Press Kit

Sooke resident Gord Phillips lives his life one guitar chord at a time, and when it gets too funny, or strange, he writes a song about it.

Octavian Lacatusu

Feb 7, 2017 11:00 AM

Gord Phillips will perform at Hilltop House Concerts on Saturday.

Sooke resident Gord Phillips lives his life one guitar chord at a time, and when it gets too funny, or strange, he writes a song about it.

He certainly keeps busy.

Between driving for the Sooke School District, working as an educational assistant and working at SEAPARC Leisure Complex, Phillips still manages to squeeze spending time with his children and making new tunes with his latest three-piece band, simply known as the Gord Phillips Band.

At the end of the day, he does what he loves, because who knows how long anyone has on this planet anyway.

“One day I woke up and I was just like, if I don’t offer anything and today’s my last day on the planet, then what’s it all for,” Phillips chuckled.

Phillips got all of Sooke Elementary School singing for Lt.-Gov. Judith Guichon during her recent visit to Sooke, and is working on a theme song for the school.

“I wrote it in the frame that the kids will own it, and I wrote it simply so they will be able to play it and sing it,” he said.

This weekend, Phillips and his band will play at the Hilltop House Concert, where visitors can literally walk into a house, grab a drink and relax on a couch while listening to some live tunes.

“It’s intimate, but you can still be who you want be as a musician,” Phillips said, who, as the front man and guitar player, the venue is right up his alley.

When asked if he’s got any Valentine’s Day-themed songs in the works, Phillips said he doesn’t really have any love songs, but has some songs that he loves, such as Survivor Earth, a song about cloning and mixing DNA samples from several animals, a topic he approaches in his music with both humour and seriousness all at the same time.

In the next few months, he hopes to put together two videos based on his favorite songs, Dust and Two-plus-Two, both of which have a special place in his heart.

“[Dust] is almost like a ‘wohoo’ song, starts in a crescendo with the drums going crazy ... it’s like, everybody wants to see the earth collide with Hailey’s Comet and everybody wants to see a NASCAR crash with all cameras on it ... it’s about all this craziness in the world and we’re all really attracted to it,” he said.

Phillips said two-plus-two “doesn’t equal four anymore” is a song about today’s day of age when no bit of information is really solid or 100 per cent believable.

“We don’t know what to believe,” he laughed.

The Hilltop House Concert will take place Saturday (Feb.11) with doors at 7:30 p.m. and show starting at 8.

Local musician Gord Phillips has made into the final round of CBC's music contest - here's why.

Octavian Lacatusu

Apr 24, 2015 8:00 PM

Gord Philips walking around and playing his guitar at the Sooke Family Fair on Saturday

Gord "I need to play" Phillips thought if he can get a job where he doesn't have to cross the Sooke River Bridge every day, he'd be a really happy guy - so he got his wish: he now drives the school bus and teaches guitar lessons from his house on the side.

Ah, but there's more to the man behind the guitar - and the bus - he's passionate about telling stories to people of all ages, about the adventures through life and nature using nothing more but the untethered power of song.

And it just so happens that this unique way of storytelling has caught so much nationwide attention that he's now in the third and final round of CBC's Searchlight: the hunt for Canada's best new artist music contest.

It's called "Sooke Hiway" - a song which began 11 years ago at a time when Sooke was caught for four months in a whirlwind of rain, snow and ice that almost crippled the town entirely.

"It was chaos. All those houses by the tire shop were flooded up to the vehicles. I went up to go to work, I couldn't - so I went back up the drive way, got my surf board, I went to go out that way, there were trees down everywhere," he said.

As he was walking back up towards his house having nearly given up, he turned around and looked at the staggering theatre of everything that was happening around him.

"I just sat there and looked over at the ocean and at the road, and I thought, 'wow, this is a pretty important road. When it's closed, nothing's going on,'" Phillips said. This road is incredible, because it's the only one. You can't take another one to get anywhere, so anything that's happened in the last 200 years here, happened on that road."

It was simply tuning into a different frequency - or as he calls it, "power lines" - the inexplicable black matter of our subconscious mind of which all art of every form is created.

The end result is a song about adventure that you can take with you wherever you go- more so, as Philips explains it, travelling to a place where you can go to be at peace - a place where you can just figure stuff out.

"Wise men come from the north and naive ones from the south," he said. "Once you've taken this road up to Sombrio beach and you spent a weekend on your own by yourself in the middle of that beautiful place and you come back down into that world that you lived in, it's never the same."

For Phillips, a devout outdoorsman, Sooke Hiway is in a way a reflection of his own journey and experience through life, which took him from his ancestral home of Sarnia, Ontario, thousands of kilometres across Canada and to the coastal wonder of the West Coast.

"Music's my religion and the outdoor is my church; that's just how I live my life," he said.

His love for music never really subsided, even when he started life fresh in Sooke. After a while of joining free bands and as many music gigs as we could, he says it wasn't about the money, or the fame. It was about playing music and having fun.

"Every Thursday we have "Singing Thursday" on the bus - I have an in-house microphone and we just jam," Philips said. "I always say, it's a lot more fun working with kids than it is adults. You just gotta laugh at fart jokes all the time."

It's not just fart jokes though (even if they are still pretty funny) - Phillips just generally enjoys teaching youth about music and about solving their issues in life in a positive, constructive way - such as his current project, the Restitution song.

"There's a program that we do with the kids and it's called restitution; it helps kids learn to listen to each other and to work out their troubles on their own in a respectful manner," he said, adding that the program really inspired him do write a song about it.

"Every elementary school now is learning that song for Music Monday on May 4, so I have 1000 kids learning the Restitution song right now," Phillips said, adding that it's a work in progress.

Continuing with our desire to present more local talent, this Saturday’s feature performer for the Sooke Folk Music Society’s monthly coffee house is local singer/songwriter, Gord Phillips.

Black Press Media

Oct 12, 2011 9:00 AM

Gord Phillips performs on Saturday night.

Continuing with our desire to present more local talent, this Saturday’s feature performer for the Sooke Folk Music Society’s monthly coffee house is local singer/songwriter, Gord Phillips.

Gord is a passionate and powerful entertainer. His blues infused, folk rock style has been compared with the likes of early Rolling Stones and Steve Earle combined.

Gord enjoys connecting with the audience and when the opportunity arises he takes the time to give the back story to  his songs.  It’s his way of making each performance feel like a unique experience for the audience. A natural on stage there is always some banter between songs. Many have commented on how comfortable he is when the show is on.

Solo or with The Assimilators Gord puts on a great show. His is a versatile and eclectic sound guaranteed to get your attention and keep it, with driving original tunes and interactive vibe, giving folk a sweet rock influenced edge. His style has tones of Bob Dylan, Elvis Costello and Neil Young, all big influences for Gord.

Sooke is home.  In Victoria and the surrounding area, Gord Phillips & the Assimlators are around every corner, playing any venue from clubs to pubs, coffee shops and theatres.

“You will be Assimilated. And it will be good.” Gord’s song writing is versatile and unique. It is inspired by life. One song will be a rockabilly tune Sinner for a Day, the next maybe some straight ahead rock Market, or a wicked upbeat Rhythm & Blues Punks, taking it down and giving a jazz feel. Pypers Flower Song, and finishing off with a combination of all that Oldman War to make the assimilation complete.  A night with Gord onstage is a journey all will enjoy.

“Music is my religion” says Gord,” I need to play.”

Gord has garnered local success in British Columbia with the release of his album, Looking Glass in 2010. The single, Sooke Hiway, and Movin’ Out West have received radio play on CBC, CFUV, CFAX, 100.3 Thr Q and many other stations across B.C..  Sooke Hiway was also performed by the Sooke Community Choir with Gord live in May 2011.

He is very busy in the community working on the music video for the Sooke Hiway. A new album is in the works along with an interactive kids’ song book inspired by an otter. There are many sides to Gord and when you see him live a combination of all those come together in song. Check his website: http://www.gordphillips.com for tour dates near you.

We are happy to have Gord Phillips as our feature performer this Saturday, Oct. 15. Please come out and join us for an evening of inspiring original music from this local talent. It all happens at Holy Trinity Anglican Church, 1962 Murray Road.

Doors open at 7 p.m., with our open stage at 7:30 and our feature at 9.

The Sooke Folk Music Society has been bringing quality musical entertainment to the Sooke community since 1992.