Not by Choice is a

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

punk rock

band Band or BAND may refer to: Places *Bánd, a village in Hungary *Band, Iran, a village in Urmia County, West Azerbaijan Province, Iran *Band, Mureș, a commune in Romania * Band-e Majid Khan, a village in Bukan County, West Azerbaijan Province, I ...

from

Ajax Ajax may refer to: Greek mythology and tragedy * Ajax the Great, a Greek mythological hero, son of King Telamon and Periboea * Ajax the Lesser, a Greek mythological hero, son of Oileus, the king of Locris * ''Ajax'' (play), by the ancient Greek ...

. They have released two albums, '' Maybe One Day'' in 2002 ( Linus Records/

Warner Music Canada Warner Music Canada is the Canadian division of Warner Music Group. The label previously operated as WEA Music of Canada, Ltd. (French: ''WEA Musique du Canada, Ltée''), often shortened to WEA Canada, the Canadian subsidiary of WEA Internationa ...

), and '' Secondhand Opinions'' ( Maple Music Recordings/

Universal Music Canada Universal Music Group owns, or has a joint share in, many of the record labels listed here. According to UMG official site, the main labels are Abbey Road Studios, Bravado, Capitol Music Group, Decca Records, Def Jam Recordings, Deutsche Grammopho ...

) in 2004.

History

2002-2003: Debut album and acclaim

In 2002, Not By Choice signed with

Linus Entertainment Linus Entertainment is a music company operating as an independent record label, distributor and music publisher. While founded in Mississauga, Ontario, Linus spent many years in Burlington, Ontario before recently moving operations to Waterdown, O ...

. That same year, the band released their debut album, ''Maybe One Day''. The band earned a

MuchMusic Video Award The iHeartRadio MMVAs were an annual awards show broadcast on Much to honour the year's best music videos that was last held in 2018. Originally debuting in 1990 as the Canadian Music Video Awards, the awards were renamed in 1995 to the MuchMu ...

for "Best Independent Video" ("Now That You Are Leaving"), a

CASBY award The CASBY Awards were a Canadian awards ceremony for independent and alternative music, presented annually by Toronto, Ontario radio station CFNY, currently branded as 102.1 The Edge. CASBY is an acronym for Canadian Artists Selected By You. The a ...

for "Best Independent Album", and inclusion on two ''

Big Shiny Tunes ''Big Shiny Tunes'' is a series of rock albums compiled and released by the Canadian music television station MuchMusic, and through MusiquePlus in Quebec, from 1996 to 2009. The best-selling album of the series was '' Big Shiny Tunes 2'', which ...

'' compilations (''

Now That You Are Leaving Now most commonly refers to the present time. Now, NOW, or The Now may also refer to: Organizations * Natal Organisation of Women, a South African women's organization * National Organization for Women, an American feminist organization * N ...

'' and '' Standing All Alone''). In 2003, the band signed with

MapleMusic Recordings Cadence Recordings, formerly MapleMusic, is a Canadian independent record label founded by Andy Maize, Jeff Maize, Mike Alkier, Evan Hu, Lorique Mindel and Grant Dexter in 1999 and based in Toronto, Ontario. Other investors include Gary Slaigh ...

. ''Maybe One Day'' was released in

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

in December 2003, selling over 25,000 records in the country.

2004-2005: Second album, Bovaird departure

The band's October 2004 release of their second album, ''Secondhand Opinions'', presented a different direction from the pop-punk roots of ''Maybe One Day'' with a more mature-sounding musical approach. The album was not well received by commercial radio, and did not meet the expectations set by the success of their first album. Despite a heavy push from Much Music with their video for the first single ''Days Go By'', the band did not tour outside of Southern Ontario for more than a handful of sporadic dates. They were given the opening band slot for Avril Lavigne's 2005 summer tour in Southern Ontario, but the effort came almost 8 months after the release of ''Secondhand Opinions''. The band did prove to have a faithful following in Japan, and ''Secondhand Opinions'' did manage to receive a great deal of attention. The band was able to tour Japan in March 2005, performing a week of headlining shows followed by a week as the opening band for

Simple Plan Simple Plan is a Canadian rock band from Montreal, Quebec, formed in 1999. The band's lineup consists of Pierre Bouvier (lead vocals, studio bass guitar), Chuck Comeau (drums), Jeff Stinco (lead guitar), and Sébastien Lefebvre (rhythm guita ...

. After the departure of bassist AJ Bovaird during the summer of 2005, Not by Choice took a break from touring and began writing songs for a new album. However, the band later stopped progress on their third studio album and took an indefinite hiatus.

2017-present: reunion

On April 10, 2017, Not By Choice announced that the classic lineup would be reuniting to play live as the main support for Simple Plan's No Pads, No Helmets...Just Balls 15th anniversary tour stop in Toronto. This show occurred on September 16, 2017. In 2018, Not By Choice performed at the Sound of Music Festival in

Burlington, Ontario Burlington is a city in the Regional Municipality of Halton at the northwestern end of Lake Ontario in Ontario, Canada. Along with Milton to the north, it forms the western end of the Greater Toronto Area and is also part of the Hamilton met ...

Discography

Albums

*2002: '' Maybe One Day'' *2004: '' Secondhand Opinions''

Music videos

Members

* Mike Bilcox – guitar, lead vocals * Glenn "Chico" Dunning – guitar, backing vocals * Liam Killeen – drums * AJ Bovaird – bass, backing vocals

Singles

*2002: " Standing All Alone" *2002: "

" *2004: " Days Go By"

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Not By Choice Musical groups established in 1997 Musical groups reestablished in 2017 Musical groups from the Regional Municipality of Durham Canadian pop punk groups MapleMusic Recordings artists 1997 establishments in Ontario