Combine the Irish folk music of The Chieftains with the backbeat of Alice In Chains and somewhere in the middle you will find Ashley MacIsaac.

MacIsaac was born and raised in Cape Breton, Nova Scotia, and has played the fiddle since he was 9. His unusual take on the instrument resulted in the label of somewhat of a Canadian legend.

What was once a Celtic tradition of music, MacIsaac twisted around to a punkish, anger tinged stomp style.

“When I go out and do my live show I present the image of an angry young man, ” MacIsaac said in a recent press release. “It’s angst or punk and that’s what the Celts were, punks. But it’s also about romancing because the Celts were also about that.”

His latest album, Hi, How Are You Today?, is laden with these and many other aspects of his Irish-Scottish influences.

What makes MacIsaac a little more listener-friendly for the American mainstream audience would have to be the grunge, industrial and new-age rhythms that are the basis for much of the record.

“The Devil in the Kitchen” could almost be mistaken for a tune by The Ramones, with the exception of pronounced fiddle virtuosity. The opening track “Beaton’s Delight” has a psychedelic Lennon and McCartney feeling to it, while “Sleep Maggie” has a haunting, Enigma-esque flavor.

MacIsaac, however, would say that How Are You is a result of his exposure to American television.

“What I’m doing musically on this album is not any different to what I have done playing the fiddle without any of the arrangements,” he said. “So what I bring into the music is the TV culture of America that I’ve been exposed to only the last three years of my life really. For me, America is TV.”

MacIsaac has certainly embraced much of American culture with just his garb. With his platform shoes and bleached-blond hair, one might think he was from Seattle if it weren’t for the ever-present kilt.

In response to his rather eccentric attire, MacIsaac said, “The reason I don’t mind wearing platforms and basically being a fiddle slut is because I still do play in a structured way and it’s totally fusion because of that.

“So I’m not a grunge fiddler, and I’m not a rock fiddler and I’m not a slow Celtic fiddler. … I’m just a Cape Breton fiddler who’s learned to put things other ways. It’s multi-media to music.”

Recently on Late Night with Conan O’Brien, MacIsaac further embellished on his peculiar behavior by revealing the answer to that popular question: “Do they really wear anything under those kilts?”

With a flying Celtic kick, viewers were literally “exposed” to the digitally censored answer.

But incidents like that and being an exceptional fiddle player are really starting to pay off for MacIsaac. Hi, How Are You Today? has already gone platinum in Canada and appears to be on the way in the United States.

MacIsaac has also been jumping around the stage with the likes of Edie Brickell, Paul Simon, David Byrne and The Chieftains.

Ames will have a chance to catch this up-and-coming fiddle master tonight at the M-Shop at 8 p.m. Acoustic guitarist Tara MacLean will be opening the evening. Tickets are no longer available.