Fishing in Alaska Inspires Band Name and Artwork

03.03.15

Helicopter “6FW” inspired the band name and the above artwork for SixFoxWhiskey.

After the 2014 Alaska fishing season, guide Chris Ballerini returned to his home south of Boston and formed a jam/folk band with close friends that he’s been jamming with since his college days.

Chris entertains guests at SAFARI camp.

In November before they started heavy gigging, Chris was bogged down trying to come up with a meaningful band name. For weeks he reflected on Alaska and the many profound experiences he had over the summer, especially those centered around the helicopter – flying to remote, beautiful areas of the Alaska Peninsula for a day of heli fishing leaves a permanent impression.

One of the helicopters he worked with throughout the Alaska summer season is named “Six Fox Whiskey” after the last three characters of its tail identification number, which is standard practice among aircraft – fixed wing bush plane and helicopter. (If your tail numbers are 1234BC, for example, you identify yourself as Four Bravo Charlie.)

Chris and Carl, a.k.a. Snake and Egg, warming up.

And so after writing a few songs about Alaska and much band name deliberation, a chord was finally struck on Chris’s guitar, and it sounded like SixFoxWhiskey.

(Chris is a talented guitar player and singer. Guests and staff were lucky to have him entertain us in 2014. He even teamed up with another guide, Carl, to form a camp band called Snake and Egg.)

Check out the SixFoxWhiskey FB page and the Chris Ballerini Music FB page for more information.

Posted in Off the Wall