Keasbey Nights
Encyclopedia
Keasbey Nights is the debut album by the East Brunswick, New Jersey
ska punk
band Catch 22
, released on March 24, 1998 by Victory Records
. It is the only album by the band's original lineup, as singer/songwriter/guitarist Tomas Kalnoky
, bassist Josh Ansley
, and horn player James Egan all left the group later that year. Kalnoky re-recorded the entire album in 2006 with his new band Streetlight Manifesto
in response to Victory's plan to re-release it. The album's title references Keasbey, New Jersey
, an unincorporated area within the Woodbridge Township
of Middlesex County
.
. The decision was prompted by Victory Records' plan to re-release the album with additional content. The Streetlight Manifesto version was originally scheduled to be released in late 2004, but was continually delayed until being released on March 7, 2006.
The re-recorded version includes several musical and lyrical changes from the original. "Dear Sergio" includes an extra verse that Kalnoky had added when he recorded the song with the Bandits of the Acoustic Revolution
on A Call to Arms (2001). The muted trumpet solo in "This One Goes Out To..." was replaced with a tenor saxophone, and different instruments were also used during the solo section of "Kristina She Don't Know I Exist". Most notably, 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:
The liner notes for the album include a message: "There is absolutely no way of explaining the existence of the record you now hold in your hands without somehow offending, infuriating, confusing or alienating certain parties, so we won't even try. Please enjoy this for what it is."
East Brunswick Township, New Jersey
The town is located southwest of New York City and 48 miles northeast of Philadelphia.Lawrence Brook, a tributary of the Raritan River, runs along the western border of the township...
ska punk
Ska punk
Ska punk is a fusion music genre that combines ska and punk rock. It achieved its highest level of commercial success in the United States in the late 1990s. Ska-core is a subgenre of ska punk, blending ska with hardcore punk.The characteristics of ska punk vary, due to the fusion of contrasting...
band Catch 22
Catch 22 (band)
Catch 22 is an American ska punk band from East Brunswick Township, New Jersey.The band was formed by guitarist/vocalist/songwriter Tomas Kalnoky and drummer Chris Greer who recruited trumpeter Kevin Gunther, who was working in a local record store...
, released on March 24, 1998 by Victory Records
Victory Records
Victory Records is a Chicago-based record label founded by Tony Brummel. It is a privately held corporation. It also operates a music publishing company called "Another Victory, Inc." and is the distributor of several smaller independent record labels....
. It is the only album by the band's original lineup, as singer/songwriter/guitarist Tomas Kalnoky
Tomas Kalnoky
Tomas Kalnoky 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...
, bassist Josh Ansley
Josh Ansley
Joshua David Ansley was the bass player for the band HURT and the ska bands Catch 22 and Streetlight Manifesto. Raised in Old Bridge Township, New Jersey, United States, Ansley was a Ford model and an actor as a child/pre-teen. He then was in Social Butterfly, an alternative band which also...
, and horn player James Egan all left the group later that year. Kalnoky re-recorded the entire album in 2006 with his new band Streetlight Manifesto
Streetlight Manifesto
Streetlight Manifesto is an American punk band with many influences from different genres including ska, from New Brunswick, New Jersey fronted by Tomas Kalnoky....
in response to Victory's plan to re-release it. The album's title references Keasbey, New Jersey
Keasbey, New Jersey
Keasbey is a small unincorporated area located within Woodbridge Township in Middlesex County, New Jersey, United States. It is located on the western outskirt of Perth Amboy, a city made up, increasingly since the 1960s, of mostly Latinos...
, an unincorporated area within the Woodbridge Township
Woodbridge Township, New Jersey
-Communities:Many distinct communities exist within Woodbridge Township. Several of these communities have their own ZIP codes, and many are listed by the United States Census Bureau as census-designated places, but they are all unincorporated areas and neighborhoods within the Township that,...
of Middlesex County
Middlesex County, New Jersey
-Demographics:As of the census of 2000, there were 750,162 people, 265,815 households, and 190,855 families residing in the county. The population density was 2,422 people per square mile . There were 273,637 housing units at an average density of 884 per square mile...
.
Track listing
Personnel
- Josh AnsleyJosh AnsleyJoshua David Ansley was the bass player for the band HURT and the ska bands Catch 22 and Streetlight Manifesto. Raised in Old Bridge Township, New Jersey, United States, Ansley was a Ford model and an actor as a child/pre-teen. He then was in Social Butterfly, an alternative band which also...
- bass guitarBass guitarThe bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....
, vocalsSingingSinging is the act of producing musical sounds with the voice, and augments regular speech by the use of both tonality and rhythm. One who sings is called a singer or vocalist. Singers perform music known as songs that can be sung either with or without accompaniment by musical instruments... - Sean Bonner - construction
- Alan Douches - masteringAudio masteringMastering, a form of audio post-production, is the process of preparing and transferring recorded audio from a source containing the final mix to a data storage device ; the source from which all copies will be produced...
- Jamie EganJamie EganJames "Jamie" Egan is a high school band teacher and professional musician who resides in New Jersey. He has taught at Spotswood High School and E.R. Appleby Elementary School in Spotswood. He currently teaches at North Brunswick Township High School, in North Brunswick, New Jersey...
- co-production, tromboneTromboneThe trombone is a musical instrument in the brass family. Like all brass instruments, sound is produced when the player’s vibrating lips cause the air column inside the instrument to vibrate...
, fluteFluteThe flute is a musical instrument of the woodwind family. Unlike woodwind instruments with reeds, a flute is an aerophone or reedless wind instrument that produces its sound from the flow of air across an opening...
, French hornHorn (instrument)The horn is a brass instrument consisting of about of tubing wrapped into a coil with a flared bell. A musician who plays the horn is called a horn player ....
, tin whistleTin whistleThe tin whistle, also called the penny whistle, English Flageolet, Scottish penny whistle, Tin Flageolet, Irish whistle and Clarke London Flageolet is a simple six-holed woodwind instrument. It is an end blown fipple flute, putting it in the same category as the recorder, American Indian flute, and...
, vocals - Ryan Eldred - saxophoneSaxophoneThe saxophone is a conical-bore transposing musical instrument that is a member of the woodwind family. Saxophones are usually made of brass and played with a single-reed mouthpiece similar to that of the clarinet. The saxophone was invented by the Belgian instrument maker Adolphe Sax in 1846...
, vocals - Grace Falconer - assistant Engineer
- Chris Greer - drum kitDrum kitA drum kit is a collection of drums, cymbals and often other percussion instruments, such as cowbells, wood blocks, triangles, chimes, or tambourines, arranged for convenient playing by a single person ....
- Kevin Gunther - trumpetTrumpetThe trumpet is the musical instrument with the highest register in the brass family. Trumpets are among the oldest musical instruments, dating back to at least 1500 BCE. They are played by blowing air through closed lips, producing a "buzzing" sound which starts a standing wave vibration in the air...
, Vocals - Hillary Johnson - co-production, mixing, recording
- Tomas KalnokyTomas KalnokyTomas Kalnoky 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...
- concept, guitarGuitarThe guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...
s, music, photography, vocals, lyrics - Augusto F. Menezes - photography
Streetlight Manifesto version
In 2004 Kalnoky decided to re-record Keasbey Nights with his new band Streetlight ManifestoStreetlight Manifesto
Streetlight Manifesto is an American punk band with many influences from different genres including ska, from New Brunswick, New Jersey fronted by Tomas Kalnoky....
. The decision was prompted by Victory Records' plan to re-release the album with additional content. The Streetlight Manifesto version was originally scheduled to be released in late 2004, but was continually delayed until being released on March 7, 2006.
The re-recorded version includes several musical and lyrical changes from the original. "Dear Sergio" includes an extra verse that Kalnoky had added when he recorded the song with the Bandits of the Acoustic Revolution
Bandits of the Acoustic Revolution
Bandits of the Acoustic Revolution, or BOTAR, is a musical collective including influences from ska, punk, classical, and eastern European music, entirely in an acoustic format...
on A Call to Arms (2001). The muted trumpet solo in "This One Goes Out To..." was replaced with a tenor saxophone, and different instruments were also used during the solo section of "Kristina She Don't Know I Exist". Most notably, Kalnoky replaced the shout-outs during the extended ending of "1234, 1234" with a text-to-speech
Speech synthesis
Speech synthesis is the artificial production of human speech. A computer system used for this purpose is called a speech synthesizer, and can be implemented in software or hardware...
transcription of an interview in which he explains his motivations for re-recording the album:
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. This release is a preemptive strike, I guess. Whatever you want to call it, it'll piss people off, and that, at the end of the day, is all that really matters.
If there's one thing I can't stand it's when a CD is re-released untouched sonically, with a new cover and maybe a live video, and kids are duped into buying this new edition of something they already have. I was upset when I was told the guys were going to do this for Keasbey, so I offered to re-record it because I've always thought it sounded like pure garbage sound-wise. Plus the budgets we get are laughable, particularly for a band with seven musicians to record. So we used some of our own money and took our time with this one. I'll tell you right now, we have no intent on hiding our intentions. We wanted to prevent the re-release of Keasbey untouched as well as get the record to sound how it should have sounded originally. For that we sacrificed months of our time and our money, and now we feel what we have is worth paying for. Although, truth be told, I don't care if a single record is sold, as it is indeed old music, and kids have a right to know what it is and to decide whether or not they'll pay for it. Do I think it's worth thirteen dollars? Yes, very much so, but that's my opinion. What other people decide, that's their own opinion. We're going to keep doing what we do whether or not a single record is sold.
The liner notes for the album include a message: "There is absolutely no way of explaining the existence of the record you now hold in your hands without somehow offending, infuriating, confusing or alienating certain parties, so we won't even try. Please enjoy this for what it is."
Personnel
- Jim Conti - tenor saxophoneTenor saxophoneThe tenor saxophone is a medium-sized member of the saxophone family, a group of instruments invented by Adolphe Sax in the 1840s. The tenor, with the alto, are the two most common types of saxophones. The tenor is pitched in the key of B, and written as a transposing instrument in the treble...
- Jamie EganJamie EganJames "Jamie" Egan is a high school band teacher and professional musician who resides in New Jersey. He has taught at Spotswood High School and E.R. Appleby Elementary School in Spotswood. He currently teaches at North Brunswick Township High School, in North Brunswick, New Jersey...
- trumpetTrumpetThe trumpet is the musical instrument with the highest register in the brass family. Trumpets are among the oldest musical instruments, dating back to at least 1500 BCE. They are played by blowing air through closed lips, producing a "buzzing" sound which starts a standing wave vibration in the air...
, backing vocalsSingingSinging is the act of producing musical sounds with the voice, and augments regular speech by the use of both tonality and rhythm. One who sings is called a singer or vocalist. Singers perform music known as songs that can be sung either with or without accompaniment by musical instruments... - Tomas KalnokyTomas KalnokyTomas Kalnoky 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...
- guitarGuitarThe guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...
, mixingAudio mixing (recorded music)In audio recording, audio mixing is the process by which multiple recorded sounds are combined into one or more channels, most commonly two-channel stereo. In the process, the source signals' level, frequency content, dynamics, and panoramic position are manipulated and effects such as reverb may...
, musicMusical compositionMusical composition can refer to an original piece of music, the structure of a musical piece, or the process of creating a new piece of music. People who practice composition are called composers.- Musical compositions :...
, recording, vocals, lyricsLyricsLyrics are a set of words that make up a song. The writer of lyrics is a lyricist or lyrist. The meaning of lyrics can either be explicit or implicit. Some lyrics are abstract, almost unintelligible, and, in such cases, their explication emphasizes form, articulation, meter, and symmetry of... - Chris Paszik - bass guitarBass guitarThe bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....
, backing vocals - Dan Ross - alto saxophoneAlto saxophoneThe alto saxophone is a member of the saxophone family of woodwind instruments invented by Belgian instrument designer Adolphe Sax in 1841. It is smaller than the tenor but larger than the soprano, and is the type most used in classical compositions...
, baritone saxophoneBaritone saxophoneThe baritone saxophone, often called "bari sax" , is one of the largest and lowest pitched members of the saxophone family. It was invented by Adolphe Sax. The baritone is distinguished from smaller sizes of saxophone by the extra loop near its mouthpiece... - Mike Soprano - tromboneTromboneThe trombone is a musical instrument in the brass family. Like all brass instruments, sound is produced when the player’s vibrating lips cause the air column inside the instrument to vibrate...
- Chris Thatcher - drum kitDrum kitA drum kit is a collection of drums, cymbals and often other percussion instruments, such as cowbells, wood blocks, triangles, chimes, or tambourines, arranged for convenient playing by a single person ....
- Colin Bell, Kenny Holland, Christopher Knowles, and Jeff Smith - gang vocals
- Jay Franco - masteringAudio masteringMastering, a form of audio post-production, is the process of preparing and transferring recorded audio from a source containing the final mix to a data storage device ; the source from which all copies will be produced...
- Rob Thatcher - hand percussion, gang vocals