Streetlight Manifesto

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Biography

Streetlight Manifesto is an American skapunk band with very strong punk rock|punk influences that is often credited with starting the fourth wave of ska. They have very notable ska , jazz , latin , and traditional Eastern European music influences. They hail from New Brunswick Township, New Jersey|New Brunswick , New Jersey and are fronted by Tomas Kalnoky , who originally started Catch 22 (band)|Catch 22 (and later had Streetlight Manifesto cover the songs he wrote with Catch 22).

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 (band)|Catch 22 and fellow New Jersey band One Cool Guy . As of October 4, 2009, the lineup consists of songwriter Tomas Kalnoky on guitar and lead vocals , Mike Brown on Alto saxophone|alto and Baritone saxophone|baritone sax, Jim Conti on Alto saxophone|alto and Tenor saxophone|tenor sax, Pete McCullough on bass guitar, Matt Stewart on trumpet, Nadav Nirenberg on trombone, and Chris Thatcher on drums.

History

Formation

Kalnoky, Ansley, and Egan had previously been members of Catch 22 (band)|Catch 22 . In 2001, Kalnoky gathered a large number of musicians—including Ansley and Egan, several members of One Cool Guy, his brother Achilles, and several of Achilles' orchestra friends—to perform on the Bandits of the Acoustic Revolution Extended play|EP , A Call to Arms . Included on the five track independently released CD is "Here's to Life", a song which Streetlight Manifesto reworked and included on Everything Goes Numb , and a new version of Catch 22's "Dear Sergio", which includes a whole new verse. Both Streetlight and the Bandits are members of The RISC Group , a collaboration of artists to self produce and retain rights to their music.

Recording to touring

Streetlight Manifesto's first recording consisted of a four-track demo EP, featuring the songs "Everything Went Numb", "Point/Counterpoint", "The Saddest Song" and "We Are the Few", all of which were re-recorded for their debut album. The line-up that recorded the demo consisted almost entirely of musicians from Bandits of the Acoustic Revolution: Josh Ansley (bass guitar), Jamie Egan (trombone & trumpet), Tomas Kalnoky (guitar & vocals), Stuart Karmatz (drums), Dan Ross (alto & baritone saxophone) and Pete Sibilia (tenor saxophone). The band was signed to Victory Records, the same label as Catch 22.

After the demo was recorded Karmatz left and was replaced by Paul Lowndes and Jim Conti took the place of Pete Sibilia. This line-up then recorded Everything Goes Numb , but changed again before the band could perform any live shows, Jamie Egan played both trumpet and trombone, but as he would not be able to do this live Mike Soprano joined on trombone. Paul Lowndes had no intention to tour and was replaced by Chris Thatcher.

More lineup changes and continued touring

In September 2004, Ansley announced his departure to pursue an acting career. The next departure was Egan, who left on January 22, 2005, before Streetlight Manifesto began the Ska Is Dead 2 tour, headlining alongside MU330 and the Voodoo Glow Skulls . Delano Bonner came in to play trumpet starting on January 25, 2005, performing at Rowan University in Glassboro, New Jersey. Dan Ross had planned to leave after the Ska Is Dead 2 tour to pursue a business career, and was forced to leave early just before the end of the tour due to a family crisis. He has been replaced by Mike Brown, whose first concert was at the start of the European tour. Brown's first concert in the United States was on May 31, 2005 in Baltimore .

In April 2005, the band headed overseas to Europe for their first tour outside North America despite personnel difficulties, including visa trouble for various members. Then in October 2005, in Orlando, Florida, the band's van was broken into; in total around $80,000 worth of instruments, merchandise, and personal belongings were stolen. Following the burglary and theft, the band was forced to cancel their following four shows. In November 2005, they were robbed again, in Paris, France, and the band lost "the one expensive piece of equipment that wasn't stolen in last month's debacle, a 24 track hard drive recorder we've been using to document our live shows." Sometime between December 3, 2006 and July 3, 2007, Delano Bonner left the band. Sometime before the recording of Somewhere in the Between , Matt Stewart took over for Bonner.

Somewhere in the Between

Streetlight Manifesto's second album, Somewhere in the Between , was released in November 2007 through Victory Records .

99 Songs of Revolution

99 Songs of Revolution is a collaborative project that consists of two full-length CDs by Streetlight Manifesto, two full-length CDs by the Bandits of the Acoustic Revolution; as well as four other albums, two each by two other Streetlight-related artists. The project consists entirely of cover songs. Volume No. 1 of the project was released by Streetlight Manifesto on March 16, 2010.

Musical influences and style

Kalnoky writes the band's songs on an acoustic guitar and then fleshes out the song structure on the computer and hums basic hornlines, after which the rest of the band comes in and adds their parts. He has cited the soundtrack of the film Stand By Me (film)|Stand By Me as his biggest musical influence, and stated that he looks to the 1950s and 1960s for inspiration when writing. He has specifically cited Louis Jordan, Nirvana (band)|Nirvana , The Drifters , Squirrel Nut Zippers , and The Martino Latino Experience as influences. For Somewhere in the Between he sought to "branch out in different directions", adding "eastern European and gypsy sounds" to give the album "a world influence"..

Discography

;Albums

2003: Everything Goes Numb

2006: Keasbey Nights#Streetlight Manifesto version|Keasbey Nights

2007: Somewhere in the Between

2010: 99 Songs of Revolution#Volume 1|99 Songs of Revolution: Vol. 1

;Other releases

2002: Streetlight Manifesto Demo

Members

Streetlight Manifesto Line-ups >

(2002) Streetlight Manifesto Demo Josh Ansley - Bass guitar\|Bass Jamie Egan - Trombone & Trumpet Tomas Kalnoky - Guitar & Singer\|Lead Vocals Stuart Karmatz - Drum kit\|Drums Dan Ross - Alto saxophone\|Alto & Baritone Saxophone Pete Sibilia - Tenor Saxophone
(2003) Everything Goes Numb Josh Ansley - Bass Jim Conti - Alto & Tenor Saxophone Jamie Egan - Trombone & Trumpet Tomas Kalnoky - Guitar & Lead Vocals Paul Lowndes - Drums Dan Ross - Alto & Baritone Saxophone
(2003–2004) Live Josh Ansley - Bass Jim Conti - Alto & Tenor Saxophone Jamie Egan- Trumpet Tomas Kalnoky - Guitar & Lead Vocals Dan Ross - Alto & Baritone Saxophone Mike Soprano - Trombone Chris Thatcher - Drums
(2004–2005) Live Jim Conti - Alto & Tenor Saxophone Jamie Egan - Trumpet Tomas Kalnoky - Guitar & Lead Vocals Chris Paszik - Bass Dan Ross - Alto & Baritone Saxophone Mike Soprano - Trombone Chris Thatcher - Drums
Keasbey Nights Mike Brown - Alto & Baritone Saxophone Jim Conti - Alto & Tenor Saxophone Jamie Egan - Trumpet Tomas Kalnoky - Guitar & Lead Vocals Chris Paszik - Bass Mike Soprano - Trombone Chris Thatcher - Drums
(2006–2007) Live Delano Bonner - Trumpet Mike Brown - Alto & Baritone Saxophone Jim Conti - Alto & Tenor Saxophone Tomas Kalnoky - Guitar & Lead Vocals Pete McCullaugh - Bass Mike Soprano - Trombone Chris Thatcher - Drums
(2007–2010) Somewhere in the Between and 99 Songs of Revolution Mike Brown - Alto & Baritone Saxophone Jim Conti - Alto & Tenor Saxophone Tomas Kalnoky - Guitar & Lead Vocals Pete McCullaugh - Bass Mike Soprano - Trombone Matt Stewart - Trumpet Chris Thatcher - Drums
(2010–Present) Live Mike Brown - Alto & Baritone Saxophone Jim Conti - Alto & Tenor Saxophone Tomas Kalnoky - Guitar & Lead Vocals Pete McCullaugh - Bass Nadav Nirenberg - Trombone Matt Stewart - Trumpet Chris Thatcher - Drums

;Current

Tomas Kalnoky – lead vocals, guitars (2002–present)

Pete McCullough – bass, backing vocals (2006–present)

Matt Stewart – trumpet, backing vocals (2007–present)

Mike Brown – alto & baritone saxophone, backing vocals (2005–present)

Jim Conti – alto & tenor saxophone, backing vocals (2003–present)

Chris Thatcher – drums, percussion (2003–present)

Nadav Nirenberg - trombone (2010–present)

Copyright Citations

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