Streetlight Manifesto’s first recording was a four-track EP, that featured the songs “Everything Went Numb”, “Point/Counterpoint”, “The Saddest Song” and “We Are the Few”. All of these songs were re-recorded for their full-length studio album, which was released under Victory Records on August 26th 2003. The album earned critical acclaim, with critics paying attention to the band’s well-written lyrics and powerful energy.
It wasn’t until three years later that they released their sophomore studio album called “Keasbey Nights”, on March 7th 2006. It was originally going to be released in late 2004 but was delayed. Tomas Kalnoky replaced the shout-outs during the extended ending of “1234, 1234” with a text-to-speech transcription of an interview in which he explains his motivations for re-recording the album. He said “We wanted to get it right for once. Plus it helps me sleep at night knowing blood, sweat and tears were put into a record as opposed to making people pay thirteen bucks for a record and they only get flashy new cover art.” The album was rated 4/5 stars on Allmusic.
Following an unfortunate year where the band had $80,000 worth of equipment stolen, including some personal belongings, the band released their third studio album “Somewhere in Between” on November 13th 2007. It made it to #2 on the US Billboard Heatseekers Albums. It generated the singles “We Will Fall Together” and “Down, Down to Mephisto’ Café”. They were released as a double A-side single October 2007, prior to the album’s release. Their following album, “99 Songs of Revolution: Vol. 1”, released on March 16th 2010, reached the #4 spot on the Billboard Heatseekers Chart.
“The Hands that Thieves” is their highest charting album yet, released on April 30th 2013, having made it to 95 on the US Billboard 200, 21 on the US Billboard Independent Albums, and 26 on the US Billboard Top Rock Albums chart.
No show is ever alike. I've gone to several of their shows in the past few years and the experiences are always different. The band has a very special genre. They're known to be a ska-punk band but with various jazz and rock influences. Did you know lead singer, Toams Kalnoky, was part of Catch 22 and has an acoustic project called, Toh Kay? The band doesn't spend hours speaking and telling stories. As soon as they finish setting up, they play through the whole set. They're always playing around on stage with their sounds. They'll always add a jazzy solo or do a remix of the song they're playing. The crowd is always super nice and one of the best crowds I've been in. There's always dancing, skanking, moshing, and crowd surfing. When someone gets dropped, 50 people will be there to pick you up. Tomas always stops the show if something wrong seems to happen. During the Buffalo, NY show, the place was so packed that the floor broke and had to evacuated and the band threw a show outside instead! The crowd is always constantly singing. With vocals, throughout instrumentals, etc. No one is ever staying still or being quiet. They're just one of those bands that you can never get sick of seeing.