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Bogus Deep Purple in Sounds - 1980

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Rider on the Storm
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« on: November 15, 2008, 11:39:49 pm »



This was the DP(O) counter-advert to the Long Beach Arena gig. Note: "Glen" with one "n"! Maybe they should have added: "Next week we´re turning professional..."

...and here's a snippet of the story from "DEEP PURPLE: The Illustrated Biography" by Chris Charlesworth":
"The legal process was too slow to prevent the concert taking place but the success of the fraud was partially scuttled by quick thinking on the part of John Coletta and Tony Edwards who placed an advertisment in the LA Times stating that Blackmore, Coverdale, Gillan, Glover, Hughes, Lord and Paice would *not* be appearing at the Long Beach concert. In due course the management team secured an injuntion which prevented further concerts by the bogus band and, at the same time, recieved a considerable award in punitive damages. 'It was a very expensive business', says Tony Edwards. 'And, of course, we'll never be paid the damages. Rod Evans just doesn't have the money. He no longer recieves the royalties from those first three albums though. Silly boy.'

...from "Musician's Business & Legal Guide" by Mark Halloran
The case of Deep Purple - An example of the issues involved when a group disbands but its product still sells involved the group "Deep Purple", which had not been performing as a band for many years. Its records, however, still sold. One of the original members of that band formed a new group. None of the other members of that new group had been members of the original "Deep Purple". This new group began to perform under the name "Deep Purple". The corporation, owned by the original members of "Deep Purple" and their management, still owned the rights to the name "Deep Purple". They sued the new "Deep Purple" to stop them from performing under the name and were awarded damages of $ 672,000; compensatory damages (actual damages suffered by the corporation) were $ 168,000 and $ 504,000 was for punitive damages. Since then, the authorized "Deep Purple" has reformed, and resumed performing and recording.

"ROD EVANS: The Dark Side of the Music Industry" by Hartmut Kreckel
Has anyone of you out there ever wondered of what happened to Captain Beyond´s original lead-singer and founder member Rod Evans? Well, here follows a brief summary: After leaving Captain Beyond in late 73, just as he finished recording the "Sufficiently Breathless" album, Rod Evans changed his life and went to work in a hospital for a couple of years, until he was approached by some unscrupuluos management company, specialized in rip-off reformed bands with big names, who had just been taken to court by the owner of the name "Steppenwolf" (John Kay), for running a bogus band named "Steppenwolf", with no original member (reportedly original member Goldy McJohn was initially in that band, but left the rest soon). To make a long story short, that "Bogus Steppenwolf" had a guitarrist, named Tony Flynn and a keyboarder, named Geoff Emery, who were house musicians of that dodgy management company. However, as they got sued by John Kay, that rip-off management decided to go for another big name, to make a fast buck: Deep Purple. In order to find an excuse for using that name (Deep Purple) they tried to get Nick Simper involved, who wisely enough refused to get drawn into such a (ad)venture, and then they found Rod Evans. Looking for a change, and probably not as wise as his former mate Nick Simper, Rod Evans thought that this was his chance for a comeback and went for it. More than that, he got involved with some very bad people from that rip-off management, and was used as a tool by that company: making Rod Evans the only shareholder, and therefore sole risk-taker of that "Deep Purple 1980" venture, Rod Evans was the only person, who could be taken to court. It was not long before Rod Evans got sued, as he was the only person receiving booking fee royalties and all other band players and management were on the wages list. To set the record straight here, it was Tony Edwards and John Coletta who sued Rod Evans (reportedly Richard Blackmore and Bruce Payne were the driving forces...): They filed an action in Los Angeles Federal District Court in June 1980 seeking an injunction to prevent the band from using the name "Deep Purple" and asking damages under the provisions of the Lanham Act, a federal statute governing trademareks and trade names. Eventually the court decision was made that Rod Evans had to pay 672.000 US$ for damages caused by using the name "Deep Purple" without permission. The outcome seems that the sole rights to the name "Deep Purple" reside with the original managers. It seems that the agreement requires 4 original members (whoever these may be?) to use the name...
Jon Lord (in March 98 via e-mail): "AFAIK Rod had enough of the Music Business, and became a paramedic. Of course he was not that naive - he thought he´d try it to see what happened, but try to imagine what would *you* have said when it all went wrong? I only blame Rod for being silly. He should´ve known it was going to be difficult to get away with a fake DP. After all - he was doing it in public."
Ian Paice commented (after the DP show in Halle an der Saale 18.03.96): "We didn´t make that money, it went all to the lawyers involved... The only chance to stop that band was the sue Rod, as he was the only one receiving money, all others were on wages... Surely Rod did get involved with some very bad people!"
However, as much I agree that Rod Evans did something wrong by using the name "Deep Purple" without permission, there should have been another way to clear that matter. Needless to say Rod Evans doesn´t have that money and will probably in debt for ever. Therefore he also will never be able to perform again, as DP(O) would be able to grab any money that Rod Evans would make in the music industry. This leaves the DP(O)in a bad light, that´s for sure. Even greed is no justification for acting like this. There should have been another way, that´s for sure and AFAIK all those white collar gangsters, who used Rod Evans as a tool to feed their cash mashines are doing quite well these days.
Jon Lord onto this in April 98: "It was not just Rod who was sued - it was the organisation that was behind the fake Deep Purple who were most responsible and it was they who were hit with the greatest part of that "very large sum of money." In respect of that money - what price would *you* place on your reputation and on the right of the public not to be sold something under false pretences? And also you should be aware that these people were informed on several occasions that they were breaking the law, and yet they continued to do it. Sueing them was the last option there was to try to stop them. I did not enjoy having to appear in court against a guy I'd once worked with - but *he who steals my purse steals trash; he who steals my good name takes everything I have*."
Yes Jon, but it seems that at the end of the day, only Rod Evans had to pay the price and all the puppeteers are rehabilitated...
Brian O. reports in Feb. 99: "The Bogus Purple were managed by Steve G., a slick rip-off promoter, who ultimately got in a lot of trouble. He was mentioned in the John Kay (Steppenwolf) autobiography... Today I called Steve G., the unscruptioulous agent of old Bogus Steppenwolf and also Bogus Deep Purple, which he denied... the talk we had by phone was fairly tense... he didn´t seem to want to talk about the old days, said it was "a long time ago", and that John Kay is a nice guy, a good singer... but why is anyone interested in what happened so long ago. He did admit that they won the right to the name "Steppenwolf", yet said Goldy and Nick never gor a dime. I still don´t know if he means royalties... or got paid when they played the bars between 77-80. At any rate, he was a dichead to me... when I brought up Deep Purple 1980 w/Rod Evans he really got pissed off... did not want to talk about that. Steve G. made everything sound like it was water under the bridge, and old ****, was trying to make me feel like a fool for asking about it... he is rude. He did not want to make the connection between Tony Flynn in the Bogus Deep Purple and the Bogus Steppenwolf... finally he said that John Kay´s book is full of lies!!!"
It seems that nobody, who should know the facts behind the curtain on the Rod Evans and Deep Purple 1980 case, wants to talk about this really, so you make it out yourself, who are the guilty parties...
This website however, presents the story of Rod Evans and "Deep Purple" 1980 trying to shed some light into "what really happened...", while a lot of other websites simply try to ignore it. It seems that this band never got much press coverage, probably also due to the fact that DP(O) was doing pressure on the press, so you get the idea of how they looked on stage here for the very first time by looking at the on stage fotos.
Over the years I have heard various stories about Rod Evans, like working in a gasoline station or in a dog-breeding farm. Whatever may be true or not: it is a shame that a great vocalist like Rod Evans had to end that way. Remembering him singing "Starglow Energy" or "Lalena" (to name a few only), Rod Evans will always be a hero to a lot of people, no matter what else he did!
If anyone out there reading this article knows about Rod Evans, reportedly he is living in the San Fransisco area, please let me know and let him know that there are still some people out there, whom I know well, who still remember him and would like to hear from him. No matter what he is up to now, he will not be forgotten, that´s for sure.

(C) by Hartmut Kreckel 1998


For further info on this topic...

...follow this link for a comprehensive interview with Rod Evans from Sounds from 20.09.1980.
Rod Evans Sounds Interview 1980

...follow this link for a less comprehensive interview with Rod Evans from Conecte from 24.06.1980.
Rod Evans Conecte Interview 1980

...follow this link for a advertising flyer of "Steppenwolf" Live 12.1979 in Mexico, feat. Tony Flynn and Geoff Emery.
"Steppenwolf"

...follow this link for a comprehensive interview with Tony Flynn from Conecte Magazine 07.1980

http://tinpan.fortunecity.com/aprilskies/65/dp1980.html
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