ABOUT THE INSTITUTION

The Institution was a New Jersey garage band formed in the summer of 1965. The founding members were Philip Rubin, Marvin Coopersmith, J. Howard Duff, and Richard Lester. They met at, and graduated from, Union High School in Union, New Jersey and, in their early days, played mostly in Newark, Union, Elizabeth, and other places in New Jersey, including Asbury Park, and in New York City.. 

The Institution had many members over the years, but the band’s core members from late 1965 through 1970 were: Rich Lester, their charasmatic lead singer; J. Howard Duff, guitar and vocals; Marvin Coopersmith, guitar; Philip Rubin, guitar (until 1969); Pat Moast, bass guitar; Jean-Paul LaMond, drums; and Russ Frame, keyboards (succeeded by Janette Greene in 1968).

Other early members included Steve Wryzinski (bass), Glenn Horowitz (drums), and Jack Whelan (drums). ​Other well-known members included Joey Kramer (drums) who went on to Aerosmith and Eric “Ricky” Rackin (bass; died in 2007) who moved on to Richard and the Young Lions and Arthur Lee’s Love.

Early influences included Wilson Pickett, The Rolling Stones, The Animals, Mitch Ryder, and a variety of blues musicians ranging from Robert Johnson, Elizabeth Cotten, Mississippi John Hurt, and Howlin' Wolf, to Taj Mahal, The Blues Project, the Paul Butterfield Blues Band, John Mayall & the Bluesbreakers, Peter Green, and Cream. In later years, they played everything from straight blues to garage rock to ballads.

The Institution started mainly as a cover band and was originally best known as an opening act for groups like The Lovin’ Spoonful, Mountain, and Canned Heat, playing a lot in Greenwich Village in New York City at places like the Night Owl Cafe and Cafe Wha?, where some members jammed with The Fugs. They also appeared on television shows like Clay Cole’s Diskotek and Zacherly’s Disk-O-Teen, a teenage dance show that John Zacherle hosted for three years at WNJU-TV in Newark. One Institution highlight was on Thanksgiving, Nov. 25, 1970, at Newark State College (now Kean University), when the band that was on the bill with them was Steel Mill, an early Bruce Springsteen band that soon evolved into the E Street Band.

The Institution, as it was in the 1960s, broke up in 1970. However, through the 1970s and 1980s, various musical aggregations of the core team of Lester, Duff, Coopersmith and LaMond were successfully formed, gigged, toured, and recorded'. For example, after lead singer Rich Lester left to start another band (Blood Wedding) in 1969, Coopersmith, LaMond, Moast, and Duff carried on as Institution ll with Duff taking on lead vocals. The group then renamed itself Praisegod Barebones, with band members including a reconciled Rich Lester, Coopersmith (guitar), David Massler (drums), George Juchnevicius (bass), and Duff (guitar and vocals).

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J. Howard Duff recalls The Institution  (from: 60sgaragebands.com: September 2015 [note: site no longer active] )​

“We played at band battles, teen clubs, concert venues, churches, schools, and parties. If my recall is correct, we played seven band battles, and won six. We played The Cheetah Club and Café Wha (among others (including the Night Owl Cafe]) in New York City, Clay Cole's Land of 1,000 Dances, and the Hullabaloo Club(s). We opened for [... a number of acts including ...] Canned Heat in 1969 in Jersey City, New Jersey, but with all that, I think the coolest thing we ever did was to run our own concerts. You could not do this today (too many potential lawsuits), but we would hire our own hall, promote the date with posters and press, recruit our fans to sell tickets and act as staff, hire rent-a-cops--the whole deal!”

“We had a lot of original songs. Between ‘65 thru ‘70 we probably wrote 20 or more. The primary songwriter was Rich Lester. The boy could write lyrics with the best of them, and (at the time) having to lean on me (J. Howard) and Marvin to put music to his melodies allowed both of us to get writing credits! Actually, Rich, Marvin, and I collaborated and also wrote on our own. We still have both live and studio (went back into studio in '69) recordings. Quality of live material is very good for the most part and there are covers and originals.”

“The Institution, as it was in the ‘60s, broke up in 1970. However, through the ‘70s and ‘80s, various musical aggregations of the core team of Lester, Duff, Coopersmith and LaMond were successfully formed, gigged, toured, and recorded.”

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[Note that this site replaces theinstitution.rocks, which is being discontinued for technical reasons.]