Lincoln Douglas Street Fighter performing at the State Room. (Photo contributed by Shauna McAneny)

I want to start off by mentioning a word about the tremendous support I have been getting from emails, facebook adds and sheer random people approaching me and complimenting my work. Thank you!

This past Saturday was the night of the much anticipated Lincoln Douglas Street Fighter show at the State Room. Opening act was the Texas Funerals with their surf-infused eclectic blend of rockabilly and other genres. In between songs they busted out a few dittys from Heart, ZZ Top and Dick Dale. The song Double Shot was kind of like a Buster Poindexter reincarnation. I also want to point out that it was interesting how the State Room’s acoustics enhance the performance compared to the New Hampshire bar experience. I was also able to SEE the musicians. Nice job again!

Next came the headlining act.

Holowicki

This new, albeit temporary, ensemble is four guys from Quincy featuring frontman and bass player Corey Warning, Tony Peck on drums, Timmy Kayser on guitar and Matt Parker on guitar. The one night only appearance of some of Quincy’s finest musicians, the Lincoln Douglas Street Fighter combo packs four chord guitar riffs, with some heavy duty on-beat and off-beat drumming and the amazing vocal range of frontman Cory Warning. Warning was the singer for the now-defunct post-punk group the Graduate and played a number of shows with Vans Warped tour in the summer of 2007 to promote their album at the time.

Their music reminds me of a group from the ’80s called the Mighty Lemon Drops, a UK post modern band whose sound can be described as psychedelia influenced post punk.

Their music was a compilation of indie songs that to the unfamiliar listener were inspired by the likes of Weezer, the Silversun Pickups, the Replacements and the Babys although Warning himself admits that his influences are mainly Arcade Fire and Interpol. I’ll give ‘em that. Their style was loud but very melodic. Many references throughout the show were to that of the Foo Fighters, but I’m guessing that was some sort of inside jest. Either way, the music flowed naturally, flawlessly and was highly polished. LDSF are/were a breath of fresh air to Quincy’s much needed indie music scene. I also have an affinity for bands with multiple lead singers as Matt pitched in on a few songs.

Warning will be leaving for Portland, Oregon, in a few weeks, so the possibility of remaining together as a group in the future seems unlikely. That’s too bad, because I truly hate to see them go and I suspect that sentiment is echoed by a good number of people judging by the turnout and excitement of the audience. I estimated the headcount for the night was around 150, almost triple what the Continental show did last week. That kind of support speaks volumes.

Their evening finale was a cover of Local H’s “Copasetic,” which was done really well and got the audience really fired up — a good choice to close out the evening as people were yelling repeatedly for an encore. Unfortunately, as Warning admitted, LDSF exhausted their playlist. No worries. I’m hoping the door is not quite closed on this group just yet.

Steve Holowicki