Bogus Deep Purple

Bogus Deep Purple
Origin United States
Genres
Years active 1980
Past members

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.

The management company behind the Bogus Deep Purple registered "Deep Purple" as an LLC in February 1980 and mentioned that an album was to be recorded.

On 18 August 1980, the real Deep Purple put an ad in a newspaper underneath an ad for a Bogus Deep Purple concert that was to take place at Long Beach Arena in California, stating:

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 real Deep Purple were contacted about the bogus Deep Purple, 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$1,995,916 in 2017 dollars[1] ) for using the band name without permission, which included $168,000 in actual damages (US$498,979 in 2017 dollars[1] ) and $504,000 (US$1,496,937 in 2017 dollars[1] ) 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 and blamed him for being silly.[2]

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 - 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. 1 2 3 Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis Community Development Project. "Consumer Price Index (estimate) 1800–". Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis. Retrieved January 2, 2018.
  2. ↑ Hartmut Kreckel (1998). "ROD EVANS: The Dark Side of the Music Industry". Captain Beyond website. Archived from the original on 13 March 2012.
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