The band Edward Teach, named after the real name of the pirate known as Blackbeard, was the result of bassist Steve Diffendal’s efforts to form a band with guitarist / songwriter Greg Sinners (Silver Queen, Icon) during the summer of 1979.
At the time, Sinners was not in a band, but Diffendal had heard many of Greg’s original songs and kept urging him to get together and jam. Initially, Sinners was not interested in forming another band. After a couple months, the two got together and immediately found they had a similar song writing style and began writing songs together and individually. Diffendal knew a drummer, Fred Layfield, with whom he had previously been in a band (Diffendal and Layfield were in Bullwinkle). The three of them immediately clicked. They had decided to do only original material. After composing several songs as a trio, and defining their sound, lead singer Fran Bryant (ex-Silver Queen, Apricot Brandy), and Danny O’Toole (lead guitar formerly of Silver Queen) were recruited in the late summer of 1979.
Edward Teach bio and 1979 photo courtesy of Greg Sinners.
In September 1979, O’Toole decided to join the Navy and was replaced by guitarist Bruce Durr. In October 1979, drummer Layfield, as a pedestrian, was struck and killed by a car. He was replaced in the band with drummer Mark Muller.
The group performed publicly only one time, December 14, 1979 at an afternoon concert series at Essex Community College.
According to Sinners, “Layfield was an integral part of the group sound and energy and a founding member when we were writing our songs and forming our sound. We never recovered from the loss of Fred. He was the most ambitious member of the group and a driving force within it. After his death, we tried to keep going but we had completely lost our momentum and we never sounded the same without Fred. Other drummers copied his parts from tapes that we had made, but when it came to writing new songs, they lacked the creativity and drive that he had.” They disbanded shortly after their only performance.
Sinners and Bryant formed Tail Gunner…
