Saturday’s historic performance by local indie legends Speed The Plough and Young Wu — their first in Paterson — will feature several unreleased tracks
Historic. Legendary. Unprecedented.
We feel no hesitation whatsoever using these words to describe Saturday night’s show at North Jersey’s best-kept secret: Prototype 237.
Sharing members and decades of rock history, Speed The Plough and Yung Wu will join forces for an epic evening right in the neighborhood where their legend was born.
Not only is this bill filled with members and offspring of iconic hometown acts The Feelies and The Trypes — early pioneers of American indie rock in the ‘70s and ‘80s — but it’s also their first time playing since the pandemic and first time playing their local stomping grounds of Paterson as modern incarnation STP.
From neighboring Haledon, The Feelies would heavily influence the band R.E.M. and eventually open for them on their first full tour of Europe.
For STP co-founder and Yung Wu keyboardist John Baumgartner, the historical significance and local roots extend even further — to our warehouse’s industrial origins: “It’s a full-circle thing for me and Paterson,” says Baumgartner, whose mother worked in factories adjacent to our warehouse at the Manhattan Shirt Company as a seamstress in Paterson’s 50s, 60s and 70s heyday.
While half of STP’s set will span their vast catalog, the balance will feature new, unrecorded songs that have rarely been performed — including a recently unearthed 40-year-old unrecorded Trypes song that’s only been performed once before. In addition to the co-founding Baumgartners, STP’s current lineup includes their son Michael and nephew John Demeski, founding member Marc Francia and his son Dan, and Glenn Mercer of The Feelies.
Whatever you do, just don’t confuse STP’s public absence with dormancy: they were extremely productive during the pandemic, recording at home and producing an album. Though performing after an extended absence is “both exciting and scary,” admits STP co-founder Toni Baumgartner, “we’re happy to share our new vision of our material with an audience.”
And we are extremely honored to be hosting this fabled reunion — technically brewing since some of the bands’ members first visited while attending fellow veterans The Royal Arctic Institute’s second show in March and “were overcome with a warm sense of community and hospitality,” according to their interview with NJArts.net. They say they are excited to play at Prototype, “something Paterson has been looking for and aspiring to for a long time.”
In addition to Royal AI, Prototype has also recently attracted stellar veteran indie acts like Elk City, Gramercy Arms, and Quiz Show. We are ecstatic to more prominently feature seasoned performers from the local scene as we recognize more and more how inspired by and at-home they feel in our space.
Also part of the special fabric of America’s indie music scene, Young Wu assembled in 1987 as an offshoot of The Trypes. The lineup includes The Feelies members Brenda Sauter on bass/vocals and Dave Weckerman leading “with his signature repertoire and entertaining bon mots,” along with original Trypes member Glen Mercer on guitar and vocals, John Baumgartner on keyboards, Ed Seifert on guitar, and Stan Demeski (father of STP’s John D.) on drums.
Please join us for this very special night this Saturday, July 8 at 8p.
Tickets are available both online and at the door — door-code #0708# gets you into the building!