It all began at a coffee shop. It was 1994, just days after Northridge did the Duck and Cover. Every Friday night, a singer/songwriter
named Steve Moramarco would come into the Onyx coffee shop, near the border of Los Feliz and Silverlake. He would take out his
trusty Rickenbacker and plug it in to an old phonograph that had been converted into an amp by his pal Frosting (guitar wizard --
Lutefisk).
Steve had a lot of songs to sing. Some were the songs he used to sing way back in the late '80s/early '90s when he was in the folk/punk
duo Hill of Beans. One of their songs "Satan, Lend Me a Dollar," was a top-ten hit at college radio stations around the country.
Steve also had songs from his pop group Bean. In 1992, Bean put out a couple of 7"s, including a split that had two songs by Bean and
two by a then-unknown artist named Beck. Well, Beck went on to you-know-what, and with the power pop format getting too limiting for
Steve's kind of songwriting, Bean gave its Last Pop on New Year's Eve 1993.
So, anyway, here we are back at the Onyx...Steve is singing songs: Hill of Beans songs, Bean songs, and a whole slew of new songs.
And each week, he would add a new guest musician to his little event, slowly forming what would become The Abe Lincoln Story.
Combining elements of jazz, pop and rock, Steve dubbed the band's sound "Swing Punk Soul."
The band continued playing at the Onyx every Friday until after one particularly frenzied show they were banned for nudity, alcohol, and
playing too loudly (it was a coffee shop, y'know).
The timing seemed right for the ALS to burst onto the surging local club scene. First, they did a residency at Al's Bar. Then they played
shows with Beck, Weezer, the Presidents of the USA, Pavement, and Doo Rag. When a new club opened up in an old '80s disco, the
ALS were recruited to be the first house band. That club was Spaceland which became one of the hottest clubs in the known universe.
For many months, you could go to Spaceland on Motherlovin' Monday and see the ALS play for free. Suddenly, according to the Los
Angeles Times and Billboard, Silverlake was on fire, and the ALS were getting noxious from the fumes.
The next step was the release of the ALS's debut album Dance Party! on Flipside Records. The album, packed groove-to-groove with
nonstop party mayhem, contained some of their more popular tunes from the early days like "Mathematics" and "Get High and Go To
Work" and featured a duet with the Geraldine Fibbers' Carla Bozulich on the ballad "Come Home." The album garnered rave reviews
from a plethora of publications, including the LA Weekly, the Los Angeles New Times, and Ink Nineteen magazine.
This past year saw the ALS playing NXNW and the House of Blues, as well as opening a number of dates on Cake's West Coast tour.
The band also released songs on a couple of local music compilations. Most recently, the ALS completed a hilarious new video for
"Rock, Scissors, Paper!" a track on Dance Party!, and added former Geraldine Fibbers' guitarist Daniel Keenan to the line-up.
This brings The Abe Lincoln Story, with all of its part-time and full-time members, to a roster of nine. They include, in addition to Steve
and Daniel, Jonathon Stearns on keyboards and trumpet, Peter Tomlinson on drums, Gary Viggers on upright and electric bass,
Melodee Fernandez and Annette Zalinskas on background vocals, Frank Silva on saxophone, and Probyn Gregory (The Wondermints,
The Negro Problem) on valve trombone. This makes for an exciting, fun and powerful live show in the tradition of the great R 'n' B revues
of the '60s and '70s.
With easily an album's worth of new material, the band has been showing a funkier edge, as well as throwing in some Country for good
measure. If this trend continues, their old moniker of "Swing Punk Soul" just might have to be expanded to "Swing Punk Funk Country
Soul."
Keep your eyes and ears peeled for Dance Party 2000 -- it's coming real real soon...
