Editing Tomas Kalnoky

{{short description|American musician (born 1980)}}
{{Original research|date=March 2010}}
{{Infobox musical artist  <!-- See Wikipedia:WikiProject Musicians -->
| name              = Tomas Kalnoky
| image             = 3P7A2185.jpg
| caption           = Kalnoky performing in Cincinnati, Ohio with Streetlight Manifesto on their Summer 2019 tour
| image_size        = <!-- Only for images narrower than 220 pixels -->
| background        = solo_singer
| birth_name        = 
| alias             = Toh Kay
| birth_place       = [[Prague]], [[Czechoslovakia]]
| birth_date        = {{birth date and age|1980|12|24|mf=yes}}
| origin            = [[East Brunswick, New Jersey]], United States
| instrument        = [[Guitar]], [[ukulele]], [[drums]]
| genre             = [[Ska punk]], [[punk rock]], [[World Music|world]], [[Folk music|folk]]
| occupation        = 
| years_active      = 1995&ndash;present
| label             = [[Victory Records|Victory]], RISC, [[Pentimento Music Company|Pentimento]]
| current_member_of = [[Streetlight Manifesto]]<br />[[Bandits of the Acoustic Revolution]]
| past_member_of    = [[Catch 22 (band)|Catch 22]]<br/>Gimp
| website           = {{URL|http://www.TohKay.com}}
}}

'''Tomas Kalnoky''' (born December 24, 1980) is a [[Czechoslovakia|Czechoslovak]]-born American musician. He is the lead singer/guitarist and songwriter of the bands [[Streetlight Manifesto]] and [[Bandits of the Acoustic Revolution]],<ref name="Outsight">{{cite web
|url=https://archive.org/details/TomasKalnokyOnOutsightRadioHours
|title = Tomas Kalnoky Interview
|access-date = 2012-03-25
|author = Outsight Radio Hours
}}</ref> and goes by the pseudonym '''Toh Kay''' as a solo performer.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.streetlightmanifesto.com/|title=STREETLIGHT MANIFESTO|website=Streetlightmanifesto.com|access-date=25 July 2018}}</ref>  He is the former lead singer/guitarist for [[Third wave of ska|3rd-wave ska band]] [[Catch 22 (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.

==Biography==
Raised in [[East Brunswick, New Jersey]], he graduated in 1997 from [[East Brunswick High School]]. After highschool he attended [[Rutgers University]].<ref>[https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/318832586/ "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"</ref>

[[File:Kalnoky.JPG|thumbnail|left|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 (band)|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'' 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 [[Extended play|EP]] ''[[A Call to Arms (EP)|A Call to Arms]],'' as well as on the first volume of "99 songs of Revolution").

After Kalnoky departed Catch 22, he and two ex-members, [[Josh Ansley]], and Jamie Egan, joined with three ex-members of One Cool Guy, Stuart Karmatz, Dan Ross, and Pete Sibilia, to form [[Streetlight Manifesto]].<ref>{{cite news| title = The RISC Group Fansite| url= http://risc.perix.co.uk/sm/history/|website=Risc.perix.co.uk|access-date=25 July 2018}}</ref>  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'".<ref>{{cite news| title =Interview with Tomas Kalnoky| url= https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AkJuhTlo9Ok |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211212/AkJuhTlo9Ok| archive-date=2021-12-12 |url-status=live|publisher=[[YouTube]]|access-date=25 July 2018}}{{cbignore}}</ref>

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 (band)|Bad Religion]], [[Nirvana (band)|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.<ref name="Outsight"/> 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 [[Warped Tour 2009|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."<ref>{{cite news
| title = Bandits of the Acoustic Revolution website| url = http://www.acousticbandits.com/| date = 2007-03-16 |access-date = 2007-07-29| quote = 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.}}</ref> As of 2025, 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.<ref name="auto">{{cite web|url=http://www.pentimentomusic.com/|title=The Pentimento Music Co.|website=Pentimentomusic.com|access-date=25 July 2018}}</ref>  Also in 2010, Kalnoky released a split CD with Dan Potthast of [[MU330]] entitled ''[[You By Me: Vol. 1]]'', under the pseudonym "Toh Kay."<ref name="auto"/>  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]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ydLfyrDi2iQ |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211212/ydLfyrDi2iQ| archive-date=2021-12-12 |url-status=live|title="I've Set Sail" by Toh Kay - Official Music Video|last=pentimentomusic|date=18 October 2010|access-date=25 July 2018|publisher=[[YouTube]]}}{{cbignore}}</ref>

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 (American band)|The Loved Ones]], [[Jenny Owen Youngs]], [[Rocky Votolato]], [[Jenny O.]], and [[Tim McIlrath]] of [[Rise Against]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.tohkay.com/2013/01/23/revival-tour/|title=Revival Tour|website=Tohkay.com|access-date=25 July 2018}}</ref> He would later announce 5 additional dates.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.tohkay.com/2013/01/30/revival-tour-date-added/|title=Revival Tour Date Added|website=Tohkay.com|access-date=25 July 2018}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.tohkay.com/2013/02/01/more-revival-dates/|title=More Revival Dates!|website=Tohkay.com|access-date=25 July 2018}}</ref>

==Discography==

===Gimp===
*''Smiles for Macavity'' ([[Compact audio cassette|Cassette]]) (1996)

===Catch 22===
*''Rules of the Game'' ([[Extended play|EP]]) (Cassette) (1997)
*''[[Keasbey Nights]]'' (1998)

===Bandits of the Acoustic Revolution===
*[[A Call to Arms (album)|''A Call to Arms'']] (EP)  (2001)

===Streetlight Manifesto===
*''Streetlight Manifesto'' (EP) (2002)
*''[[Everything Goes Numb]]'' (2003)
*''[[Keasbey Nights#Streetlight Manifesto version|Keasbey Nights]]'' (2006)
*''[[Somewhere in the Between]]'' (2007)
*''[[99 Songs of Revolution: Vol. 1]]''  (2010) <ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZMJnShBRSq8 |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211212/ZMJnShBRSq8| archive-date=2021-12-12 |url-status=live|title=B.O.T.A.R. - They Provide the Paint|last=Robocrat|date=23 July 2008|access-date=25 July 2018|publisher=[[YouTube]]}}{{cbignore}}</ref>
*''[[The Hands That Thieve]]'' (2013) <ref name="streetlightmanifesto.com">{{cite web|url=http://streetlightmanifesto.com/album-release-date-april-30th/|title=STREETLIGHT MANIFESTO|website=Streetlightmanifesto.com|access-date=25 July 2018}}</ref>
*''The Place Behind the Stars'' (2025)

===Toh Kay===
*''[[You By Me: Vol. 1]]'' (With Dan Potthast of [[MU330]] and The Stitch Up) (2010)
*''[[Streetlight Lullabies]]'' (2011)
*''[[The Hands That Thieve#Toh Kay version|The Hand That Thieves]]'' (2013) <ref name="streetlightmanifesto.com"/>
*''[[You by Me#Vol. 2 - with Sycamore Smith|You By Me: Vol. 2]]'' (with Sycamore Smith, formerly of the Muldoons) (2014)<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.amazon.com/You-Toh-Kay-Sycamore-Smith/dp/B00LT0KXBQ/|title=You By Me: Vol. 2|website=Amazon.com|access-date=25 July 2018}}</ref>

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
{{wikiquote}}
*[http://www.streetlightmanifesto.com/ Streetlight Manifesto]
*[http://www.acousticbandits.com/ Bandits of the Acoustic Revolution]
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20140227085321/http://kalnokysbands.webs.com/ The Work of Tomas Kalnoky]

{{Streetlight Manifesto}}
{{Catch 22 (band)}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kalnoky, Tomas}}
[[Category:1980 births]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:American male singer-songwriters]]
[[Category:American people of Czech descent]]
[[Category:American people of Greek descent]]
[[Category:American rock guitarists]]
[[Category:American rock songwriters]]
[[Category:American rock singers]]
[[Category:American ska guitarists]]
[[Category:American male guitarists]]
[[Category:American ska singers]]
[[Category:Singer-songwriters from New Jersey]]
[[Category:East Brunswick High School alumni]]
[[Category:People from East Brunswick, New Jersey]]
[[Category:Guitarists from New Jersey]]
[[Category:21st-century American singer-songwriters]]
[[Category:21st-century American guitarists]]
[[Category:21st-century American male singers]]
[[Category:Czechoslovak emigrants to the United States]]
[[Category:American people of Hungarian descent]]