24 Sussex

Bio:

24 Sussex: Calling it quits just isn't an option...

24 Sussex began in mid 2008 after the disbanding of North Bay, Ontario punk band "Brutes Over Suits." Disgruntled about the band breaking up, bassist/singer/song writer Aaron Seguin and guitarist/singer/song writer Jonesy Y. Knoxville did not wish for their musical art and talent go to waste. They began jamming together and showing each other songs in Jonesy's basement and at the Hammond House Jam space (former Brutes Over Suits jam space.) One day, while jamming at the Hammond House, they went upstairs for a bong session and talked to Hammond House resident Remo (Jonathan Baldwin) about drumming for the band. He agreed, and thus formed a band. The first issue of the newly formed 3 piece punk band was to come up with a name. They brainstormed at jams and eventually came up with "We The People." They learned a few days later that the name was already taken by a garage band in Florida so they decided to go with "System Failure" named after a song Aaron wrote and performed with Brutes Over Suits, but they soon learned that name was taken as well. So, one day while smoking joints, drinking beer and basking in Jonesy's parents’ sauna, Aaron thought that a good name for a Canadian political punk band would be "24 Sussex Drive." Jonesy was impressed with the name, but suggested dropping the "drive." And so 24 Sussex was the name of the band.

After jamming for weeks on end, they finally had enough songs to play a decent set. Their first show was at the old Widdifield City Hall court room (the venue was known as “Highland”) which had been turned into an apartment owned by James Ahola of North Bay hard rock band "No Devil Lived On." They were asked to play a 20 minute set to open the show for an east coast indie band called "Special Noise." After the set, they received many positive comments on their music and thus began writing more music and playing more shows.

Later that year, drummer Remo decided he did not wish to continue playing because of musical style differences. The band then went on a long hiatus due to the closure of North Bay’s only punk/metal venue (Highland) and problems finding a new drummer.

In February 2009, Jonesy moved to Drayton Valley Alberta with a mistress and Aaron stayed in North Bay to continue playing music as the drummer for indie rock band "Killing Caparosa." Aaron wished to continue 24 Sussex as a solo project on the side and had plans to record bass and vocals for a full length album with guest members from an assortment of (mostly local) bands to fill in on guitar and backup vocals. One of the people asked was former Sobriety's Rejects guitarist Paul Rothwell. Paul was impressed with the style and creativity of the former 3 piece and offered to be a permanent guitarist for the band. Aaron accepted the offer and henceforth ditched the solo project idea.

For weeks, Paul and Aaron tried different drummers from around the city which included: Mark Legace of "Bigger Than the Beatles," Josh Lambert of "The Hometown Hecklers," James Huard of "Volume Republic," Marco Lalonde of "The Birds They Spy" and Graham Burgess of "Yer Blues." A few more people were called but never showed up to try out. Many weeks of frustration pursued as Paul and Aaron tried desperately to acquire a drummer. Then one day in March, Paul had received a phone call from former Brutes Over Suits drummer Charles Hansman about the opportunity to open for Canadian punk rock legends SNFU. Paul accepted the offer and arranged for 24 Sussex to open for SNFU despite the fact they had no drummer. Out of a final act of desperation, Aaron sent a long and detailed but straight forward email to Volume Republic drummer Adam Bellaire explaining to him the opportunity. Bellaire was soon to be a father so could not play drums full time, but agreed to jam extensively for a month and play the show in early May of that year. The show was a great success and Aaron gave out 5 of the first and only homemade (very poor quality) 24 Sussex t-shirts for beer money.

At the end of May, Aaron went on a coast to coast hitch hiking adventure with Josh Robin of Bigger Than The Beatles to take time and find inspiration for song writing. Thus, 24 Sussex was on hiatus once again. While on the road, Aaron visited Jonesy in Drayton Valley Alberta after not seeing him for a few months. Jonesy had been going through tough times with his mistress, so he decided to leave Alberta and join both Josh and Aaron on their adventure to the Maritimes. While visiting the eastern provinces, Jonesy and Aaron discussed, at great length, the future direction of 24 Sussex. After their east coast adventure, the three returned to North Bay Ontario.

While in North Bay Paul, Aaron, and Jonesy started rehearsing for the joy of making music. Having practiced extensively for the entire span of the summer, Paul suggested he would take the throne behind the kit and be 24 Sussex’s new drummer, placing Jonesy as lead guitarist once again and thus forming the bands 3rd official lineup. They practiced under the intense summer heat of Paul’s poorly ventilated apartment attic for the span of 2 weeks in order to open for a touring band from Vancouver called “The Rebel Spell” at a new underground venue aptly dubbed as “The Underground.” Yet again, the show was a great success.

A week or two after the show, Jonesy and Aaron decided to hitch hike back to Vancouver one last time before the winter weather kicked in. Once there, the gruesome twosome partied with one of Jonesy’s old band mates, Chris Ray. Jonesy introduced Chris to 24 Sussex using live recordings from the “2008 Non-Partisan Records Pig Roast.” Chris was impressed with the sound and style of the band and offered to record 2 to 3 songs to put on a compilation disc for his newly founded record label, “Abacus Records.” Jonesy and Aaron discussed the offer and the potential future of 24 Sussex on the west coast. They both agreed that Chris Ray had an impressive strategy to go far with his label and decided that they wished to not only record 2 to 3 songs, but a full length album that they have been wanting for the past year. When they reached Kelowna, B.C. Aaron had decided to stay with an old friend while Jonesy went back to Ontario to gather equipment and try to convince Paul to move out west. Paul had decided against the idea and so 24 Sussex was back on the search for a new drummer in the west to record the album and hopefully play for the band full time.

The band is now currently on hiatus again until guitarist/singer/song writer Jonesy Y. Knoxville moves to Vancouver in late December to join bassist/singer/song writer Aaron Seguin where they plan to get 24 Sussex back on its broken, battered feet to charge into battle full bore and record the long awaited album they spent many nights dreaming about.

Fuck yeah, bitch.

..

Member Since:

January 15, 2009

Members:

Aaron Seguin (Bass/Vocals), Jonesy Y. Knoxville (Guitar/Vocals),

Heres a video filmed using a digital camera. This footage was taken at the 2008 Can Change Festival put together by a group of local North Bay Ontario hippies. This is a clip of the song "Dignity Strained"

Influences:

Old foreign sports cars, cigarettes, a good hearty bowl of home made minestrone al forno, NOFX, The Police, Rancid, beer, friends, Propagandhi, sex, Blink 182, Bigwig, Lagwagon, Refused, Dead Kennedy's, random hung over trips to Timmins, SNFU, Lisa Loeb, Rush, Operation Ivy, Volume Republic, underground punk shows and a few other things here n' there...

Sounds Like:

Awesome.

Record Label:

Abacus Records