Speed the Plough

Rate the Plough’s origins time back again to 1982, once the Hoboken, New Jersey-based group was referred to as the Trypes. Originally composed of keyboardist John Baumgartner, vocalist/woodwind participant Toni Paruta, bassist Brenda Sauter, percussionist Stanley Demeski, and guitarist Marc Francia, the lineup shortly expanded to add guitarists Bill Mil and Glenn Mercer, both on hiatus through the in-limbo Feelies. After launching a 1984 EP of introspective, rustic pop entitled The Explorers Keep, Mil and Mercer reactivated the Feelies, acquiring Sauter and Demeski together; renaming themselves Rate the Plough, the rest of the Trypes added guitarist Frank O’ Toole, bassist Pete Pedulla and drummer Jim DeRogatis, with key songwriter Baumgartner writing vocal tasks with Paruta in the band’s self-titled debut LP, made by Mil and released on Coyote in 1989. With Pedulla and DeRogatis exiting the roster immediately after, Sauter and Demeski came back to the collapse to record 1991’s Question Wheel; Rate the Plough’s lineup continuing to progress and rotate on following efforts aswell, included in this 1993’s Mason’s Container and 1995’s Marina.