Back in early 2001, before Streetlight got started, Tomas Kalnoky [front man for Catch 22's "Keasbey Nights" album released in 1998] decided to take some of his original works and create a small 15 member all acoustic modern orchestra/band, dubbed Bandits of the Acoustic Revolution. BOTAR never launched into success, after crafting just one EP, "A Call to Arms" was all had been made and sold to the selective public.The pieces on that CD did remain in the woodwork and one song, one of the best off of Streetlight full length debut album, "Here's to Life" really showed what this man and his creativity was capable of. Full of literary grandeur and refernces, it sparked their next album.
Streetlight was formed. Thanks to Kalnoky and his creativity, he was able to begin nailing something that other 3rd wave ska bands couldn't even come close to. Others were preaching repetitive subjectless songs about beer, drinking, partying and non two-tone unity.
SM on the other hand, released their first EP, although these 4 songs were unpolished and highly unmixed, it gave foresight for the horizon of a breakthrough.
Thanks to Kalnoky's one man writing, assembly and producing, and Victory Records' distribution," Everything Goes Numb" was born. Along with this album, so was SM's theme, a heist driven, gun toting, 3-piece suit work of writing that drew from Keasbey Nights, and Tomas' dream. No 2 songs on the album sound alike at all, which helps with the flow and the fact that the album NEVER GETS OLD. Thankfully drawing from ska, punk, reggae and even experimental roots, the assembly of said songs cannot be shot down. The eerie optimism of these songs might be from the upbeat movement of the album, but even those that speak of suicide and death carry a positive message, a moral of sorts. The over/under melodies, double singing, shouts and vocal arrangements, as well as the build ups and break downs make this album encridible wonderful. It is enjoyable, flows perfectly and contains 12 well thought, assembled and written songs. The horn section has been tight since day one, and Kalnoky's guitar work is also dynamic, he plays a style of ska guitar found nowhere else: fast, biting, unslipped, adpative. Chris Thatcher plays the most amazing drums heard anywhere, he is so fast, techincal, moldable. He is able to make all of his rolls, fills, fill beats, and rhythms fit the songs perfectly. Listen to his style, it literally puts other drummers to shame.
Listen to "Everything Goes Numb" to get a feel for how tight this band fits together and how well it was written both musically and subject-wise.
Thanks to his smart moves, Kalnoky held on to the record rights for "Keasbey Nights" so after finishing "Everything Goes Numb" and touring it, as well as select songs from "A Call to Arms", they released an entire cover album of "Keasbey Nights", still all produced by Kalnoky. This CD sounded much cleaner and tighter than the original, thanks to the tight knit Streetlight has. Thatcher added some drum tech, and the solos were sightly altered, but the album kept true to it's name and gave fans a fresh look at Streetlight.
And thats all I've got to say about that.
Albums referenced in this review:
A Call to Arms
Demo EP
Everything Goes Numb
Keasbey Nights [as performed by Streetlight Manifesto]
External Links:
Streetlight Manifesto Myspace [unofficial]
Streetlight Manifesto Webiste
Streetlight Manifesto Store
