Joshua David Ansley was the

bass Bass or Basses may refer to: Fish * Bass (fish), various saltwater and freshwater species Music * Bass (sound), describing low-frequency sound or one of several instruments in the bass range: ** Bass (instrument), including: ** Acoustic bass gui ...

player for the band HURT and the

ska Ska (; ) is a music genre that originated in Jamaica in the late 1950s and was the precursor to rocksteady and reggae. It combined elements of Caribbean mento and calypso with American jazz and rhythm and blues. Ska is characterized by a walki ...

bands Catch 22 and

Streetlight Manifesto Streetlight Manifesto is an American ska punk band from New Brunswick, New Jersey, United States, formed in 2002. They released their first album, ''Everything Goes Numb'', which was distributed by Victory Records, on August 26, 2003. The band he ...

. Raised in

Old Bridge Township, New Jersey Old Bridge Township is a Township (New Jersey), township in Middlesex County, New Jersey, Middlesex County, New Jersey, United States, located in the Raritan River, Raritan Valley region and within the New York metropolitan area. As of the 202 ...

, United States, Ansley was a Ford model and an actor as a tween/preteen. He was in Social Butterfly, an alternative band that also featured future HURT guitarist and bandmate Paul Spatola. Then he joined the pop-punk band The Youth Ahead before graduating high school and eventually joined the influential ska-punk group Catch 22. Josh went to

Mason Gross School of the Arts Mason Gross School of the Arts is the arts conservatory at Rutgers University in New Brunswick, New Jersey. It is named for Mason W. Gross, the sixteenth president of Rutgers. Mason Gross offers the Bachelor of Fine Arts in Dance, Theater, Digi ...

Rutgers University Rutgers University (; RU), officially Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, is a Public university, public land-grant research university consisting of four campuses in New Jersey. Chartered in 1766, Rutgers was originally called Queen's ...

to study acting and also attended the London Academy of Theatre at The Globe. While in London he wrote a play in

Iambic Pentameter Iambic pentameter () is a type of metric line used in traditional English poetry and verse drama. The term describes the rhythm, or meter, established by the words in that line; rhythm is measured in small groups of syllables called "feet". "Iambi ...

called ''Cirque de Lumiere'' which he later produced back at home. He took off a year of school to tour with the band Catch 22. He played a

fretless bass A fretless bass is a bass guitar whose neck does not have any frets. While the instrument is played in all styles of music, it is most common in pop, rock, and jazz. It first saw widespread use during the 1970s, although some players used them befo ...

when he started but later for Streetlight Manifesto, he played a five-string bass. Ansley left Catch 22 a few months after the original release of ''

Keasbey Nights ''Keasbey Nights'' is the debut album by the American ska punk band Catch 22 (band), Catch 22, released on March 24, 1998 by Victory Records. It is the only album by the band's original lineup, as singer/songwriter/guitarist Tomas Kalnoky, bassis ...

'' in order to finish his degree. After graduating with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Theatre, he rejoined with

Tomas Kalnoky Tomas Kalnoky (born December 24, 1980) is a Czechoslovakia-born United States, American musician. He is the lead singer/guitarist and songwriter of the bands Streetlight Manifesto and Bandits of the Acoustic Revolution, and goes by the pseudonym ...

to form

. He played with them for a while and recorded bass on the album ''

Everything Goes Numb ''Everything Goes Numb'' is the debut studio album by American ska punk band Streetlight Manifesto, released on August 26, 2003. It garnered critical acclaim, with critics commenting on the quality of the band's lyrics and their powerful energy. ...

'', released on

Victory Records Victory Records is a Chicago-based record label founded by Tony Brummel. It operates a music publishing company called "Another Victory, Inc." and is the distributor of several record labels. It has featured many prominent artists including Thur ...

and the

RISC Group In computer engineering, a reduced instruction set computer (RISC) is a computer designed to simplify the individual instructions given to the computer to accomplish tasks. Compared to the instructions given to a complex instruction set compu ...

, before later leaving to move to Los Angeles; he was then replaced by Chris Paszik. He toured as an actor and did several theatrical productions in New York and Los Angeles as well as several film and TV spots including a co-star on the Hulu Television series The Path (2016). He became the bass player for the band HURT on Capitol Records, which toured with

Alice In Chains Alice in Chains (often abbreviated as AIC) is an American rock band from Seattle, Washington, formed in 1987 by guitarist and vocalist Jerry Cantrell and drummer Sean Kinney, who later recruited bassist Mike Starr and lead vocalist Layne ...

Staind Staind ( ) is an American rock band from Springfield, Massachusetts, formed in 1995. The original lineup consisted of lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist Aaron Lewis, lead guitarist Mike Mushok, bassist and backing vocalist Johnny April, and dr ...

Three Days Grace Three Days Grace is a Canadian Rock music, rock band formed in Norwood, Ontario in 1992 originally as "Groundswell" and played in various local Norwood backyard parties and area establishments before disbanding in 1995 and regrouping in 1997. ...

Breaking Benjamin Breaking Benjamin is an American Rock music, rock band from Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, formed in 1999 by lead singer and guitarist Benjamin Burnley and drummer Jeremy Hummel. The first lineup of the band also included guitarist Aaron Fink an ...

Seether Seether are a South African rock band founded in 1999 in Pretoria, Gauteng, South Africa. The band originally performed under the name Saron Gas until 2002, when they moved to the United States and changed it to Seether to avoid confusion wit ...

and others. He played on HURT's major label debut ''Volume I'' which came out March 21, 2006, and ''Volume II'' which was released on September 25, 2007. On April 3, 2008, he announced via HURT's forums and their Myspace page that he would be leaving the band to pursue different avenues. He began the band Dive Bar Stickup in Los Angeles before moving to Mexico. He started a film company 'Truth Be Shone Films' which produces the contemporary spiritual vlog 'I Am I' which espouses his Life philosophy. Joshua teaches yoga and spirituality, leading retreats internationally.

References

Living people American rock bass guitarists American male bass guitarists People from Old Bridge Township, New Jersey Guitarists from New Jersey Year of birth missing (living people) {{US-bass-guitarist-stub