Young Bucks bring East Coast folk to Hong Kong

They're a folk-rock band with a heavy Nova Scotian contingent, but The Young Bucks didn't come together playing at their local Legion.

Chris Ivany, who grew up in Albert Bridge, N.S., moved with his wife to Hong Kong 10 years ago to take teaching jobs.

His friend, Shamus MacKinnon, from Sydney, N.S., had recently done the same, and the two soon started playing together at small venues and open mic nights.

"When we first started playing, Shamus and I had no idea we'd be able to play folk music in Hong Kong," Ivany told CBC's Cape Breton Information Morning.

After some time, they were joined by Paul MacLean from Glace Bay, N.S., Rob Anderson from Timberlea, N.S., Sean Softley from Calgary, and Jimmy Pittman from Chicago.

MacLean, who plays drums, describes the band's sound as "folk-rocky, with a bit of Americana thrown in."

"But it has a nice East Coast feel because our fiddle player, although he's from Calgary, you'd think he's straight out of Mabou," said MacLean.

The Young Bucks now get regular requests to play shows, including a monthly event called What the Folk. They've even done a couple of shows on a local radio station.

"The expat community here is massive," said Ivany, noting there are 300,000 Canadian citizens in Hong Kong. "And once we saw that there were a couple other bands doing it, it kind of just gave us the confidence to put it out there and play the music that we love."

They've also grown to love their adopted hometown, and have enjoyed playing on the Hong Kong waterfront with the city skyline and surrounding mountains. But they admit the move to a foreign metropolis was an adjustment at first.

"I grew up on a dirt road," said Ivany. "I lived in Chéticamp and Margaree for six years without even a traffic light. And that first ride from the airport into the city was very intimidating."

He describes Hong Kong as the New York of Asia.

"There's nothing you can't do, there's nothing you can't get, there's no food you can't eat," he said.

It's also a convenient hub from which to travel to the rest of Asia relatively cheaply, he said.

In recent years, they've witnessed protests as the local population calls for greater democracy. But Ivany said the unrest hasn't touched their lives much.

"Things have changed a lot since we've been here actually. But it continues to provide us so many opportunities that it's really hard to leave."

New album coming out

The Young Bucks are looking forward to the release of their new album Rookies, which is largely made up of "foot-stomping, sea-shanty style" tunes, said Ivany.

The album is scheduled to be released on vinyl and online streaming platforms in mid-July.

MORE TOP STORIES