Bogus Deep Purple

In 1980, ex-Deep Purple vocalist Rod Evans was contacted by a management team who offered him a chance to play under the Deep Purple name again, which he took. He fronted this band of unknown session musicians, which became known to Deep Purple fans as the Bogus Deep Purple. The band played across the US, Canada and Mexico, with many shows ending in riots.

Bogus Deep Purple
OriginUnited States
Genres
Years active1980
Past members

Background

The group was formed by a management company intent on making money from reformed groups with a minimum of original members. Evans was recruited as he was no longer working in the music industry with an active career. He in turn contacted founding bassist Nick Simper, who turned the offer down.[1]

The group played their first gig at the Civic Center, Amarillo, Texas on May 17, 1980, and played several shows in the state before headlining a show at the Estadio Inde Olimpico, Mexico City on June 28.[2]

On 18 August 1980, Deep Purple's management put an ad in the Los Angeles Times underneath one for a concert that was to take place the following day at the Long Beach Arena, California, stating:[3]

The following STARS WILL NOT PERFORM at the
Deep Purple Concert at
Long Beach Arena Tomorrow, Aug. 19, 1980.

RITCHIE BLACKMORE
DAVID COVERDALE
IAN GILLAN
ROGER GLOVER
GLEN HUGHES (sic)
JON LORD
IAN PAICE

The other former members were contacted about the bogus group, and their management sued Evans, given that he was the only member of the band who received booking royalties and who had any rights to the name "Deep Purple". Evans was sued for damages of $672,000 (USD) (US$2,085,208 in 2019 dollars[4]) for using the band name without permission, which included $168,000 in actual damages (US$521,302 in 2019 dollars[4]) and $504,000 (US$1,563,906 in 2019 dollars[4]) in punitive damages. Being unable to pay this amount, Evans was required to forfeit all future royalties from the albums and singles recorded by the Mark I lineup of Deep Purple. This effectively ended Evans' career as a performing musician, as any future earnings he made from performing would have to be paid toward the lawsuit and since then, he no longer receives royalties for his work with Deep Purple.

Both Ian Paice and Jon Lord remarked it was not about money, but about saving the good name of Deep Purple. Paice stated, "We didn't make that money, it all went to the lawyers involved. [But] the only chance to stop that band was to sue Rod." Lord acknowledged that he did not enjoy having to testify in court against Evans, stating he must have known that he couldn't get away with a fake Deep Purple and blaming him for "being silly".[5]

Personnel
  • Rod Evans - vocals
  • Tony Flynn - guitar
  • Tom de Rivera - bass
  • Dick Jurgens III - drums
  • Geoff Emery - keyboards

The instrumentalists had previously played in a fake Steppenwolf band organised by the same management company a few years before[6] - in fact, there is one gig report stating that the Bogus Steppenwolf opened for the Bogus Deep Purple, using exactly the same backing band.

References
  1. Thompson 2004, p. 226.
  2. Thompson 2004, p. 227.
  3. "The New Deep Purple featuring Rod Evans". Los Angeles Times. August 18, 1980.
  4. Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis. "Consumer Price Index (estimate) 1800–". Retrieved January 1, 2020.
  5. Hartmut Kreckel (1998). "ROD EVANS: The Dark Side of the Music Industry". Captain Beyond website. Archived from the original on 13 March 2012.
  6. Thompson 2004, pp. 224,226.
  • Thompson, Dave (2004). Smoke on the Water: The Deep Purple Story. ECW Press. ISBN 978-1-55022-618-8.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
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