"People have been calling it the new Seattle, but I think it's just two bands that have come out at the same time that play the same kind of music," says the Not By Choice guitarist.
Record label reps haven't been flooding the town since Sum 41 broke big in the past year as they did in Seattle, when Nirvana and Pearl Jam helped kick start the grunge era in the early 1990s.
For one thing, there is only one club to play in the small town 50 kilometres east of Toronto. For another, Not By Choice had been dealing with Warner imprint Linus Entertainment before Sum 41's All Killer No Filler took off and made them one of Canada's hottest groups.
"There's only a few bands that have ever come out of Ajax I can think of. Harem Scarem, remember them? and Hhead, with two h's," says Dunning.
Not By Choice was formed by Dunning and vocalist/guitarist Mike Bilcox, who started playing together six years ago. After going through several different rhythm sections, the lineup was finalized two years ago with the addition of bassist AJ Bovaird and drummer Liam Killeen. The group released three independent EPs before signing with Warner-distributed imprint Linus Entertainment, which released the band's debut full-length, Maybe One Day, last month.
Since both Not By Choice and Sum 41 are from the same town and play a similar style of music, the two bands -- who are friends -- are compared a lot, but it doesn't bother them, Dunning says.
"Before them people were, like, 'You're, like, Blink 182,' and before that it was, 'You're, like, Green Day.' It's when people go, 'You're trying to be Sum 41,' that's a different story, because there is a difference."
See for yourself when the group plays The Zoo tomorrow night.
