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 ''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. ...

'', 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 New Brunswick is a city (New Jersey), city in and the county seat, seat of government of Middlesex County, New Jersey, Middlesex County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey.third wave 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 walk ...

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.

History

Formation (2001–2002)

Kalnoky, Ansley and Egan (also from New Jersey) had previously been members of Catch 22. In 2002, 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 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 included a 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.

''Everything Goes Numb'' (2003–2004)

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 and trumpet), Tomas Kalnoky (guitar and vocals), Stuart Karmatz (drums), Dan Ross (alto and 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 ''

'', 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 (2004–2007)

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 would later go on to teach math at Piscataway High School. 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 Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic, and the 30th most populous city in the United States with a population of 585,708 in 2020. Baltimore was d ...

. 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 Jacksonville, 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'' (2007–2010)

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

''99 Songs of Revolution'' (2010–2012)

'' 99 Songs of Revolution'' is a collaborative project that intended to consist of two full-length albums by Streetlight Manifesto, two full-length albums 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, and is the only volume of the project released as of 2022.

''The Hands That Thieve'' (2012–2013)

On August 22, 2012, the band announced that their new album would be called '' The Hands That Thieve''. It was originally set to be released on November 6, 2012. On October 23, however, Tomas addressed the fans of their Facebook page, apologizing that he would need to set the release date back to sometime in January 2013. Victory Records was slated to announce the release date on February 1, 2013, but did not follow through. On February 15, it was announced by Victory Records that the album would be released on April 30, 2013. An acoustic version of the album was released by Toh Kay on the same date with the name The Hand That Thieves. The album was leaked on April 19, 2013. The album has received positive reviews.

''The End of the Beginning'' Tour and Victory Records dispute (2013–2017)

13-04-27 Groezrock Streetlight Manifesto 03

In February 2013, Victory Records allegedly withheld all copies of '' The Hands That Thieve'' from both Streetlight Manifesto and those that had pre-ordered the album through Streetlight's web store, and barred Streetlight Manifesto from releasing the '' Toh Kay'' album. The album was available via Victory Records' website, along with all the major physical retailers. The band called for a boycott of all merchandise and music purchased from Victory Records, be it through online sources such as Amazon.com or through traditional methods of buying physical CDs. They instructed their fans and customers to instead buy merchandise from their website, such as

shirt A shirt is a cloth garment for the upper body (from the neck to the waist). Originally an undergarment worn exclusively by men, it has become, in American English, a catch-all term for a broad variety of upper-body garments and undergarments. I ...

s and stickers. Despite the fact that Streetlight allegedly had no physical copies they had been continuously taking pre-orders for the album, which culminated in the band asking customers not to ask for a refund and rather accept an unspecified gift sent instead of the actual album. On May 16 it was announced the mystery gift to be a digipack case containing a blank CD-R with a custom label and 24 page booklet with poems and photos. On March 1, 2013, Streetlight announced plans to dramatically cut down on touring within the next year: They continued by announcing their End of the Beginning Tour, a multiple-leg outing that will last until the end of the year. On May 16, 2014, the band announced its only tour for the year, the ''Once More Into the Fray'' Tour, a six-show tour of the North American North East, with support from Dan Potthast and Chris Murray. On October 20, 2015, after years of poor relations between Streetlight Manifesto and Victory Records, media outlets reported of a $1,000,000 lawsuit filed against Kalnoky. The lawsuit was filed in regard to the band not fulfilling their record deal of four studio albums to be released under Victory Records. The band released five albums under Victory Records however, Victory claims that ''"... the band agreed not to count this album as one of the four albums under its contract to receive a $10,000 emergency advance."'' Victory also claims that the album 99 Songs of Revolution: Vol. 1 does not count towards the contract due to it being a covers album. The lawsuit claims the $1,000,000 is to be paid for Streetlight not fulfilling their four-album record deal, as well as damages for copyright infringement relating to the release of their last album The Hands That Thieve in which Kalnoky released an acoustic version of the album under his pseudonym Toh Kay titled "The Hand That Thieves". Kalnoky took to the band's Twitter account to comment on the removal of the Victory catalog from streaming service Spotify:

"Ironically, @victoryrecords hasn't paid us a cent in royalties in over 2 yrs. More info soon. #irony #douchenuggets"

On October 23 the band uploaded the following statement to their Facebook page:

"THE REPORTS ARE SIMPLY NOT TRUE. Tony Brummel / Victory Records are NOT suing Tomas for $1 Million… ...He's actually suing Tomas for FIVE MILLION DOLLARS."

During the second leg of The Last Good Fight tour, it was revealed that Dan Ross had returned to the band, now playing alto and tenor saxophone. It was also revealed that Nadav Nirenberg had parted ways with the band and been replaced by Karl Lyden. On April 19, 2017, Streetlight Manifesto and Victory Records issued a joint statement that the two parties had reached a settlement under which the band left the record label, and the record label sold the band all master recordings for an undisclosed sum. On July 27, 2021, Streetlight announced plans to release a sixth studio album "sometime in 2022."

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'' as his biggest musical influence, and stated that he looks to the 1950s and 1960s for inspiration when writing. 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

;Studio albums * ''

'' (2003) * '' Keasbey Nights'' (2006) * '' Somewhere in the Between'' (2007) * '' 99 Songs of Revolution: Vol. 1'' (2010) * '' The Hands That Thieve'' (2013)

Members

;Current members *

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 ...

–

lead vocals The lead vocalist in popular music is typically the member of a group or band whose voice is the most prominent melody in a performance where multiple voices may be heard. The lead singer sets their voice against the accompaniment parts of t ...

, guitar (2002–present) *Jim Conti – vocals, tenor saxophone,

alto saxophone The alto saxophone is a member of the saxophone family of woodwind instruments. Saxophones were invented by Belgian instrument designer Adolphe Sax in the 1840s and patented in 1846. The alto saxophone is pitched in E, smaller than the B tenor ...

(2002–present),

baritone saxophone The baritone saxophone is a member of the saxophone family of instruments, larger (and lower-pitched) than the tenor saxophone, but smaller (and higher-pitched) than the bass. It is the lowest-pitched saxophone in common use - the bass, contra ...

(2005–present) *Chris Thatcher –

drums A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other Percussion instrument, auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player (drummer) typically holds a pair o ...

(2003–present) *Mike Brown – baritone and alto saxophone, backing vocals (2005–present) *Pete McCullough –

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 ...

, backing vocals (2006–present) *Matt Stewart – trumpet, backing vocals (2007–present) *Karl Lyden - trombone, backing vocals (2015–present) *Dan Ross - baritone saxophone (2002-2005), alto and tenor saxophone (2015-present) ;Former members *Jamie Egan - trumpet (2002-2005), trombone (2002-2003) * Josh Ansley - bass (2002-2004) *Pete Sibilia - tenor saxophone (2002) *Stuart Karmatz - drums (2002) *Paul Lowndes - drums (2002-2003) *Mike Soprano - trombone, backing vocals (2003-2010) *Chris Paszik - bass (2004-2006) *Delano Bonner - trumpet (2005-2007) *Nadav Nirenberg - trombone, backing vocals (2010-2015) *Blespo Surfqueen - vocals, bass (2012-2015)

Timeline

ImageSize = width:1000 height:auto barincrement:20 PlotArea = left:100 bottom:90 top:5 right:10 Alignbars = justify DateFormat = mm/dd/yyyy Period = from:01/01/2002 till:01/01/2023 TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal format:yyyy Legend = orientation:vertical position:bottom columns:3 ScaleMajor = increment:1 start:2002 ScaleMinor = unit:year increment:1 start:2002 Colors = id:Vocals value:red legend:Vocals id:Back value:pink legend:Backing_vocals id:Trumpet value:yelloworange legend:Trumpet id:Sax value:skyblue legend:Saxophone id:Trombone value:coral legend:Trombone id:Guitar value:green legend:Guitar id:Bass value:blue legend:Bass id:Drums value:orange legend:Drums id:Lines value:black legend:Studio_release id:bars value:gray(0.95) BackgroundColors = bars:bars LineData = at:06/01/2002 color:black layer:back at:08/26/2003 color:black layer:back at:03/07/2006 color:black layer:back at:11/13/2007 color:black layer:back at:03/16/2010 color:black layer:back at:04/30/2013 color:black layer:back BarData = bar:Tomas text:"Tomas Kalnoky" bar:Jamie text:"Jamie Egan" bar:Delano text:"Delano Bonner" bar:Matt text:"Matt Stewart" bar:Sibilia text:"Pete Sibilia" bar:Dan text:"Dan Ross" bar:Jim text:"Jim Conti" bar:Mike text: "Mike Brown" bar:Soprano text:"Mike Soprano" bar:Nadav text:"Nadav Nirenberg" bar:Karl text:"Karl Lyden" bar:Josh text:"Josh Ansley" bar:Paszik text:"Chris Paszik" bar:Pete text:"Pete McCullough" bar:Stuart text:"Stuart Karmatz" bar:Paul text:"Paul Lowndes" bar:Chris text:"Chris Thatcher" PlotData= width:11 textcolor:black align:left anchor:from shift:(11,-4) bar:Tomas from:01/01/2002 till:end color:Vocals bar:Tomas from:01/01/2002 till:end color:Guitar width:3 bar:Jamie from:01/01/2002 till:09/19/2004 color:Trumpet bar:Jamie from:01/01/2002 till:09/19/2004 color:Back width:3 bar:Jamie from:01/01/2002 till:09/01/2003 color:Trombone width:7 bar:Delano from:09/19/2004 till:07/01/2007 color:Trumpet bar:Matt from:07/01/2007 till:end color:Trumpet bar:Matt from:07/01/2007 till:end color:Back width:3 bar:Soprano from:09/01/2003 till:11/01/2009 color:Trombone bar:Soprano from:09/01/2003 till:11/01/2009 color:Back width:3 bar:Nadav from:11/01/2009 till:10/15/2015 color:Trombone bar:Nadav from:11/01/2009 till:10/15/2015 color:Back width:3 bar:Karl from:10/15/2015 till:end color:Trombone bar:Karl from:10/15/2015 till:end color:Back width:3 bar:Sibilia from:01/01/2002 till:09/01/2002 color:Sax bar:Jim from:09/01/2002 till:end color:Sax bar:Jim from:09/01/2002 till:end color:Vocals width:3 bar:Dan from:01/01/2002 till:09/01/2005 color:Sax bar:Dan from:10/15/2015 till:end color:Sax bar:Mike from:09/01/2005 till:end color:Sax bar:Mike from:09/01/2005 till:end color:Back width:3 bar:Josh from:01/01/2002 till:09/19/2004 color:Bass bar:Paszik from:09/19/2004 till:09/01/2005 color:Bass bar:Paszik from:09/19/2004 till:09/01/2005 color:Back width:3 bar:Pete from:09/01/2005 till:end color:Bass bar:Pete from:09/01/2005 till:end color:Back width:3 bar:Stuart from:01/01/2002 till:09/01/2002 color:Drums bar:Paul from:09/01/2002 till:09/01/2003 color:Drums bar:Chris from:09/01/2003 till:end color:Drums

*Note: Mike Soprano played trombone on 99 Songs of Revolution but left the band before the album was released. *Note: Jamie Egan recorded trumpet on '' Keasbey Nights'' in 2006 but was not touring with the band at the time. He and Kalnoky are the only two to appear on both versions of Keasbey Nights.

References

External links

Streetlight Manifesto official site
{{Authority control American ska musical groups Musical groups from New Jersey Musical collectives Third-wave ska groups Victory Records artists Musical groups established in 2002 2002 establishments in New Jersey Articles which contain graphical timelines American ska punk musical groups Musicians from New Brunswick, New Jersey