Toh Kay
| Tomas Kalnoky | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Background information | |
| Also known as | Toh Kay |
| Born |
December 24, 1980 Prague, Czechoslovakia |
| Origin | East Brunswick Township, New Jersey, U.S. |
| Genres | Ska punk, third wave ska, World, Folk |
| Instruments | Guitar, Ukulele, Drums |
| Years active | 1995–present |
| Labels | Victory, RISC, Pentimento |
| Associated acts |
Streetlight Manifesto Bandits of the Acoustic Revolution Catch 22 Gimp Toh Kay |
| Website | http://www.TohKay.com |
| Notable instruments | |
|
Gibson ES-335 Ibanez AS73 Gibson Acoustics |
|
Tomas Kalnoky (born December 24, 1980) is a Czech-born 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 Toh Kay as a solo performer. He is the former lead singer/guitarist for 3rd-wave ska 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.
Kalnoky's family (which is a historical family from Transylvania, back then being part of Hungary, now belongs to Romania) emigrated from Czechoslovakia to the U.S. in 1985, when he was 5 years old. He has one brother, Achilles, who is a year older than he is. During a live performance in Greece in 2008, Tomas stated that he was of Greek descent and had lived in the country for several years. He, however, had to leave the country because due to his Greek citizenship, he would have had to serve in the Greek Military. At a show at the Glass House in Pomona, CA, Kalnoky stated that he lived close-by in the same city and was revealing this information only because he had just moved recently.
Kalnoky said he learned to play guitar because of influence from The Beatles. His 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 (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 (EP) 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 EP A Call to Arms, as well as on the first volume of "99 songs of Revolution"). Kalnoky is involved in The RISC Group, of which very little is known.
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