Information/Write-up
The Canucks’ story began in Vancouver in 1955, when drummer Red “Flying Red” Lewis met accordionist Ray Park while both were still in high school. They formed the Rocketunes, and their rising reputation landed them an agent after a show at Vancouver’s Cave Supper Club. The agent booked them into the California–Nevada circuit and suggested a name change that would highlight their Canadian identity. The Canucks were born.
By the turn of the 1960s the Canucks were working the California–Nevada circuit, playing Reno and Las Vegas and edging close to stardom. They toured Alaska with the USO in 1958 alongside Bob Hope, crossed paths with Jimmy Durante, and even backed Doris Day on Please Don’t Eat the Daisies. Based in Los Angeles with an apartment off Hollywood Boulevard and a Cadillac parked outside, they cut two rock ’n’ roll / rockabilly singles for the Diadon label: Rock Around the Barn b/w Never Before (Diadon 45-60, 1960), featuring Ray Park on vocals, and Nervous Wreck b/w My Kind of Love (Diadon D-101, 1961), with Red Lewis handling lead vocals. Both discs capture the band’s raw early energy and stand as rare Canadian contributions to the burgeoning U.S. rockabilly market.
When Park’s wife fell ill, he returned to Canada, where he connected with bassist and singer Ed Isaak. For a short time there were actually two groups working under the name The Canucks—Lewis in Las Vegas, Park and Isaak in western Canada—until the draft pressures of the Vietnam War cut off their U.S. touring plans. The three eventually reunited, taking a job in Whitehorse at the Rainbow Room of the Whitehorse Inn in 1966. Lewis was supposed to be filling in on drums but, struck by the sight of ice crystals drifting through –42°C air on Two Mile Hill, decided to stay. The Rainbow Room became their long-term base, where their shows of matching suits, comedy routines, and dance steps drew nightly lineups around the block. They even managed the bowling alley downstairs, playing their sets and then cleaning alleys between breaks.
Life in the Yukon provided stability, community, and material for stories that have lasted decades. They toured constantly through Alaska, western Canada, and the U.S., often bringing their families along. Isaak became notorious for lugging a giant Caesar salad bowl on the road, the garlic smell overwhelming hotel rooms and maids alike. In the 1970s they invested in the ill-fated Showboat Complex in downtown Whitehorse, losing money but gaining memories, and in the late 1980s they mounted a successful Canteen Show. When asked to perform for Queen Elizabeth II’s 1990 Calgary visit, they refused, having already sold tickets to a local show that night.
Alongside their live work, the Canucks made a handful of recordings. In 1970 they issued Don’t Stop Loving Me Now! b/w I’ll Follow You Sunshine Girl on 6th Avenue Records (AV-610), a label launched in 1965 by Al Reusch as part of Aragon Enterprises Ltd. after Aragon Recording Studios moved to its West 6th Avenue location in Vancouver. A follow-up appeared in 1971, Yukon Song b/w Everybody’s Talkin’ (AV-7301), credited to Isaak, Park & Lewis (with Canucks Ltd. noted in brackets). Yukon Song reflected their northern experience with folk-psych imagery of Whitehorse, Dawson, Old Crow, and Mount Logan “piercing the sky, soaring 20,000 high,” evoking the icy sweep of Canada’s far North.
Over the decades they performed with stars including Waylon Jennings, Loretta Lynn, Ernest Tubb, Buddy Knox, Jimmy Durante, Doris Day, Hank Snow, and the Coasters, while becoming fixtures at Yukon institutions such as the Kopper King and CBC Yukon. They helped build a northern music culture that still reverberates.
Today, Ed Isaak (vocals, bass), Ray Park (piano, vocals), and Red Lewis (drums, vocals) continue to perform together, affectionately known as the “grandfathers of Yukon music.” Ed’s son, Brandon Isaak, has also carried on the family tradition as a nationally recognized blues artist. More than half a century after their Hollywood ambitions, the Canucks remain rooted in the Yukon, their story inseparable from the history of live music in Canada’s North.
-Robert Williston
Ed Isaak: vocals, bass
Ray Park: piano, vocals
Red Lewis: drums, vocals
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