The disappearance of Rod Evans following the strange case of ‘Bogus Deep Purple’
Original band lineups will always hold some level of novelty for fans. For Deep Purple, Rod Evans was an integral part of their trajectory, contributing to early albums like Shades of Deep Purple and The Book of Taliesyn. After Evans departed the band in 1969, he was replaced by Ian Gillan, who remained a central part of the group. However, this wouldn’t be the end of Evans’ involvement in the Deep Purple moniker — not technically, anyway.
Although Deep Purple officially disbanded in 1976, they made a remarkable comeback with the successful ‘Smoke On The Water’ era lineup for the album Perfect Strangers. However, one lineup stands out as particularly uncouth — an overlooked footnote from 1980 when Evans emerged from retirement to lead a group of lesser-known musicians on a tour that spanned from Hawaii to Anchorage.
That year, under the questionable guidance of his management, Evans started performing under the Deep Purple name, later labelled ‘Bogus Deep Purple’, which charged ahead without any of the other original members. The agency even enlisted some musicians from the ill-fated New Steppenwolf project, which disbanded that same year. The ‘Bogus Deep Purple’ tour understandably resulted in riots after the audience realised they were being screwed over, and the classic band members from both Gillan and David Coverdale eras spoke up on the matter.
Evans subsequently faced a lawsuit and was required to pay nearly $700,000, which would be equivalent to around $2million in today’s currency. Additionally, the original lineup received damages after the strange affair, and Evans had to relinquish all rights to Deep Purple’s music. To this day, he has not received any royalties for his contributions to the band.
Evans essentially disappeared from the music scene after this humiliating episode. He even declined the invitation to attend Deep Purple’s Rock And Roll Hall of Fame induction in 2016, leaving his whereabouts shrouded in mystery, with very few people having access to his contact details. Nick Simper, the original bass player who played in the band during Evans’ tenure, wasn’t included in the induction either, which is often regarded as a significant injustice in the world of rock music.
Despite the strangeness of this incident, Deep Purple’s legacy wasn’t tarnished. In fact, they live on as rock pioneers who have been claimed by some to match up to the prowess of the likes of Led Zeppelin, a band that shaped their sound in more ways than one. “I was impressed with what Zeppelin did,” Ritchie Blackmore once explained.
He added: “I wanted to do that kind of stuff, and if it doesn’t take off, we’ll go and play with orchestras the rest of our lives. So we did it, and it was Deep Purple In Rock, which, luckily, took off. We’d purposely made it so it hammered along every song, there was no lull. I was very pleased with it because I never wanted to work with an orchestra again.”
