Rod Evans was one of the founding members of Deep Purple when the band started to rise to the top of Rock history in the years 1968/69. After recording three albums, Shades Of Deep Purple, The Book Of Taliesyn and Deep Purple, Rod left the band together with bass player Nick Simper and went to the USA. He recorded a 45rpm single in 1971 (Hard To Be Without You / You Can´t Love A Child Like A Woman) before he decided to join Americas new band "Captain Beyond", featuring the Iron Butterfly members Lee Dorman and Larry "Rhino" Reinhardt and ex - Johnny Winter´s drummer Bobby Caldwell. After recording Captain Beyond in 1972, Sufficentley Breathless 1973 and various live performances in Europe and America he left the music business until 1980.
In the year 1980 Rod got involved in a project of some dubious manager who tried to reform "Deep Purple" in a more than suspect way. Before that, the same company tried to make some cash with a new "Steppenwolf" band, with only original band members Goldie Mc John and Nick St. Nicholas in the group, but John Kay obtained his rights back for the name.
Due to the fact, that the famous Los Angeles based William Morris Agency belived in the project and arranged the tour for the band, they got offered a contract with Warner Curb Records (a record lable which was a cooporation between producer Mike Curb and Warner Bros. in the years from 1972 to 1983). A few songs had been recorded at L.A.´s Village Recording Studios for the forthcoming record (which was planed to be released in November 1980). Only two titles of the tracks are known, "Blood Blister" and "Brum Doogie", but the tapes had to be destroyed of course after the court decision. The band had been filmed at their performance in Mexico City by some Mexican television station, but only "Smoke On The Water" seems to have appeared until today, which can bee seen on Youtube.
The “New” Deep Purple band 1980 – Sounds magazine, 20.09.1980
(l.t.r.: Dick Jurgens, Tony Flynn, Tom De Rivera, Geoff Emery, Rod Evans)
ROD EVANS: Detailed informations about Rod Evans you can find at Wikipedia, Hartmut Kreckel´s Captain Beyond website or at The Highway Star site.
TONY FLYNN: Born in 1955, Tony lived in Hollywood in 1980. His full name is Tony Romano Flynn, his great-grandfather´s family (Romano) was Spanish, his mother and her ancestry are from Denmark. He got his first guitar at the age of nine years, about his musical inspirations he mentiones B.B. King, Howard Roberts, the flamenco guitarist Charlos Montoya or Paco De Lucia. In September 1977 he replaced guitarist Kent Henry in the "new" Steppenwolf band, where he played together with original keyboarder Goldie Mc John and bassist Nick St. Nicholas. He stayed in the band until the spring of 1978 before he parted, to be replaced by Ruben Raven. He joined the Steppenwolf band again in October 1979 and stayed there until early 1980. Tony planed to record a solo LP in Mexico with Rod Evans, Goldie Mc John and Geoff Emery, but this never became reality.
DICK JURGENS: Coming out of family fame, Dick went to high school in Sacramento, California, in the early 1960´s. His uncle managed the "Sacramento Memorial Auditorium", so Dick was given frontplaces and backstage passes to all the shows that came around. Being just a young man, Dick got to meet many of the Big Stars there like The Doors, Janis Joplin, Jimi Hendrix and Dick´s drumming hero Mitch Mitchell, he also met original Deep Purple there in their early days. For the time of about eight months to a year Dick was also part of the "new" Steppenwolf band when Nick St. Nicholas hired him out of L.A. in 1978.
GEOFF EMERY: Not many things are known about the keyboardist Geoffrey W. Emery, but he also was a part of the "new" Steppenwolf band: In the spring or summer of 1978 Goldie Mc John left Steppenwolf and was replaced by Geoff, who stayed there until early 1980. In different formations he played with both - Dick Jurgens and Tony Flynn - there. In 1978 ten tracks had been recorded for an album in Los Angeles, CA, but never released. Emery and Dick Jurgens were members of the band in those recording sessions. Geoff seems to have been working in the music industry for some independent record lable.
TOM DE RIVERA: Seems to have won some audition when the "new" Deep Purple band was searching for a bass player. It´s not known if he stayed in music business after the split of the group.
Tour Dates 1980
May
"Amarillo Civic Center", Auditorium - Texas, USA – 17.05.1980
presented by E.S.I.
El Paso – Texas, USA – 18.05.1980
June
Laredo – Texas, USA – 07.06.1980
"Swing Auditorium", San Bernadino – Texas, USA – 21.06.1980
National Orange Show
Support: Facelift (local band)
Presented by Entertainment Systems & Kola (local radio station)
"Estadio Inde Olimpico", Mexico City – 28.06.1980
Festival with Black Oak Arkansas and Dugs Dug´s
"Celebrity Theater", Phoenix - Arizona – USA – 29.06.1980
Special guest: Lory Mc Donald
July
"The Factory" (Snoopy´s), Staten Island – New York, USA – 17.07.1980
Support: Samantha (local band)
"Baby-O", Seaside Heights – USA – 20.07.1980
Saratoga Resort, Lehi – Utah, USA – 26.07.1980
Audience: 3000
The speaker system went out before Deep Purple had performed, what caused a big riot that required a 100-man Police contingent. You can read the "Provo Daily Herald" newspaper article about here.
"Creative Energy Music Hall", Houston, USA – 31.07.1980
August
Detroit – Michigan, USA
"Contessa Club", Somerset – Massachusetts, USA
"Capitol Theater" – Quebec City, Canada – 12.08.1980
Support: Corbeau
"International Banquet House", Anchorage – Alaska, USA – 14.08.1980
"International Banquet House", Anchorage – Alaska, USA – 15.08.1980
(Two shows each night)
"Paramount Theater", Portland – Oregon, USA – 17.08.1980
"Long Beach Arena", Los Angeles – California, USA – 19.08.1980
External Links
Here you can find more informations about Rod Evans and his 1980 bogus "Deep Purple" band:
The (un)official European Captain Beyond website
Info on Rod Evans & "Deep Purple" 1980
Hartmut Kreckel has done great researches about Rod Evans and his 1980 "Deep Purple" affair.
Click here to enter the site...
The Highway Star – Bogus Deep Purple 1980 Special
Informative website about the 1980 story with a lot of concert reviews, press clippings,...
Click here to enter the site...
Deep Purple Tour Page – New Deep Purple
Dirk Kahler´s website includes some great pictures of original concert tickets for shows of the 1980 Bogus Deep Purple lineup
Click here to enter the site...
Wikipedia
The free encyclopedia about Rod Evans
Click here to enter the site...
Jean Millaire, who performed with his band "Corbeau" at the Capitol Theater in Quebec on 12.08.1980, together with the "New" Deep Purple, recalls:
"I remember meeting the group briefly before soundcheck in the afternoon. I was surprised when they asked us if they could use our drums and amplifiers... We did not lend our gear to them. We played before them for about 45 minutes. It took a long time for them to start playing. The fans were expecting Ritchie Blackmore not a fake look alike. They did not play any of their hits... The fans were very dissapointed and started throwing stuff on stage at them. They even tore out theater seats to throw at them. And the crowd started to chant our band´s name, the fans wanted us to return to play but the place was a mess... They almost caused a riot. It was a very bad concert for them and for the "Deep Purple" name.
