Tomas Kalnoky

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Tomas Kalnoky
3P7A2185.jpg
Kalnoky performing in Cincinnati, Ohio with Streetlight Manifesto on their Summer 2019 tour
Background information
Also known asToh Kay
Born (1980-12-24) December 24, 1980 (age 43)
Prague, Czechoslovakia
Origin East Brunswick, New Jersey, United States
Genres Ska punk, punk rock, world, folk
Instrument(s) Guitar, ukulele, drums
Years active1995–present
Labels Victory, RISC, Pentimento
Website www.tohkay.com

Tomas Kalnoky (born December 24, 1980) is a Czechoslovak-born American musician. He is the lead singer/guitarist and songwriter of the bands Streetlight Manifesto and Bandits of the Acoustic Revolution, [1] and goes by the pseudonym Toh Kay as a solo performer. [2] He is the former lead singer/guitarist for 3rd-wave ska band Catch 22, but left the band after making only one album (their debut, Keasbey Nights ) to attend Savannah College of Art and Design in Savannah, Georgia, for visual art. According to the booklet of Somewhere in the Between , Kalnoky attended Rutgers University. He is the owner of Pentimento Music Company, a record company.

Contents

Biography

Raised in East Brunswick, New Jersey, he graduated in 1997 from East Brunswick High School. [3]

Tomas Kalnoky performing live in 2008 Kalnoky.JPG
Tomas Kalnoky performing live in 2008

Kalnoky's first foray into the music world began with the punk band Gimp, with whom he released one cassette, Smiles for Macavity, before moving onto Catch 22 (with fellow Gimp members drummer Chris Greer and bassist Jason Scharenguivel). It was in Gimp that Kalnoky first wrote the song "Supernothing" which later appeared on the Catch 22 demo Rules of the Game (EP) and the album Keasbey Nights. However, the original version is a much slower acoustic song, which features Kalnoky's brother Achilles on violin (Achilles would later appear on the Bandits EP A Call to Arms, as well as on the first volume of "99 songs of Revolution").

After Kalnoky departed Catch 22, three ex-members of Catch 22, Tomas Kalnoky, Josh Ansley, and Jamie Egan, joined with three ex-One Cool Guy members, Stuart Karmatz, Dan Ross, and Pete Sibilia, to form Streetlight Manifesto. [4] Despite the horn section, Kalnoky is hesitant to brand them "ska" saying, "Ska is something that you have to tread so lightly with because there are so many, ironically, Nazi-like purists out there who will rip you apart because you don't fit the part of the 'ska band'". [5]

Kalnoky's influences are many, the blending of which creates Streetlight's signature sound. Kalnoky cites The Drifters as a favorite band. Other musical influences include Bad Religion, Nirvana, The Suicide Machines, Squirrel Nut Zippers, and The Dead Milkmen. He has mentioned Czech folk singer Jaromir Nohavica as one of his musical heroes. [1] During one of his early interviews, Kalnoky cited American pop-folk singer Mason Jennings as one of his current CDs playing in his car. Streetlight Manifesto recorded Jennings' Birds Flying Away as a track on "99 Songs of Revolution."

During the 2009 Van's Warped Tour Kalnoky fractured his arm in a bicycle accident, rendering him incapable of playing guitar. While his arm healed, Kalnoky continued to take up the microphone and sing the band's set, with Sean P. Rogan of Big D and the Kids Table filling in on guitar.

Kalnoky is a self-proclaimed perfectionist, explaining the persistent delay of Streetlight Manifesto's second original album, Somewhere in the Between , and the next album by the Bandits of the Acoustic Revolution, which he said in 2007 "will be released by the end of this decade." [6] As of 2024, said BOTAR album has not been released.

In 2010, Streetlight Manifesto released the first volume of 99 Songs of Revolution , the first of "...8 or so records that focus entirely on playing music that other musicians have written." One of the songs however, "They Provide the Paint for the Picture Perfect Masterpiece that You Will Paint on the Insides of Your Eyelids," is originally written by Kalnoky and performed by his "side project," Bandits of the Acoustic Revolution. The project/record was originally planned to be solely by Bandits of the Acoustic Revolution, but, as time went on, it faded into a project containing both Streetlight and BOTAR, as well as 2 other potential bands. For this reason, BOTAR has been called "the single least prolific musical group on the face of the planet," by the Pentimento Music Company, a member of the RISC Group. [7] Also in 2010, Kalnoky released a split CD with Dan Potthast of MU330 entitled You By Me: Vol. 1 , under the pseudonym "Toh Kay." [7] The first official Toh Kay music video is his interpretation of "I've Set Sail," originally by Potthast, animated by Eric Power of Inked Reality. [8]

On January 29, 2013, Kalnoky announced that he would perform seven shows as part of The Revival Tour alongside Chuck Ragan, Dave Hause of The Loved Ones, Jenny Owen Youngs, Rocky Votolato, Jenny O., and Tim McIlrath of Rise Against. [9] He would later announce 5 additional dates. [10] [11]

Discography

Gimp

Catch 22

Bandits of the Acoustic Revolution

Streetlight Manifesto

Toh Kay

Related Research Articles

Ska punk is a fusion genre that mixes ska music and punk rock music. Ska punk tends to feature brass instruments, especially horns such as trumpets, trombones and woodwind instruments like saxophones, making the genre distinct from other forms of punk rock. It is closely tied to third wave ska which reached its zenith in the mid-1990s.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Streetlight Manifesto</span> American ska punk band from New Jersey

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 headlined and sold out their first concert at Rutgers University in New Brunswick, New Jersey on December 9, 2003. Several of Streetlight Manifesto's members were well known in the New Jersey third wave ska community for their roles in past ska punk bands from that area, primarily Kalnoky's Catch 22 and fellow New Jersey band One Cool Guy.

Catch 22 is an American ska punk band from East Brunswick Township, New Jersey. The band was formed in 1996 by guitarist/vocalist/songwriter Tomas Kalnoky, who left the band in 1998 and later formed Streetlight Manifesto. Founding members still in the band are vocalist/saxophonist Ryan Eldred, trumpeter Kevin Gunther and drummer Chris Greer.

Bandits of the Acoustic Revolution, or BOTAR, is a musical collective including influences from ska, punk, classical, and eastern European music, entirely in an acoustic format including classically trained musicians. It is composed of former Catch 22 members Tomas Kalnoky and Jamie Egan, in addition to Nick Afflitto, Marcy Ciuffreda, Matt Dannenberg, Rachel Goldstein, Layton Hayes, John Paul Jones, Achilles Kalnoky, Paul Lowndes, Chris Paszik, Mark Rendeiro, Dan Ross, Pete Sibilia, Shane Thomson, and Natalia Ushak.

<i>Everything Goes Numb</i> 2003 studio album by Streetlight Manifesto

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. The album has since acquired a cult following among fans of the Third Wave Ska movement. This is the first full-length album frontman and vocalist Tomas Kalnoky participated in since leaving the ska-punk band Catch 22. The track "If and When We Rise Again" quotes the melody of Hungarian Dance No. 5 by Johannes Brahms.

<i>A Call to Arms</i> (EP) 2001 EP by Bandits of the Acoustic Revolution

A Call to Arms is the 2001 debut EP by Bandits of the Acoustic Revolution, a musical collective headed by Tomas Kalnoky. It was released by Kalnoky's record label, Pentimento Music Company, in 2001, and quickly garnered critical acclaim.

<i>Keasbey Nights</i> Album by Catch 22

Keasbey Nights is the debut album by the American ska punk 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, bassist Josh Ansley, and horn player James Egan all left the group later that year. Kalnoky re-recorded the entire album in 2006 with his new band Streetlight Manifesto in response to Victory's plan to re-release it. The album's title references Keasbey, New Jersey, an unincorporated area within the Woodbridge Township of Middlesex County.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Keasbey, New Jersey</span> Populated place in Middlesex County, New Jersey, US

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Joshua David Ansley was the bass player for the band HURT and the ska bands Catch 22 and Streetlight Manifesto. Raised in Old Bridge Township, New Jersey, 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 at Rutgers University to study acting and also attended the London Academy of Theatre at The Globe. While in London he wrote a play in Iambic Pentameter 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 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 in order to finish his degree. After graduating with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Theatre, he rejoined with Tomas Kalnoky to form Streetlight Manifesto. He played with them for a while and recorded bass on the album Everything Goes Numb, released on Victory Records and the RISC Group, before later leaving to move to Los Angeles; he was then replaced by Chris Paszik.

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You By Me is a series of split albums featuring Tomas Kalnoky, best known as the lead singer of Streetlight Manifesto. The first release, Vol. 1, was released on November 16, 2010, through Kalnoky's Pentimento Music Company, with the second, Vol. 2, released on August 12, 2014.

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Pentimento Music Company is an American independent record label founded by Streetlight Manifesto frontman Tomas Kalnoky. Pentimento was launched in 2007 to re-release A Call to Arms, the 2002 debut EP from Bandits of the Acoustic Revolution. Pentimento has since released albums related to Dan Potthast and Tomas Kalnoky and their respective bands. While Streetlight Manifesto was signed to Victory Records, Pentimento was responsible for the vinyl release of the band's 2010 album, 99 Songs of Revolution: Volume 1, which is possibly due to a deal in which Pentimento and Victory "co-release project-type records." In 2011, Pentimento signed Indiana-based indie rock band Rodeo Ruby Love. In 2017, after legal disputes with Victory Records were settled, Streetlight Manifesto is now fully signed to Pentimento.

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The Hands That Thieve is the fifth studio album by the American ska-punk band Streetlight Manifesto. It was their first studio album since 2010's 99 Songs of Revolution: Vol. 1, and their first album of original material since 2007's Somewhere in the Between. In addition to the Streetlight album, an acoustic version of the album was intended to be released by Toh Kay, but was cancelled. The album was originally set to be released in the summer of 2012, but was pushed back several times due to label problems and rewrites, to its eventual release date of April 30, 2013. The album has received generally favorable critical response.

Rodeo Ruby Love was a pop/rock band that formed in Marion, Indiana. They were signed to Pentimento Music Company, an independent record label. The band gained prominence in 2011, when they toured with Streetlight Manifesto and Reel Big Fish. Rodeo Ruby released its first album, Your Love Has Made Everything Beautiful, in 2006. They have since released two EP's, three more studio albums, and a live album.

References

  1. 1 2 Outsight Radio Hours. "Tomas Kalnoky Interview" . Retrieved 2012-03-25.
  2. ↑ "STREETLIGHT MANIFESTO". Streetlightmanifesto.com. Retrieved 25 July 2018.
  3. ↑ "500 graduate from East Brunswick", Home News Tribune , June 18, 1997. Accessed February 2, 2022, via Newspapers.com. "Commencement exercises were held yesterday for senior students at East Brunswick High School at the Louis Brown Athletic Center of Rutgers University in Piscataway.... The graduates are:... Tomas Kalnoky"
  4. ↑ "The RISC Group Fansite". Risc.perix.co.uk. Retrieved 25 July 2018.
  5. ↑ "Interview with Tomas Kalnoky". YouTube. Archived from the original on 2021-12-12. Retrieved 25 July 2018.
  6. ↑ "Bandits of the Acoustic Revolution website". 2007-03-16. Retrieved 2007-07-29. BOTAR is about to start recording its first full length. The plan is to release it around the same time or slightly after Streetlight gets its record done. But we're dealing with you-know-who here so expect it before the end of our current decade.
  7. 1 2 "The Pentimento Music Co". Pentimentomusic.com. Retrieved 25 July 2018.
  8. ↑ pentimentomusic (18 October 2010). ""I've Set Sail" by Toh Kay - Official Music Video". YouTube. Archived from the original on 2021-12-12. Retrieved 25 July 2018.
  9. ↑ "Revival Tour". Tohkay.com. Retrieved 25 July 2018.
  10. ↑ "Revival Tour Date Added". Tohkay.com. Retrieved 25 July 2018.
  11. ↑ "More Revival Dates!". Tohkay.com. Retrieved 25 July 2018.
  12. ↑ Robocrat (23 July 2008). "B.O.T.A.R. - They Provide the Paint". YouTube. Archived from the original on 2021-12-12. Retrieved 25 July 2018.
  13. 1 2 "STREETLIGHT MANIFESTO". Streetlightmanifesto.com. Retrieved 25 July 2018.
  14. ↑ "You By Me: Vol. 2". Amazon.com. Retrieved 25 July 2018.
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