Tetsuo and Edgar

Note - this post has been edited more times than any post I've done so far.  First Elliot Fox gave me some new info, then Justin Wasserman and finally Bob English of Edgar provided some very concrete info.  Read on...

I am including these two bands in one post as they shared members, played a similar style of screamy hardcore, were both from Oceanside (we're covering a good deal of Oceanside's bands lately with Last Days and Closure) and put out a split 7".

Edgar was formed by John English on guitar, Corey Martin on drums and Justin Wasserman on guitar. They had no bass player.  John recruited his cousin Bob to sing once they had started writing songs without vocals.

Concurrently, Bob and John were also in Tetsuo where Bob played guitar, John played bass, Neil Rubenstein and Matt Gordon both shared vocals and Dan Boles played drums.  Rebekka Takamitsu played second guitar at a few shows as well. Steve Gache (from Redko, Irony of Lightfoot and Thisyearsmodel) also practiced with Tetsuo on 2nd guitar and played on a few tracks on the live radio WUSB show split tape with Bor.  He may have played live at one of the later shows as well.  He never officially joined.  Additionally, Myles Karr (Motaba Erewhon Conspiracy, The State Secedes, I am the Resurrection, Books Lie) practiced with the band on bass several times, but John played on all of the recordings and at all of the shows.

I used to get Tetsuo confused with the band Tsunami so that when I first heard Tetsuo it definitely was not what I was expecting.  There is no confusing Matt Gordon and Neil Rubenstein with Jenny Toomey.

This split 7" was put out on The Mountain Collective by Chris Jensen from Halfman who join Bob in The State Secedes, and would then go on to Countdown to Putsch.


This split 7" was Edgar's only offical release.  As Bob English recollects: "Edgar recorded 2 songs after the 7" in Loho studios (NYC) - one was for a compilation being put together by some kid from PA - we were told it never came out but then someone found a copy for sale at a show in 1997, so who knows.  The other song was never released.  There were plans to put out a full length on Mountain Records.  Edgar had the material mostly written but the band called it quits before we could record anything." 

In addition to this split, Tetsuo did a split WUSB tape with the band Bor at one point as well. 
As we've recently covered, Corey Martin from Edgar would join Irony of Lightfoot and later Last Days of August.  Bob English would start The State Secedes, Baby Teeth (later changed to Free Republic of Soul) and later become a lawyer. John English went on to the band The Color Bars and currently works as a steamfitter, and Justin Wasserman became a banker.

Neil Rubenstein from Tetsuo went on to form Irony of Lightfoot, and later Sons of Abraham, This Years Model and These Enzymes.  In addition to showing up as an interviewer on Spike TV's Casino Cinema, being a stand-up comedian, in Neil's own words he currently books "hip hop acts and some DJs and help small rock bands find teams (label, manager, agent). I call it consulting, they don't pay me."  Matt Gordon went on to form Helen of Troy.  Dan Boles became a pro-snowboarder.

Big thanks to Neil Rubenstein, Bob English, Justin Wasserman and Elliot Fox for the information for this post and Elliot Fox for the music.

EDGAR and TETSUO
Split 7" - http://www.mediafire.com/?fk1xc3wl8sgpfyj