Neilsen Band! They're playing a few shows in Tofino in Ucluelet in the next week or so and you can bet we'll be there. Here's a tune of their brand new album Resurrection which you may have heard on Long Beach Radio:

Thanks again to everyone who came to rock with Ballistic Pig this weekend. For the moment our next non-jam gig is an Acoustic Pig set at Tofino's village green market on Saturday, June 29 at noon but we suspect some surprises shows will pop up between now and then so check the listing up and to the right.

Rock soon friends! -BP

Surprise Patio Gig in Tofino Tomorrow!

Well, there's a spate of sunny weather coming to the rain forest and the folks at Tofino's Tuff Beans are making the best of it on their patio tomorrow (Sunday, June 2nd) with a couple sets from our 2-piece arrangement "Acoustic Pig"! We go really nice with some sun, cheap beer and caesars.... I promise!

Don't forget about jam night at Jack's on Monday, too.. Enjoy the sun and don't miss out on some Ballistic Pig fun!

First "Official" Acoustic Piglet Gig... Also First "Official" Official's Gig

Well, folks... Ballistic Pig is generally a noisy 3 (or 4) piece Rock and Roll outfit suited to clubs, pubs and bigger parties. We can however strip down to a solo or 2 piece to make ourselves appropriate for smaller venues and lower key events.

Last night, Geoff Johnswine in his solo acoustic form as "Acoustic Piglet" played The Driftwood Café in The Wickaninnish Inn. The small crowd was treated to a couple sets of Beatles, Van Morrison, Tom Petty and the like and also greeted by surprisingly "sensitive" looking Geoff (he sort of shaved!)


Chester Hamm dropped in and jammed a few tunes at the end and took this photo.

So, if you're looking for something more suited to house party, café or restaurant patio. Acoustic Pig (the 2 piece band) or Acoustic Piglet (the solo thing) might be a good bet.

Don't worry though... we haven't gone all hippie acoustic or any of that nonsense!!!! Ballistic Pig will be rocking our usual haunt at Jack's in Tofino in June 14th and touring down to Official's Sports Lounge in Ucluelet June 15 to melt some Ukee faces. See you there!!

Also, don't forget about our weekly Monday night jam at Jack's in Tofino. Talk Soon -Geoff

Jam Night Fun!

For those of you who don't know Ballistic Pig hosts a weekly jam at a pub in Tofino called Jack's every Monday.

Last week some-times west coaster Phil Lyons came to the jam and captured a little snippet of us rocking The Beatles' "Helter Skelter" with some additional vocals from jammer Krista.

Somehow the iPhone audio didn't turn out as terrible as it usually does for these sorts of things so we thought we'd post it here;
 

If you have videos, pics or other Ballistic Pig media we'd love to see it! Feel free to send it to ballisticpig@gmail.com, post it at www.facebook.com/BalliticPig or tag us on Twitter @BallisticPig 

Thanks for watching and we hope to see you at the next show!

Our First Honorary Pig: Johnny

We've decided to make a little tribute to some of the folks we jam with... Lots of people join some or all of Ballistic Pig at our Monday night jams at Jack's Pub in Tofino and every once in a while we are able to incorporate some of these people into a "proper" gig.

So meet our first Honorary Pig, Johnny. He's got an infectious smile, blows a mean blues harp and kinda look like Bruce Willis.... these are all good things. Johnny joined us this past weekend for a set and it was a highlight of the night for us. More Honorary Pigs are coming, we're sure so check out the Honorary Pig tab just above this post.

Catch Ballistic Pig This Weekend at Jack's

Hi all, sort of a lame blog post but I thought I'd slap up the poster for out gig this weekend at our usual haunt, Jack's Pub in Tofino:

Hope we see you out this weekend Tofino!

In other news Geoff broke the bank on an amazing Riversong guitar the other day, expect an "Exploring The Pig Rig" update about it soon!