|
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
* * * Fanpage * * * |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
* * * Fanpage * * * |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
"...whether Ritchie gives his blessing or not is of no consequence to me..." (Rod Evans, August 1980)
|
|
 |
|
|
||||||
Dick Jurgens |
Tony Flynn |
Rod Evans |
Geoff Emery |
Tom De Rivera |
||||||
drums |
guitars |
vocals |
organ |
bass |
||||||
"People called the lobby in the hotels to say there was a motorcycle in the hallway...
We got the very sad news that Mr. Richard Henry Jurgens III, known as drummer Dick Jurgens passed away of cancer on December 4th, 2016. He was sick for a long time. |
||||||||||
1. 'Deep Purple 1980' Band Info |
1. 'Deep Purple 1980' Band Info
Text: Gerhard Koritnik
 |
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 in 1969, together with bass player Nick Simper, and emigrated to the USA. He released a 45rpm single in November 1970 (Hard To Be Without You / You Can´t Love A Child Like A Woman) before he decided to join America's 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 touring the United States and Europe Rod left the music business until early 1980. In the year 1980 Rod got involved in a project of a management company who tried to reform Deep Purple, disbanded in 1976, in an even particular way, with only "one" original member. Before this, the same company made some good money with new Steppenwolf bands, with only original members Goldy McJohn and Nick St. Nicholas, but after a lawsuit in 1980 John Kay received back the rights to the Steppenwolf name. |
From May 17 to September 20, 1980, the "New" Deep Purple band performed several concerts in the United States, Mexico and Canada, before they were finally stopped by former Deep Purple management. The first big event took place when about 40.000 to estimated 70.000 people attended their performance at the "Estadio Inde Olimpico" in Mexico City. Another concert took place in August at the legendary "Long Beach Arena" in Los Angeles, when about 6.000 people saw their show ("...some of the most splendidly over-the-top visuals I've seen since Kiss. From the sublime - a whole network of multicoloured lasers aimed in the air, at the crowd, pyrotechnics, smoke, lights, bangers, dry ice, flashbins, more pyrotechnics and a fascinating laser-dot light show on a screen at the side swirling and circling and flashing and bleeping away." Sylvie Simmons, Sounds magazine, 20.09.1980). Due to the fact that the famous Los Angeles based William Morris Agency belived in the project and arranged the tour for the band (the group also planned to go to Japan and Europe after the States), 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 a forthcoming planned record, to be released in November 1980. The group recorded a new version of Deep Purple's first big hit in America, Hush, and two songs titled Hold On Me and All I Am Is Blue, two other titles of the tracks are known, Blood Blister and Brum Doogie, but any tapes seem to be (or are wanted to be) lost. |
 The Great Canadian PicnicOakville, Ontario, CAN 19.07.1980 |
|||
DEEP PURPLE, INC. In June 1980 an action was filed by HEC Enterprises Ltd., DP(O), Blackmore & Co. against the "new" Deep Purple band at the L.A. Federal District Court to get an injunction to stop the band performing under the Deep Purple name and sued them for damages under the regulation of the Lanham Act, a primary federal trademark statute of law in the U.S., containing trademark infrigement, trademark dilution and false advertising. On October 3, 1980, Rod Evans and his band lost the lawsuit. You can read a very informative article about the court case, written by John Sippel for Billboard magazine in 1981, here. Rod disappeared from the music business and the public after that. In April 2016, Rod Evans was admitted to the "Rock'n Roll Hall Of Fame" as a founding father of Deep Purple. |
||||
 |
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) |
2. Band Members Info |
|||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||
Text, researches and concept: Gerhard Koritnik
When playing in Germany the group had to replace their original drummer, as he was under 18 years old, and - for legal reasons - not allowed to play on a public stage there. He was replaced by drummer John Kerrison, who also worked with later Deep Purple members Nick Simper (The Pirates '67), Ian Gillan (The Javelins '62/64, Episode Six '67/68) and Roger Glover (Episode Six '67/68). John's reputation as a drummer at the time was that huge that Rod and Chip Hawkes hired him without having heard him playing, they drove to Germany without any rehearsals. John Kerrison recalls (via e-mail, 2013): "We were in Berlin in late 1965, think the town was called Neukolln. I forgot the name of the club as it's so long ago! I only played with them for a month at that gig, I was 18, also the same as Rod, but I was born in August 1947. The only other guy was Colin Butts or Butt, a very fine guitar player. Unfortunately he passed away a few years back, Chip Hawkes told me that about four years ago." "Rod and I shared the same room but again like most of the bands then we never got paid! It was cold so most day we would play table football when we were not working. We lived mainly on bread and jam rolls except for one meal of chicken and chips and one of some great pea soup and bread again. We got back to England after Colin sold his guitar, but from then on we all went our own ways." Chip Hawkes remembers on www.deep-purple.net: "When we came home the band sort of broke up because we were so young." The Horizons did not make studio recordings.
Being producer himself, Michael Dixon recalls (via youtube comment, 2017): "I knew Rod, Ian Paice, Eric (Jack) Keene, Chris Banham, Roger Lewis when they were The M.I.5, previously Jimmy Bond & The M.I.5 - they then changed to The Maze with Catari Catari/Easy Street, then the band split into two with Rod and Ian going the Deep Purple route and Eric, Chris going into Alice Soundtech mixing desks with ex Engineer Ted Fletcher with the then late Joe Meek (producer, Eq - Compressor fame) and the rest you know. Eric and Ian used to engineer for us along, later with Ted Fletcher, ah such days down at Virgin Sound in 1a Bexley Street, corner of Alma Road, Windsor..."
The group also came to Germany to play at the legendary Star Club in Hamburg, known of Beatles fame, where Ian Paice and Ritchie Blackmore met for the first time, as Ritchie liked his style of drumming. Still barely paid for their shows and living mainly on Swiss rolls for a week, the group had to 'improve' there: "They'd had to do run-outs from cafes after eating. Rod would leave first and draw up by the door of the cafe in their van. Then the others would make a dash for it." (Mick Angus, www.deep-purple.net)
4 million (!) sold records later at the end of 1968 in the U.S. and huge further success in the States and the United Kingdom in 1969, original singer Rod Evans and bass player Nick Simper were replaced by new members Ian Gillan and Roger Glover, both coming from British group Episode Six (Deep Purple Mk 2). Today (Mk 10) drummer Ian Paice is the last member who is from the original lineup when Deep Purple started in 1968. Original organist Jon Lord died on July 16, 2012 at the age of 71, guitarist Ritchie Blackmore and bassist Nick Simper got their own band projects running (Rainbow, Blackmore's Night / Nick Simper & Nasty Habits, The Good Old Boys).
After his departure from Deep Purple in 1969, Rod Evans decided to leave the United Kingdom and emigrated to the United States. His known addresses in the U.K. were first in the Buttermere Avenue No. 65 in Slough, later he changed his home to 40 19 Second Ave, Acton Vale, London W.3. One known name of his anchestry is his aunt Muriel. Living in California, he married his first wife, Pamela, who he learned to know when Deep Purple toured in America in 1968/'69. Nick Simper remembers that time and still has Rod's invitation to his marriage in storage. (that's true, Rod!)
The group reunited later in 1973 with Rod Evans and Bobby Caldwell to play a tour in America, but it cleared out that Rod got tired of the music business, and the problems they had with their record company and the management, so that he quit the band finally at the end of 1973. Rod Evans: "It was not the music leading to the split of Captain Beyond. A group is 25 percent the music, 25 percent the record company, 25 percent the advertising and 25 percent the money behind. You can be the best band in the world but the other three reasons can separate you." (June 1980)
TONY FLYNN: Born on April 29, 1956 in San Francisco, California, Tony Flynn lived in the Hollywood area in 1980. His great-grandfather's family is Spanish, his mother and her ancestry are from Denmark. When he was eight years old Tony visited the Sacred Heart College, then went to Hollywood High School and studied at the Immaculate Heart College in Los Angeles. His first guitar he got at the age of nine, being educated by guitar teachers Buddy Matlock, Dick Morgan and later Lee Beeder. About his musical inspirations he mentiones B.B. King, Howard Roberts, the flamenco guitarist Charlos Montoya or Paco De Lucia, a friend of his.
Tony Flynn recalls the beginnings: "If you remember the 60s, I was there as a session bar chord guitarist, with Mars Bonfire, at 12 years old". The Canadian rock musician and songwriter Dennis Edmonton, known by his stage name Mars Bonfire, later wrote Steppenwolf's best known song, Born To Be Wild ("well.. the song at least made it, Goldy McJohn was a friend" Tony Flynn). "I started as an actor and musician at five years old and recorded my first rhythm guitar masters very early in life. These are mainly recordings made in the after hours of studios or early morning hours. I started recording at a very young age in 1969 and have worked on just about everything. Like most people I worked hard in Hollywood and toured alot... I can only say that I've played with the best musicians on this earth." From the age of 15 Tony Flynn had played with musicians like Rick Derringer, John Mayall, John McLaughlin, Paul Butterfield, Goldy McJohn, Al Di Meola or Paco De Lucia. Tony Flynn: "I met Paco De Lucia when I was fifteen, I played drone... John McLaughlin was a friend of Buddy Matlock, my teacher. I met him when I was seventeen. Al Di Meola was an acoustic guitar player I met later on. I played electric guitar, just not his thing". From the Deep Purple show in August 1980 in Alaska Tony remembers: "Yah, and Alaska... after B.B. King. He had just left. A nice guy, I met him much later on".
In the early 70's Tony played with the Tony Flynn Trio, songs they recorded had been Mr. P.C. or That's It. Various recordings followed like Shuffle Times, Binkeys Dreams or Doctor Dallas. Another 70's group of Tony Flynn was Flynn March/Ohio Players Cantante, tracks they recorded were Words or All Over Now.
* * * * *
Tony Flynn, commenting the picture in the middle: "In concert at U.S.C. Westwood, California, in 1973. We were a group of musicians formed in Hollywood, I have vinyl records transferred to compact discs, not bad... it's a 1973 Gibson L5-S model, there's a new model of the guitar made for Ron Woods." (Pictures left and right: Tony Flynn and Rick Derringer in studio 1973, middle: Tony Flynn Trio at U.S.C. Westwood) * * * * *
Though, John Mayall and Tony Flynn performed together later, when they played in Mexico on March 15 and 16, 1981, billed as "the English King of Blues with special guest Tony Flynn, guitarist of Steppenwolf", playing two shows each day at 4.00 and 8.00 p.m. * * * * *
Tony Flynn: "He was a friend of mine, Paul Butterfield..." (Paul died in 1987 at age 44 of an accidental drug overdose). "The group I played with Paul Butterfield in the 70s. Peter McGraw is successful with Blues Destiny Records on the internet, same as Goldy McJohn was with Gold Records. Dallas and Goldy died... but life goes on."
The new Steppenwolf 1977-80:
Tony Flynn, who also knows the recording: "That's some really bad stuff... the slide solo on Magic Carpet Ride is me, any Telecaster stuff. That sounds like a cassette recording from the board, that's really bad, man. Yah, Rock Me too, I'm way low in the mix. This is really horrible stuff... That's Whitey Glenn on drums, Nick St. Nicholas on bass, Goldy on keys, Kent Henry on guitar. The singer I don't even remember. Those were pick up dates, we cancelled a Germany tour."
In 1980, Tony Flynn made plans to record a solo LP in Mexico, with Rod Evans, Goldy McJohn, Paul Butterfield and Geoff Emery. He told Conecte magazine in 1981 that he finished doing some recordings, and that two of the songs are dedicated to Mexico (a song which Tony recorded in 1979 was titled Ciudad De Mexico), but it's very unlikely that Rod Evans and/or Goldy McJohn participated in the recording sessions. The record itself seems to have not been released.
* * * * *
GEOFF EMERY: Organ player Geoffrey W. Emery, born in 1951, was also a member of the new Steppenwolf band before his Deep Purple membership. In the spring or summer of 1979, Goldy McJohn left Steppenwolf and was replaced by Geoff Emery, who stayed in the group until early 1980. In different formations of the group, Geoff played with both - later Deep Purple 1980 drummer Dick Jurgens and guitarist Tony Flynn.
In 1979, ten tracks had been recorded for an album in Hollywood, CA, but never been released. Geoff Emery was a member of the group during these recording sessions. Kevin Scott Collier writes on his Wolf Sightings 1977-80 website: "Upon Tommy Holland's entry, New Steppenwolf went back into the recording studio to reworking the tracks to reflect the new band's line-up. Holland did new voice overs. "They replaced Simpson's vocals with mine", Holland recalled. Banali's drum tracks were erased and replaced using both White and Riley (Jurgens recalled he did not participate in the recordings). "They added my keyboards to the mix", Emery recalled. Nick St. Nicholas mixed and mastered the album himself".
Insider sources say that it was mainly the graduate attorny Geoff Emery, who put the Deep Purple 1980 project together, and that it was "his show". Rod Evans, in an interview for Conecte magazine in June, 1980: "...I was tired of all this. Then one day Geoff called and said "Let's get Deep Purple together, we have the name". But I was in doubt, I said what is going to happen with the other guys?" It's also very likely that Geoff Emery brought in drummer Dick Jurgens, who he remembered from the time when they played together in Steppenwolf in 1979.
According to a statement of 1980 Deep Purple road manager Bob Baron, Geoff was part of an (only planned?) Iron Butterfly lineup before. Author Yves Monast, who spoke with Baron before the Quebec City show in 1980, mentioned this later in his article for the 'PopRock' magazine. Yves Monast remembers (via e-mail, 2012): "When the show happened I went in the place before the show to meet the road manager, he told me the name of the musicians, he said that Geoff Emery used to play with Iron Butterfly, Dick Jurgens is an ex-Assiciation". In his book 'Smoke On The Water - The Deep Purple Story' author Dave Thompson wrote about an earlier cooperation between Geoff Emery and former Iron Butterfly guitarist Mike Pinera in The New Cactus Band.
In the later '80s and '90s, Geoff Emery had been working in the music industry with his record label Statue Records, mostly using his artist name Geoffrey England.
On his bandcamp website, where you can listen to the song, Steve explains: "This song was written in the studios of Statue records. They had me under contract for a short time. With owner Jeff Emery and various others we put this together. I wondering what I did with my junk after hearing this. It was released and went to #10 in places like Utah. It was released on multiple colored disc's. I think my folks still have one... Jeff Emery is the owner of Statue Records. England 402 is his band. We wrote tunes together for a short time and have been friends for many."
George Craven of melodic-hardrock.com reviewed the record in 2017: "Ringleader were a classic '80s AOR Hair Metal band from the Los Angeles/Orange County area that released this album If Licks Could Kill back in 1989 on the small custom OC label Statue Records. All ten tracks on this record are in the '80s AOR melodic hard rock style, very similar to bands like Legs Diamond, Slaughter and Artica. Fantastic vocalist and guitarist, great production and solid musicianship throughout, but luck of good songwriting and memorable tunes."
TOM DE RIVERA: Growing up in the southeast of Los Angeles County, Tom De Rivera was a founding member of the American band "Corroboree" in 1968. The group featured him on bass and most parts of the vocals, Rik Shannon (drums, harmonica and vocals), Brad Zapper (guitars and vocals) and Randy Chambers on keyboards, who was replaced by Phil Cristian in 1973. Alongside the groups Emperor (both bands were with the same management) and Burlesque, Corroboree was one of the three best paid bands in the club scene in Orange County and Los Angeles, playing locations like the "Gazarri's" in Hollywood or the "Fatfingers" in Huntington Beach, OC.
According to Conecte magazine author José Luis Pluma, Corroboree had an engagement at the Cero Cero bar in the Camino Royal hotel in Mexico City in 1972/73. "Van Nuys News" magazine published an article concerning the band's features on February 2, 1973: "Corroboree, a four-piece rock music group featuring four-part harmony with strong musical back-up, is the new featured band at the Hong Kong Bar dance spot at the Century Plaza Hotel in Century City, Los Angeles. The group, named with an Australian word which defines a native assembly of festive character, has just returned from a six-month engagement in Mexico City, reported a hotel spokesman. The members of Corroboree grew up together and have been together for five years. Bass player and lead vocalist is Tom DeRivera; on percussion is Rik Shannon: Brad Zapper is lead guitarist, and Randy Chambers is at the keyboards. At the Hong Kong Bar, Corroboree will play nightly except Sunday. Doors open at 8:30 p.m." On November 7, 1974, after original keyboarder Randy Chambers had been replaced by Phil Cristian, Arcadia Tribune newspaper published the group's new engagement: "Corroboree is the group appearing Tuesday through Sunday nights in the rooftop lounge at Pasadena Hilton Hotel. They're Phil Christian, Rik Shannon, Tom De Rivera and Bradley Zapper. Dancing and entertainment 9 p.m. to closing." Another group is mentioned at the "OC Clubbands Circa 1970's" website, a band named Scoundrel, that consisted of Tom De Rivera (bass and vocals), Mark Monroe (guitars, ex-Sockeye Fox, French Kiss and Pegusus, all groups of the Orange County area), Will Blount (ex-Sockeye Fox), Chuck Ruff and Tim McClean. * * * * *
DICK JURGENS: Born 1959 and coming out of family fame, Dick went to high school in Sacramento, California, in the early 1960´s. He got his first drumming experiences when playing in a school band. Band member Melodie F. C. recalls (via e-mail, 2012): "We were in a school band together at Cerritos College near Santa Fe Springs, California. And he was such a sweetheart. Would love to say hi to him and catch up." 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 biggest stars there like The Doors, Janis Joplin, Jimi Hendrix (with Dick's drumming hero Mitch Mitchell), he also met original Deep Purple there in their early days. Dick Jurgens (via e-mail, 2003): "I was just a young teenager of course, but I met Rod and Blackmore and the guys in person. Because of my father's big band fame, I have met (and even played) with some of the 'biggest' names in the music business over the years, but I have to admit, at the time I didn't really realize how ingrained these people were in our collective music culture. Now that I do know how famous some of these people are/were and how important they are in history, all I can tell my son - if he ever asks - that, for example, "yes, I heard of Count Basie... I sat on his lap", and so on." * * * * *
* * * * * In 1978, the well known 60's group Association dissolved, with only original member Ted Bluechel left with a huge dept. On November 1st, 1978, he leased the group's name to another company who put a 'fake' Association band out on the road (source: wikipedia). According to 'new Deep Purple 1980' road manager Bob Baron, who spoke to PopRock magazine author Yves Monast before the 1980 Quebec show, Dick Jurgens was a member of this new formation.
In a later interview with Cindy Bin in 1985, original member Larry Ramos said that this group performed one day as the Association, the other day the same lineup was billed as 60's band Grass Roots or Loving Spoonful. Their management even used his photo for their publicity pictures, and when people asked for him, they were told Larry was sick. "We'd been after these people for a long time because they were passing themselves off as us... it was misrepresentation", Larry told (many thanks, Cindy, for this information). When the original Association group came back on the road in 1979, with as much publicity as possible to present them as the "real" group, the bogus band disappeared. Photo: Cindy Bin, April 1979 * * * * * The new Steppenwolf 1977-80: In the mid of 1979, Dick Jurgens was also a member of the new Steppenwolf band when bassist Nick St. Nicholas hired him out of Los Angeles to replace drummer Jack White. At the same time, later Deep Purple 1980 organist Geoff Emery was in the band, with new singer Tommy Holland, who joined the group instead of Bob Simpson, and Ruben DeFuentes on guitars. Dick stayed with the group for the time of a month, when he left former drummer Jack White joined the band again. In 1979, some earlier recorded tracks for an planned forthcoming Steppenwolf album had been re-recorded, but Dick remembered to have not participated in the recording sessions. Guitarist Tony Flynn joined the new Steppenwolf band again later in October 1979, a few months after Dick Jurgens left, to replace Ruben DeFuentes. So most likely it was Geoff Emery who remembered Dick for a drummer when the 'new Deep Purple' idea came up in the beginning of 1980. Dick Jurgens passed away on December 4th, 2016, after long time sickness.
|
3. Magazine Articles 1980 |
||
               |
||
Click on the following pictures below to view original magazine articles about the 1980 Deep Purple tour, with some including English/German translations |
4. Tour Dates 1980 "...the band on the road..."
The setlist included:
|
|
Sonido Magazine No. 47, Mexico
Conecte No. 179, 1980 - 14 pages
Swing Auditorium, San Bernardino, CA 21.06.1980 - concert review
Conecte Magazine, No. 175
Celebrity Theater, Phoenix, AZ
Conecte Magazine No. 174
Provo Daily Herald, Utah
|
Text, researches, translations, pictures (if not otherwise mentioned) and concept:
DEEP PURPLE, INC.
* * * * Tony Flynn: "There were about 70 dates, starting in Amarillo, Texas."
"Nobody thinks of sex except the sound man..." (Tony Flynn)
June * * * *
Show at the same day:
Setlist included: Hush / Hey Joe / Kentucky Woman /
 Read the full review of the San Bernardino show by Jon Trask and view the original concert poster and ticket in the Galery
 (Picture: Dirk Kahler) view the original concert ticket at www.purple.de
July * * * *
* * * * The setlist included Highway Star, Might Just Take Your Life and Burn
* * * *
* * * *
The show had been advertised in the "Aquarian Weekly" magazine before. Unlike the adverts - flyers, launched at the day of the concert, showed pictures of the group and named Rod Evans' "Deep Purple" membership.
[Still searching for both!]
 (Picture: Dirk Kahler) view the original concert ticket at www.purple.de
Read stage manager Barry Wanless' memories and
with Deep Purple, Hot Rockets, News, Mannequin,
* * * * * * * *
August * * * *
Show at the same day:
View the original concert photos by Yves Monast and read his
* * * *
* * * *
New: "I think there was an opening act, but I forget the name. It "may" have been a gentleman named Randy Hansen, who did an impressive Jimi Hendrix tribute, but I'm not positive." New: "If I recall correctly Rod Evans was wearing a silver spaceman suit..." "They did have a very entertaining laser show, the galloping Pegasus was my favorite."
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
September * * * *
Tony Flynn: "I remember it was some places in Canada... Rouyn.
Read the really funny and interesting review by Peter Dawson,
* * * *
|
Conecte magazine No. 190
Conecte Magazine No. 211
Discotheque Rock-Pop Magazine "Viene Deep Purple a Mexico"
Live at Estadio Inde, Mexico City
Conecte Magazine No. 178
The Ritz, Roseville, MI, 04.07.1980
Sounds Magazine, U.K. 20.09.1980
|
 |
Tony Flynn - "Tribute to Deep Purple" show 2017 A journey through Rod Evans' 1980 Deep Purple tour Outtakes from Tony Flynn's Deep Purple tribute show, performed in Tlapa de Comonfort, Guerrero, in Mexico December 16th, 2017 |
|||
"It's good to see you're still playing." (Geoff Emery) "Jeez, Jeff, it's good to see we're still alive, hahaha." (Tony Flynn)
* * * * |
||||
5. The Rod Evans Picture / Photo Gallery |
||
Click on the pictures to enlarge |
| New DEEP PURPLE 1980: | |||||||
 |
|
 |
|||||
The New Deep Purple Long Beach, 19.08.1980 L.A. Times concert advert |
New!!! The New Deep Purple - Live in Portland, 17.08.1980 Original concert ticket (show has been cancelled) Picture by Albert L. Nazarian |
The New Deep Purple Live in Anchorage, 14./15.08.1980 Pic: Marc Olson, Anchorage Daily News |
Japan press clipping "Deep Purple reunion?" (1980) |
 |
|
 |
|||||
The New Deep Purple Live at Estadio Inde, 28.06.1980 original concert newspaper advert |
Rod Evans Interview with José Luis Pluma Conecte magazine, June 1980, Mexico |
Deep Purple at Quebec airport, 12.08.1980 Le Journal de Quebec, August 1980 (original picture source: TheHighwayStar) |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|||||||
The Great Canadian Picnic Oakville, 19.07.1980 (picture: John Bilbija/W. Siebert) |
The New Deep Purple Long Beach Arena, L.A., 19.08.1980 |
Original concert ticket Deep Purple - Long Beach Arena Los Angeles, 19.08.1980 |
Rod Evans 'HIP 70' press conference Mexico City, 27.06.1980 |
Rod Evans 1980
The Deep Purple family Year by Year - Vol. II |
|||||||
| Deep Purple 1980 Promotional Pictures: | |||||||||||
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|||||||
Tony Flynn guitars |
Rod Evans vocals |
Geoff Emery organ |
Tom De Rivera bass |
Dick Jurgens
drums |
|||||||
 |
|
||||
Original concert ticket The New Deep Purple - Live Capitol Theater Quebec City, Canada, 12.08.1980 |
Interview with Rod Evans and Tony Flynn 'HIP 70' press conference, Mexico (from Conecte magazine no. 179, 1980) |
 |
|
The "New" Deep Purple feat. Rod Evans Previously unreleased photographies of the show at the "Capitol Theater", made by Yves Monast. Yves also wrote an article about the concert for the "Pop Rock" magazine, which you can read here. "Many thanks, Yves, for this great and unique pictures and for your support!" |
|||
Concert review by Jon Trask Swing Auditorium, San Bernardino 21.06.1980 |
Pictures of the former "The Rose" club, Dallas/TX, where the New DP performed on 15.07.1980 |
New update 17.02.2019 "Le Journal de Québec" - Newspaper articles (english translations) |
|||
|
|
|||||||
Original concert flyer Utah County Jam II - Saratoga Resort Lehi, Utah, 26.07.1980 |
The New Deep Purple Live in Phoenix concert ticket Arizona, 29.06.1980 |
Concert ticket & review by Gilbert Garcia Laredo Civic Center, Texas 07.06.1980 |
The New Deep Purple - Condesa, Somerset Massachusetts, 19.09.1980 (pic: David K. Despault) |
 |
 |
|||||||
Rod Evans - photography in
Sounds magazine, 20.09.1980 (original picture: Chris Walter) |
New Deep Purple - Live in Brunswick
Canada, 08.08.1980 concert ticket feat. "MC5 Detroit" |
The New Deep Purple in Mexico
27.06.1980, San Angel HIP 70 press conference |
Deep Purple live Quebec, 12.08.1980 "Pop Rock" magazine, Yves Monast (French article with English translation) |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|||||
Original concert ticket for Swing
Auditorium show, |
The New Deep Purple 1980 |
Drummer Dick Jurgens III |
Rod Evans and Tom De Rivera live Mexico City, 1980 |
New! DEEP PURPLE 1980 Newspaper articles: |
|||||||||
Conecte concert review |
Anchorage Daily News August 6, 1980 |
LA Times August 9, 1980 |
El Paso Times August 15, 1980 |
LA Times August 19, 1980 |
|||||
The New DEEP PURPLE 1980 members pre/post Deep Purple: |
||||||||||
 |
 |
 |
   |
|||||||
Tony Flynn 1973 |
Tony Flynn & John Mayall |
Tony Flynn 1975 - 1983 |
Tony Flynn Carlos Santana |
Steppenwolf - live in Mexico 1979 featuring Geoff Emery & Tony Flynn |
||||||
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|||||||
Steppenwolf 1978 |
Southern Pacific 1976 |
Ringleader feat. Geoff Emery |
Tony Flynn, Geoff Emery Steppenwolf 1980 (Pictures: Kevin Scott Collier) |
Tom De Rivera 1974/75 with Corroboree/Spread Eagle (Picture: Desiree Crandall) |
 |
|||||||||||
New: |
|
|
DEEP PURPLE 1968-1969: |
||||||||
Autographed "Hush" record, |
Rod Evans 1969 including Q/A game with Rod and Jon Lord |
Autographed 1969 flyer, by all five band members |
Grande Ballroom 1968, signed by Nick Simper, Jon Lord and Ian Paice |
New!!! Rod Evans Deep Purple promo pictrue 1968 |
||||
New!!! Deep Purple 1968/'69 unofficial (bootleg) vinyl releases: |
||||||||
Deep Purple "The Boot Of Taliesyn" (1 LP) Live in Inglewood, 18.10.1968 |
Deep Purple "Purple Storm" (1 LP) Live in Inglewood, 18.10.1968 |
Deep Purple "Fireball Over Japan" (1 LP) The Kornyphone Records |
Deep Purple "Emmaretta" (7"/45rpm) BBC session 1969 |
|||||
CAPTAIN BEYOND: |
||||||||
 |
 |
|||||||
Captain Beyond |
Captain Beyond live on stage 1972 with interview by Lee Dorman & Larry "Rhino" Reinhardt, 1972 |
Rod Evans 1972 promotional photo Captain Beyond |
"Dawn Explosion" 1977 autographed record |
|||||
CAPTAIN BEYOND - Live in Montreux 30/04/1972 (Video) Great 1st generation quality video on Youtube uploaded with fantastic remastered sound by Bruno S. Thanks a lot for that, Bruno, amazing! |
ROD EVANS 1970 - SOLO SINGLE 7" / 45rpm: |
||||||||||
 |
 |
 |
  |
|||||||
Rod Evans 1970 |
Rod Evans - Solo single "Hard to be without you" Capitol records, 1970 |
Rod Evans - Solo single "Hard to be without you" promotional record |
Rod Evans - Newspaper article "Best Songs" magazine, 1971 |
New: Rod Evans - Solo single "Hard to be without you" 45 rpm colored vinyl unofficial release |
||||||
6. What they said about... |
||||||||
| Story concept, researches and translations by Gerhard Koritnik | ||||||||
The "New Deep Purple 1980" feat. Rod Evans - The story behind A collection of comments and memories - Chapter 1 to 8
* * * * * CHAPTER 1 – Rod Evans
"He was asked to be lead singer of a new group with the shining name of "Deep Purple". He took the job, and things happened – an American recording contract first with Tetragrammaton, and a couple of hits tunes named "Hush" and "Kentucky Woman".
Deep Purple began to be known and began to create a striking, definite image. Rod gained immense practical authority from his work with them and thoroughly appreciated the good dates plus the good things along with them that were happening.
But there came a time when Rod's own ideas of a life of one's own became paramount. He knew he had to strike out on his own, and even though Deep Purple continued to do well, Rod was chafing at the restrictions working with a group demanded. It was time that Rod Evans went his way." "There were personal conflicts between Ritchie Blackmore and me. You already see all the changes they have suffered over the years. I no longer wanted to be with them after two years. There was an ego in both, Ritchie, who liked heavy rock, and Lord, who was more inclined to the classic. Ritchie was obsessed with being a guitarist like Clapton or Beck and excelling as a star." "When I left Deep Purple originally, I came over here and joined a band called Captain Beyond. I was with them about four years and then I left - I wanted to get back into the so-called straight world somehow. You get tired of the road for whatever reason and so I went back to school and studied medicine, got my degree and worked in a hospital for five years. I was the director of respiratory therapy - a specialist field." "I was just a friend of his when we all lived in the San Fernando Valley in Southern CA. I met him thru my good friend who was a Respriatory Therapist and she and Rod had worked in the same hospital for awhile. But the three of us and sometimes another friend would join us, as we would go out on the town and have a few drinks, sometimes, dinner and we did that for several years. I have since moved but always wanted to see how he was doing and what he was doing. He had a great sense of humor for sure. Hope he is well and alive." New: "A drummer I played with for many years worked at a hospital in the Valley where Rod Evans was employed in some high level medicine job there. Couldn't belive that one." New: "Rod was a respiratory therapist. I used to work with him. He got married and had two kids. I was at their ceremony around 1988. We were friends. After he got married, which I attended at city hall, I quit and we lost contact. I hope he is well." "I worked at St. Vincent's Medical Center in Los Angeles in the mid-80s, turns out Rod Evans worked as a respiratory technician there. So I got to meet him and kick it with him in his breakroom. I asked him about Deep Purple and Captain Beyond and he got tired of the road and took up golf (ha ha). He wore three piece corduroy suits, with his curly locks he was super cool. He also autographed my Captain Beyond album." "Before entering the hospital, my hair was up to my waist, but I got tired of everything and changed. I don't think that anybody now associates long hair with a rock musician. I'll stay with short hair." "In the early 80's I was living in L.A. and renting a house with a friend of mine who was in relationship with an ex-girlfriend of Rod's... She said that musical differences was the reason Purple had let him go. She knew nothing of Captain Beyond... I played her the entire first record and she was quite blown away by it - "maybe I should get back together with him..." Of course, I think she was only joking around about that. She said that he had become an x-ray technician." New: "I've always been a fan of Rod's. In fact I have the British import (summer of '72) of Captain Beyond with the holographic cover. Played it until the grooves wore through to the other side." New: "Rod was awesome, very nice to sit in a motor home for eight hours at a time." New: "I was at school with him, my best mate, his site says he came from Slough, but he came from priory estate Burnham Bucks, Buttermere avenue, No. 65 to be precise." "I knew of him." "To tell you the truth, I have no idea how many musicians have been in "Deep Purple" over the years...
I have always been a little sheepish as a member of the big name bands I played with. I wasn't really anything more than a hired player (because the band would have looked pretty silly without a drummer, I guess...) I got a letter from Geoff Emery, who is some sort of record industry executive now... I haven't heard of Rod, Tony or Tom but there seems to be a lot of interest in getting hold of them. Rod is a very nice fellow." "... Rod Evans was very cool and a great guy to hang with, anybody that says bad things about him is probably full of sh*t. He took the whole thing very lightly like it was just another gig... Rod Evans was great tough and a cool guy to work with..." "One of the quirks of the Deep Purple experience for me was that the son of my Dad's original William Morris booking agent turned out to be the agent for the Rod Evans' Deep Purple! Small world... It's also ironic that I put up our Dick Jurgens Orchestra website as a tribute to my Dad's big band days, but I mainly got Deep Purple related mail on it now. Ironic, because "Deep Purple" (the song) was one of his hits." "Rod called up in 1980, when I was not at home, so he said to my wife that I should call him back, what I - in some wise anticipation - not did." "It came along at the right time because I was tired of what I was doing, you know, toeing someone else's line and working semi-nine to five. I was ready for a change."
* * * * * CHAPTER 2 – The New Deep Purple 1980 featuring Rod Evans
Q: "How you have obtained the rights to the name Deep Purple?" "Well, we (Tony Flynn and Geoff Emery - ed.) decided to leave Steppenwolf for a new reform. Then I met an old friend in San Fernando Valley in Los Angeles, Rod Evans, a great singer, and we started to think about what name we would choose for the new group. It came to our minds that he had a big name in Deep Purple. We spoke with the people of Whitesnake and Rainbow, and they said to have no problem that we use the name. So we decided to choose Deep Purple." "After Captain Beyond I went back to school for about five years, I studied medicine because I was tired of all this. Then Geoff called and said: "Let's get Deep Purple together, we have the name". But I was in doubt, I said what is going to happen with the other guys? We spoke with Jon who is with Whitesnake and with Ritchie who has Rainbow and they gave us to understand that they were not interested in Deep Purple, so we reformed the group. We played a few concerts and everything was great: there were many people who came to see us, they remembered the songs..." New: "We do a show here and there in America, but we always come back to Los Angeles to refuel... Before the show, we have to work like all the artists, and then we celebrate, a little alcohol, a little something else... me, I like to drink Cointreau and Grand Marnier... to relax, we shatter the walls of the hotel, with a chain saw." "The group is composed of Deep Purple's first singer, Rod Evans, from "Hush" period. After his experience with "Captain Beyond" he decided to restart the ship in February 1980, with Tony Flynn (ex-Steppenwolf) on lead guitar, Geoff Emery (ex-Steppenwolf and ex-Iron Butterfly), keyboards and vocals, Dick Jurgens (ex-Association) on drums and finally Tom De Rivera, bass and vocals. They are going to move to the States, then Japan and Europe at last. An album is planned for October." New: "Incredibly, it seems the Rod Evans fronted version of Deep Purple which toured briefly in America in 1980 actually recorded. (...) The musicians did secure a recording contract with Warners in America - though I don't know if they used another name. A number of tracks were cut at the Village Recording Studio in Los Angeles, CA, and these included several original compositions written by Evans, Jurgens and De Rivera. It isn't yet clear wether they were putting down demos prior to doing more polished versions later on, or doing finished tracks. Whatever was done, the fact that some recordings did exist tends to throw a new light onto the whole episode. Two of the song titles were "Blood Blister" and "Brum Doogie" (what?!)." "We just started this weekend to do that, because we were busy with contracts, lawyers, etc. Maybe we will be recording by this month so we can release the album by November on a label which we will choose from several label offers. It will be another sense as we are required to change the music. It's more than what we want to do. We will be doing a sixty percent of Deep Purple and we will be changing. That's it. We don't want to do something like "The Who" with "Tommy". It is another concept. We want to write songs about what happens in our way, we mean. Of course we change the sound by the new techniques that are used now, like the Polymoog and different effects in the studio, but no doubt it will be a turn towards heavy metal." "I belive I have some tapes, just mixing board sends to a cassette deck tough, somewhere. I haven't listened to them in years. I don't know where they are, right off the top of my head... I really just worked for the band and the agency, so when I asked for copies of tapes, the "someday" they promised, never seemed to materialize. We had a record contract with Warner Curb and we did some tracks for an album, but the legal tangels prevented them from releasing it, I guess. I don't think I ever got a copy of those either."
New: "It will be interesting to finally hear a whole show and see some
of the footage... I have a friend that saw them locally in '80. He taped the show and
still has the concert t-shirt." New: "Rod's voice was wonderful and mystical both in Deep Purple and in Captain Beyond, I recently had to do some research and I discovered that there is a recording of a complete concert of the 1980 line up but the person who owns this recording does not want to make it available."
* * * * * CHAPTER 3 – The Controversy
"Judge Robert Kelleher, originally designated to hear the dispute, denied a temporary restraining order and a preliminary injunction against the defendants in late June 1980. Counsel for the defendants argued that Deep Purple was no longer a working group and that the group was essentially an instrumental act, wherein all original members were not essential. Evans, they stated, was the original vocalist (...) They argued, too, that the plaintiff group members were all with different groups in England, so it could be asumed the act would never regroup." "Rod Evans, the group's singer, owns the name. There are no injunctions, no restraining orders and no box-office attachments. Deep Purple has to prove themselfes as Deep Purple. It would be distracting to have the individual names on the ad. It's not a bogus situation, Deep Purple never really broke up. There was just a constant changing of people. This band does all the original Deep Purple hits." "Our group sounds exactly the same and looks exactly the same. In all respects we are the same product." New: "We have NO interest in selling the name Deep Purple." "These guys have been put through the hoops legally. I went to Honolulu personally to hear them, three weeks ago, and that's when I decided they should come to Anchorage." "The band has a federal trademark, and is by all intends and purposes Deep Purple. Those two guys (Ritchie Blackmore and Roger Glover - ed.) - who are with a band called Rainbow - want to get back. They see a successful thing, and they want part of it... The band has envolved into something more modern, with new faces and sounds reflecting the 80s. We've got a younger look. Those original guys would be 35 to 43 years old now. The band has been in hibernation for several years, and has reemerged." "People are paying good money to see something that isn't what it's purported to be. Even tough Rod was in the band originally, it's not really the band people know." "I think it's pretty disgusting that a band has to stoop this low and take somebody else's name. It's like a bunch of guys putting together a group and calling it Led Zeppelin. I don't like this at all." "We haven't really tried to get hold of Ritchie. Whether Ritchie gives his blessing or not is of no real consequence to me as my blessing to him forming Rainbow would be of no consequence to Ritchie. I mean, if he doesn't like it I'm sorry, but we're trying." Q: "Did you actually contact them and ask if they wanted to do a comeback?"
* * * * * CHAPTER 4 – The Court Case
"The last time I saw Rod was across a court room. I had to go and appear in court because it had to be stopped because it just wasn't Deep Purple." "It's unbelievable that as soon as they see one is earning a few dollars honorably with a product that I formed, and which I have not only refused royalties from record sales but any involve-ment, now leave the bush and cut us into pieces. They have the money and we do not, and I wonder, now as they won the lawsuit, what the hell will they do with the name?" "We did not want anything with Deep Purple, and everyone was involved in different projects. I think Rod Evans was in his right because the name had been abandoned, but there were so many "legal corners" hidden that this became a complex battle and they lost, I wish the best of lucks." "I think most of the animosity came from Ritchie Blackmore who I believe had a deep dislike for Rod. Then there were the English business men who really owned the Deep Purple Business." Q: "Are you annoyed about the new Deep Purple?" "...he was treated unfairly. In the litigation as a founding member he should have had the right to move forward since no one at the time was using Deep Purple. Rod was one of the great voices of the 60's era, we came very close to giving that voice a path forward in 1980. With the help of agents at William Morris Rod was able to meet with several HIT producers of the day, an album was in the works, great plans were being made and Rod would have had a 2nd bit at the apple." "Worst of all, Javier, is that it wasn't even the former Deep Purple who wanted to fight the name, but cold and calculating business men who are not interested in rock - just want to swell their pockets. It's disgusting how far people come by a few dollars." "We didn't make that money, it went all to the lawyers involved... The only chance to stop that band was to 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!" "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." "It was a very silly thing to do, an example of poor judgment I would say. He was an idiot. He was misled by people that wanted to cash in on the name, with no regard to quality. They didn't care that it could hurt the name, the reputation that we spent years in building. We felt very sad about that. Had we not fought them according to American law for six months they could have recorded as Deep Purple, which would have been the worst lie." "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 have known it was going to be difficult to get away with a fake Deep Purple. After all - he was doing it in public." "It was a very expensive business. And, of course, we'll never be paid the damages. Rod Evans just doesn't have the money. He no longer receives the royalities from those first three albums though." New: "One day I'd really like to work with Ritchie again and maybe it'll be with Purple, I don't know." New: "I think there is an excellent opportunity for Deep Purple to meet again in the near future." New: "Deep Purple is a thing of the past and I don't want to have another experience like that again."
* * * * * CHAPTER 5 – Live At Long Beach Arena, August 19, 1980
"Avalon Attractions is proud to bring you Deep Purple in their
only Southern California appearance." New: "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." "It's an attempt to disclose to the public that the group they think of as Deep Purple is not the group that's playing under that name." "Can you belive that something like that can happen? I mean these guys actually played at Long Beach Arena using the name Deep Purple. They played "Smoke On The Water" and all our best known things until they were booed off the stage. Can you imagine what might happen if we didn't try and stop this fiasco? By next month there'd be thirty bands calling themselves Led Zeppelin, and maybe fifty more who called themselves the Beatles. The worst part of the whole thing is the damage it might do to our reputation. If we do get back together and decide to tour, what happens if word gets around saying 'Oh yeah, I saw them last year at Long Beach, and they weren't anything like I remembered.' The name Deep Purple still means a lot to most rock and roll fans, and I mean to see that it stays that way." "I feel like I've been duped. We just didn't know what we were getting into. I though the group was more legitimate."
* * * * * CHAPTER 6 – Live In Mexico City, June 28, 1980
New: "The New Deep Purple featuring Rod Evans - Deep Purple’s original lead singer is back with his new band, singing "Hush" from Shades of Deep Purple, "Kentucky Woman" from Book of Taliesyn and all the best of Deep Purple's hits. New: "Earlier last summer when Deep Purple and supporting rock groups appeared at INDE, it did create a massive incident of traffic jams and damage in the streets. Some 50.000 aficionados converged on the stadium for that one." "I don't want to be glamorous and say we want to see the pyramids of Moctezuma or something. It's very nice. The reasons why we come here are the same reasons why we go to other places: Business... come on... this is not tourism business." "The reason why I come to Mexico is because I like it. Before, I was not here for money or this or that. I came because I felt good." "Highway Star!" "...but with the Rolling Stones truck thing just outside..." "Good night, Mexico... buenas noches." "This is the FIRST time we play in Mexico!"
* * * * * CHAPTER 7 – Live In Quebec City, August 12, 1980)
New: "When the show happened I went in the place before the show to meet the road manager, he told me the name of the musicians, he said that Geoff Emery used to play with Iron Butterfly, Dick Jurgens is an ex-Assiciation. And after that they will go to the States, Japan, and a tour of Europe, an album is due for October." "I'm a Highway Star..." "Something off our 'Burn' album..." "The next song is from the time when Evans was in the band. It was the only one and it's an instrumental." (Hard Road / Wring That Neck - ed.) "One, two... one, two... here is Space Trucking..." New: "There was a drum solo... a big one." "Space Trucking" is done instrumental, as the microphones still don't work... Fifth song is "Woman From Tokyo", where some vocals could be heard. But it is already the last one. The guitarist tells us that if we don't want to see them we have to leave the area..." "Whoever wants to see the REAL Deep Purple is welcome to stay, the rest of you, f*ck off!"
* * * * * CHAPTER 8 – The Story In Retrospect
New: "I remember playing in a real group, the great Deep Purple... I was the lead guitar player after Tommy Bolin died... Signed by Warner Curb Records, and the William Morris agency. Over one million Dollars, 60 shows, and we did great... Ritchie was in Rainbow, Ian and Jon were in Whitesnake, and I was in Deep Purple with Rod and another member, soo true." Q: "Oddly, Rod Evans, Purple's original singer, formed a bogus reincarnation of the band in 1980 for west coast bar gigs." "Briefly, I don't comment about that group or speak to anyone about it, the 1980 dates are public information, 'Performance' magazine, there were about 70 dates starting in Amarillo Texas, El Paso, Mexico City, Honolulu Hawaii, Anchorage, Quebec, Rouyn Canada, Minnesota, Phoenix, Houston, Hawaii seemed to be before Mexico City though, this topic is off limits for me, I don't speak, none of the group members do of that formation, I hope you respect this. Good wishes, Tony" "About Rod, I have no way of contacting him. I was trying to get hold of our old Deep Purple agent and manager at William Morris Agency in Los Angeles (this was a couple of years ago) and I told them who I was and what I wanted, but even with our family history with the agency, they were unable to help me. Mainly because everyone had changed, and no older agents were around. I asked them: "Don't you have anyone over 40 working there?" And the reply was "HERE???" .....hahaha. "He was such a sweetheart." New: "Statue Records wasn't much of a fruitful experience, as I never heard back from Geoff Emery, after viewing the cover picture/title of my album on the Statue Records website for a few months. He never even sent a copy of the album. So I'm not really sure what did he do with the album. Not sure if Statue Records still exists and if people still sign up with them or not. Anyways." "I miss the group, they were good guys." |
||||||||
7. Memories |
||
Scott Ward from the band "News", who played at the "Utah County Jam II" at the Saratoga Springs Resort on July 26, 1980, remembers: "I was at that show earlier in the day. I played in a local band called "News". It was a hot day and the fans were out of control when the sound problems happened. The band (Rod's bogus Deep Purple) never made it to the venue, which was 2-flatbed trailors made into a stage on the beach at Saratoga Springs Resort. They were turned around during the drive from the airport. That was some reason for the riot. Along with the heat and sound system, several fans were questioning whether or not the band was a fake... I know I had some pictures of the venue back in the day but I'm not sure if they're still available." (Scott Ward, via e-mail, 2013) Jean Millaire, who performed with his band "Corbeau" at the Capitol Theater in Quebec on August 12, 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 disapointed 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." (Jean Millaire, via e-mail)
***** Very special thanks to Scott and Jean for telling their memories! |
8. External Links / Contact |
||
Here you can find more information about Rod Evans and his 1980 bogus "Deep Purple" band: The Highway Star – Bogus Deep Purple 1980 Special The (un)official European Captain Beyond website The Highway Star – The Rod Evans Discobiography Deep Purple Tour Page – New Deep Purple 1980 Wolf Sightings 1977-80 Wikipedia The Maze 1966 - 1967 (feat. Rod Evans & Ian Paice) |
Please get in touch if you've got some further |
The Cream Revival Band |
|||
information about the band or the 1980 tour |
Official Fanpage |
|||
Sources / Special thanks and credits go to: |
||
Tony Flynn, Dick Jurgens, Geoff Emery, Roy Zardoz (sound engineer), Yves Monast, Hartmut Kreckel, Dirk Kahler, Bob Baron, Nick St. Nicholas, Nick Simper, John Kerrison, Roby Turner, Maria Lazzari /Rick Shannon, Desiree Crandall, Linda Marie-Baldomar, Steven Steele (Tom De Rivera) / Melody F.C., Cindy Bin (Dick Jurgens) / www.deep-purple.net, TheHighwayStar website, Chris Charlesworth, Kevin Scott Collier ('Wolf Sightings 1977-80'), Nigel Young, Jerry Bloom, André Leclair / Vinyldoneright (McAllen, forums-stevehoffman.tv) / Badmood, Gilbert Garcia (Laredo) / Russell Edsinger (San Jose) / Ray Wright (Arcadia) / Mike P, Jon Trask (San Bernardino) / Nicolás Gadano (Mexico) / Julie Lewis, B Thomas Cooper (Phoenix) / John Berger (Honolulu, Star Bulletin) / Openair83 (bdeeppurple fanforum), Ron Harper, Joey Harlow (Roseville) / John (Puerto Rico, Dallas) / James Reeves III (Dallas) / MrX (thegearpage.net), BigDevman (Deep Purple Fan Forum runboard), PurplePosting (forums.stevehoffman.tv), Joey (New York) / Barry Wanless, Wolfgang Siebert, John Bilbija, Wayne Eagles, Brian Jackson ("The Great Canadian Picnic" 1980) / Scott Ward ("News"), Dennis Romboy, desertnews.com (Utah), / Texas Rooter (Houston) / Flogger59 (New Brunswick, thegearpage.net) / Jean Millaire ("Corbeau"), Robert L., Jim Corrigan (Quebec) / Gillans micstand (Portland) / MCow1, Michael Flood, Carlos Marquez, Michael Soto (Long Beach) / John (Hibbing, google groups) / Rikk Desgres (Hartford) / David K. Despault, Brian O. (Somerset) / Peter Dawson ("Bunz"), Tommy Solo (Rouyn) / MrEd45, Leslie Fergusen, Robslob (allman-brothersband.com), Richard Reyes, Roger Stone, Marty Franklin, Mark Hallorun (Musician's Business & Legal Guide), Sylvie Simmons (Sounds magazine), Jeanne Abbott and Marc Olson (Anchorage Daily News), discoverseasideheights.com, Billboard, Conecte, Sonido, Rocks, Discotheque Rock-Pop, Hit Parader, Provo Daily Herald, Le Journal de Québec, PopRock, La Jornada Guerrero magazines, Billings gazette, and everybody else sharing memories and supporting me in my researches. Thank you all for keeping Rod Evans history alive! |
© 2009 - 2019 by Gerhard Koritnik, www.dpac.at
With his first band, The Horizons (1962-65), which featured later Tremeloes member Len "Chip" Hawkes on bass and Colin Butt on guitar, Rod Evans mainly played in the U.K., but also came to Germany in August/September 1965 for a month, playing locations in Berlin/Neukölln. "The Horizons played a lot of Curtis Mayfield material and travelled around more than most local bands... to supplement his income, Evans also did a bit of fashion modelling on the side." (source: www.deep-purple.net). Mick Angus, a long-time friend of Rod since nursery school, remembers, also on www.deep-purple.net: "Rod used to be a big Cliff Bennett fan. He modelled his style on Bennett and Allan Clarke of The Mollies."
In the fall of 1965 Rod Evans became the singer of the Jumping Jimmy Band, who changed their name to The M.I.5 later. In the middle of 1966, before the group's first record, the original drummer parted and later Deep Purple drummer Ian Paice joined the group (Ian's band then, The Shindigs, supported The M.I.5 on some of their performances). Again they changed their name, calling it The Maze then. Alongside Rod and Ian, they were Roger Lewis on guitar, Eric Keene on bass and Chris Banham on the keyboards.
One single was released under the former name The M.I.5 on July 29, 1966, You'll never stop me loving you/Only time will tell (Parlophone, Rod's very first record!), another single, Hello Stranger/Telephone (Reaction) in 1966 and later a 7" four track EP in 1967, "In" Special Dance Discotheque - the group's first and third record as The Maze - followed. The 4-track EP, released by French label Vogue, includes an earlier version by Rod Evans and Ian Paice of Skip James' I'm So Glad, which was recorded later by Deep Purple for their 1968 Shades Of Deep Purple debut album. Other songs on the EP are Harlem Shuffle (N. Rodriguez), What Now and the most parts instrumental The Trap, co-written by Rod Evans and Ian Paice. The two titles by The M.I.5, You'll never stop me loving you and Only time will tell, had been reissued on the Deep Purple - Listen, Learn, Read On CD box by EMI in 2002.
The band mainly performed in the United Kingdom, but had an engagement in Italy, backing Arnold Wesker's play Chips With Everything at the Piccolo Teatro di Milano in 1967, where the group recorded their second single, Aria Del Sud, with the ballad Non Fatemi Odiare on B-side (Polydor), with Rod singing Italian lyrics. left and right: The Maze at Piccolo Teatro di Milano, 1967. Photos: Maria Lazzari
The fourth and last single of the group, Catari Catari/Easy Street (the B-side was again co-written by Evans and Paice) followed in December 1967 and was released by MGM. Both songs had been re-released in 2001 by Purple Records on the Pre Purple People CD compilation (PUR 325). Simon Robinson wrote the sleeve notes: "The tracks here were recorded for their last single, released on December 6th 1967 on MGM 1368. The rich vocal sound of Catari Catari, which may or may not have been inspired by their time in Italy, will be immediately recognisable to fans of Mk I Deep Purple, with Rod Evans turning in an impressive performance. The flip, Easy Street, is a more run of the mill beat but shows that Paice could certainly cut it." But due to the missing success, Rod Evans and Ian Paice decided to leave and the group disbanded. Information about their records, the cover sleeves and song lyrics is in the 
In march of 1968, after winning the audition, Rod Evans and Ian Paice joined the band Roundabout - originally formed by Searchers drummer Chris Curtis - who changed their name into Deep Purple about a month later. The debut concert took place in Denmark on April 20, 1968 (still named Roundabout for the first 11 shows and a TV appearance until May 6, 1968), the United Kingdom and Switzerland followed (as Deep Purple).
The debut album, Shades Of Deep Purple, was released in July 1968 (including their first hit single Hush), followed by their second album The Book Of Taliesyn, released in December the same year and including their next hit singles, Emmaretta and Kentucky Woman. Several tracks of those first two records had been played by Rod Evans and the New Deep Purple in 1980, like Hush, Mandrake Root, Hey Joe, Kentucky Woman or Wring That Neck (Hard Road). From October 17 to the end of 1968 Deep Purple played their first United States tour, including two shows in Canada. Again, U.K. shows and two television appearances in Denmark followed, before they toured the USA the second time from April to June 1969.
The group's third album, Deep Purple, was released on June 21, 1969, only two weeks before the split of the first lineup. Although the record includes strong material, Rod did not play anything off on his 1980 Deep Purple tour. Five shows and a BBC session followed in the U.K and one show in Belgium, before the final performance of 'Deep Purple Mk 1' in their original lineup took place in Cardiff on July 4, 1969.
Two vinyl bootlegs had been released from the only kept recording of a complete Mk I show with Rod and Nick, performed on October 18, 1968 in Inglewood, when opening for Cream's farewell tour. The first album, Deep Purple - The Boot Of Taliesyn (Space Truckin' records, etc. 064-6156) is limited to 300 copies, later a record followed titled Purple Storm (no label), which was pressed in red sprankled vinyl. You can view pictures of both records in the Photo/Picture Galery. 
Acton Vale, London W3 (Picture: google earth)
In 1970, Rod Evans recorded a 45rpm 7" solo single, Hard to be without you, with B-side You can't love a child like a woman, which was produced by Bobby Paris and released by Capitol Records in November this year (Rod signed with Capitol on November 7th, 1970). The record was prior sent out as a promotional copy, and had been pressed as official release later, but had been pulled out of the market before it made its way to the record stores. Due to the low number of pre-orders, the record company decided to reuse the vinyl for their next pressings. But a few copies survived (two are known), you can view pictures of both pressings - the demonstration record and the later deleted official release - in the Picture Gallery.
An unofficial version of the single came out in the Czech Republic in 1998 by HR Archive, a bootleg label with a couple of releases of rare pre-Deep Purple recordings like M.I.5, The Maze, Ritchie Blackmore, Lord Sutch, Glenn Hughes and more. The record, which is pressed in black and green vinyl, is limited to 300 copies with a nude girl on cover sleeve, and can also be viewed in the Photo Gallery. 
Leaving a career as a solo singer behind, Rod Evans next joined new American group Captain Beyond in 1971. "I made a call to two men from Iron Butterfly and another guy from Johnny Winter, and we integrated Captain Beyond. That lasted two or three years" (Rod Evans, June 1980). The group consisted of former Iron Butterfly members Lee Dorman (bass and vocals) and Larry Rhino Reinhardt (guitars), ex-Johnny Winter's drummer Bobby Caldwell and Rod Evans on vocals. Original fifth member, keyboardist Lewie Gold, quit before the group recorded their first album.
The debut album, Captain Beyond, was released in 1972 by Capricorn Records (Warner Bros. in Japan). It's a very strong and progressive record and is one of the most underrated albums ever in rock music critics circles. The group toured in the United States the same year, played festivals in Europe, like the Bickershaw Festival in England, and had a television appearance at the legendary Montreux jazz festival on April 30, 1972, which can be viewed on 
Various shows had been recorded during their 1972 tour, most in a very bad quality, and had been released on bootleg pressings. The recordings include the Montreux jazz festival, released as Captain Beyond - Beyond The Purple (ZA 26, no label), the Bickershaw festival (Captain Beyond - Bickershaw Festival 1972, TRIAL 022) or the 2 CD-set Captain Beyond - The Completer (Eclipse, EC-003-4), including the Montreux show plus performances of their America tour 1972 in Miami, New York and Los Angeles.
In 1973 Captain Beyond recorded their second album, Sufficiently Breathless. It had a different style of music compared with their debut album, but again was a very powerful record with great vocals and inputs by Rod Evans. But even during the recording sessions it came to differences, and also there was lack promotional work of the record company for the group, so that Rod left the band after he finished the recordings.
The recording of their show in Arlington on October 6, 1973 was only available as a bootleg record originally and came out as official release by Purple Pyramid Records (Cleopatra Records) in 2013 on the LP/CD Captain Beyond - Live In Texas - October 6, 1973. "Originally this performance was available only through their fan club. Few were sold due to terrible sound quality and crude packaging. The discs were simple CD-Rs with titles silkscreened/painted on top in black, while the covers on front and back were crudely designed. They were packaged by the band members and manager Gary Graber." (wikipedia). The album includes two unreleased songs the group performed live, which is Pandora's Box (It's War), a track written by Rod Evans and Bobby Caldwell, and a version of Jimi Hendrix' song Stonefree.
Another album came out by Cleopatra Records in 2017, Captain Beyond - Lost And Found 1972-1973, which includes previously unreleased demo- and studio tracks of the group from their recording sessions in 1972/'73 at Rhino's home studio. The record includes an early demo version of the title Icarus, sang by Rod, which was later released on the Dawn Explosion album in 1977 with new vocalist Willy Daffern. It also includes the previously unreleased song Uranus Expressway, which could have made it to the first record. The album is available on LP and CD.
Working as a musician and actor since very young age, in 1965 Tony Flynn was member of the cast when Ray Dennis Steckler produced his comedy movie trilogy "The Lemon Grove Kids Meet the Monster", three funny movies which are "satires of the Bowery Boys series of movies from the mid-1940s to late 1950s" (wikipedia). Tony, at the age of nine, can be seen from the beginning of the film, playing in the role of little Pee Wee. You can watch the full movie on 
One of his earlier groups was a band called The Naked Kombo, that featured Tony Flynn on guitar, Roby Turner (vocals), Todd Rogers (keyboards), Mike Falcone (drums) and a bass player named John. Roby Turner remembers: "My first band Naked Kombo... guitarist Tony Flynn (Paul Butterfield Band, Deep Purple)... Mike Falcone, one of the funniest guys I have ever known... many bookings would not put our name on the marquis, so we later changed the name to Stolen Faces".
In 1973, at the age of 17, Tony worked with Rick Derringer at San Francisco's Wally Heider recording studios. Rick can be seen on a later photo from 1978 on his wikipedia site, still playing that same guitar. Also in 1973 a next trio was formed, with band members Tom Johnson, John Telesco and Tony Flynn. Two songs had been recorded, titled You'll Never Really Know and Boggie De Bach.
A later group was McJohn, formed in 1975, that featured blues guitar legend John Mayall, best known of John Mayall & The Bluesbreakers fame - a band "which has counted among its members some of the most famous blues and blues rock musicians" (wikipedia) like Eric Clapton, Jack Bruce, Mick Taylor and many more - Goldy McJohn, founding member of Steppenwolf in 1967, on the organ and Tony Flynn on guitars. The group rehearsed for about two months, but never performed live and finally disbanded.
With his next group in 1976, Southern Pacific, managed and promoted by the Jerry Heller Agency, Tony Flynn was on tour for about a year, with band members Goldy McJohn (organ), Dallas Taylor (drums), bass player Richard "Rick" Reed and vocalist Peter McGraw, featuring blues legend Paul Butterfield. Picture right: Kevin Scott Collier, Wolf Sightings 1977-80
In September 1977 Tony Flynn joined the first of the new Steppenwolf groups, where he played together with original organ player Goldy McJohn and bass player Nick St. Nicholas, vocalist Tom Pagan, Kent Henry/Jamie James (guitars) and drummers Tony Desanti and later Jimmy Hunter. He stayed in the group until the spring of 1978 before he parted. 
A bootleg recording does exist from the Steppenwolf show with singer Tom Pagan at Eastland Mall, North Versailles, PA on September 1, 1977, released by Ace Bootlegs Productions in 2016. A member of the audience recalls: "The opening act was a local band called Silver Fox, which was probably hired because they had an organ Hammond C-3 or B-3 that Goldy McJohn could play. Steppenwolf used all their equipment, which they would probably later regret - Tony Flynn's apm blew following Hey Lawdy Mama resulting in an impromptu jam to stall for time and I seem to remember a cymbal stand breaking as well."
Goldy McJohn left, and a next Steppenwolf line up came up in 1978, that included Tony Flynn, Nick St. Nicholas, Bob Simpson on vocals and Jack White on drums. Nick St. Nicholas, Bob Simpson, 1978. Pictures: Kevin Scott Collier, Wolf Sightings 1977-80
After the departure of Nick St. Nicholas, another Steppenwolf lineup was on the road in 1978, featuring Tony Flynn, Goldy McJohn, Larry Green (vocals), Sandy Gennaro (drums) and Rick Reed (bass). Tony Flynn: "Steppenwolf 1978... big dates, big shows. We played Mexico City (DF), and were liked in Columbia. I remember Sandy well, good man. This was a movie quality group - Goldy McJohn, Larry Green, Sandy Gennaro, Rick Reed and myself. We were rehearsing at Sir Studios in Hollywood. I remember it was Bette Middler in one studio, Jean Luc Ponty in another studio, the Almond Brothers in another studio and Steppenwolf, top grade group. And Goldy was the cooporate owner of Steppenwolf. We had origionals, and probably some live records were made... bootleg stuff, but got airplay."
In October 1979 Tony Flynn joined another formation of Steppenwolf, where he replaced guitarist Ruben DeFuentes. The group consisted of Nick St. Nicholas, Tony Flynn, singer Tommy Holland, Geoff Emery on organ and Steve Riley on drums. The tour led the group also to Mexico in December that year. Pictures: Geoff Emery 1979, Tony Flynn live in Mexico, 1979
When Nick St. Nicholas eventually left the group, a last version of the new Steppenwolf was on tour in early 1980, that featured Tony Flynn on guitars, Geoff Emery on the organ and new member Don Coenen on vocals, before the group finally split. Don Coenen, Tony Flynn, 1980. Pictures: Kevin Scott Collier, Wolf Sightings 1977-80
In 1981, Tony organized and played some shows with the group Traffic in Mexico City, in cooperation with a New York agent. In an article Conecte magazine wrote: "Good luck turned its back on Tony, since one of the original members of this group, Jim Capaldi, could not leave the country almost at the last minute, and with the commitment on top, Tony had no choice but to take Jim's place and take the show forward." Tony Flynn recalls: "I remember doing two shows in 1981, it was a New York agent that did them... then I resigned immediately because it was too dicey. The New York agent later sent out various versions with Dave Mason, who at the time was a cocaine freak, and lost alot of friends and bookings."
From 1982 to 1987 Tony played engagements in Las Vegas, performing solo rock-jazz-classical shows at the Gallery Cafe or at CSUN Cafe. On September 12, 1983, The Yellin' Rebel magazine wrote: "This weeks CSUN Cafe features Tony Flynn, flamenco-classical guitarist extraordinare. Flynn has played with John Mayall, Paul Butterfield, John McLaughlin, Al Di Meola, Paco DeLucia, Steppenwolf and Deep Purple. KUNV will be taping the show this Friday in the MSU snack bar."
In 1990 Tony Flynn released his CD "Anthony R. Flynn - Angel's Breath" (Television, TVR 1002). A review of the album by Peter Thelen from February 1st, 1994, was published by "exposé online" website: "What first struck me as sort of a Spanish flavored acoustic guitar based fusion album in the mold of some of Al DiMeola's adventures or Strunz & Farah began to change midway through the album. It's true that the first eight or so tracks tend to overly highlight the Spanish guitar and underplay the rest of the instruments (keys, bass, drums, percussion), but then Flynn slowly begins to reveal another side of himself, full of electric energy and fire. Flynn hails from just south of the border in Guerro, Mexico - and throughout the album there is much of the local flavor in evidence. "Song No. 3" offers some of that true Mexican flavor, and also hints of the energy to come with some adventurous guitar leads. Several more songs focus primarily on the acoustic guitar - either solo with backing, or in duet; an uncredited trumpet paints a colorful melody on the album's title track. By the time we reach "Dos Raicines" (#10) the music has definitely taken off into a more rock oriented direction a-la Joaquin Lievano. "Blue Eyed Ballad" is pure electric with a screaming lead line, plenty of changes and a lot of emotion. The followup track "Hindoue Voodoo" employs sitar, tablas and synthesizer to effect a lengthy introduction, which bursts into ripping guitar fusion about two minutes in. The album closer is a cover of McLaughlin's "Hope," a wind-down track that bears no relation whatsoever to the musical style that began this album. An interesting journey to say the least." (Peter Thelen)
Some very interesting classic concerts took place in 2004 at the Convention Centre in Acapulco, Mexico, when Tony Flynn performed together with the famous opera star singer Placido Domingo. Other shows he played with the Mexican singer and musician José José, or with Grammy-nominated Latin American singer, musician and songwriter Francisco Céspedes, most known for his song Vida Loca.
Tony Flynn starred in his lastest movie in 2005, "Romancing the Bride", a romantic comedy directed by Kris Isacsson, starring Laura Prepon and Matt Cedeño. Tony can be seen in the role of Uncle Peter, alongside actress Carrie Fisher ("Edwina"), who was best known of Star Wars fame. Tony Flynn: "I did about 60 movies, all B-stuff. I retired from acting in 2005." 
In an interview for a Mexican magazine in 2011 Tony talks about his musical career and his life in Mexico. When being asked about his most exciting memory as a rock musician he mentions his participation in Steppenwolf, and that they made some good money in fact of the well known band name when they were touring, but he didn't speak about Rod Evans or his later 1980 Deep Purple membership.
The first group in 1979 consisted of original Steppenwolf bass player Nick St. Nicholas, Geoff Emery, singer Tommy Holland (who replaced Bob Simpson), Dick Jurgens and guitarist Ruben DeFuentes. Dick Jurgens, who originally came in for drummer Jack White, left the group after a month, and Jack White came back again. In the fall of the year, around October, Tony Flynn joined the band to replace Ruben DeFuentes, after new drummer Steve Riley, later with W.A.S.P. and L.A. Guns, came in. Kevin Scott Collier: "When a disgruntled DeFuentes began sitting out shows in that fall in protest over payment issues, guitarist Tony Flynn filled in and soon replaced him." 
In the beginning of 1980, after Nick St. Nicholas left the band, another Steppenwolf lineup was touring with Geoff Emery as the only "shareholder" for the use of the Steppenwolf name, Tony Flynn on guitars, singer Don Coenen and some unknown drummer and bass player (Tony Flynn: "I know Geoff, but the rest? I don't know... guys from Colorado I belive. Some guys came in on pick up dates, it's common"), before both - Emery and Flynn - quit Steppenwolf to move on to the "New" Deep Purple project. "Well, we decided to leave Steppenwolf for a new reform. Then I met an old friend in San Fernando Valley, in Los Angeles, Rod Evans." (Tony Flynn, 1980)
In 1985 Geoff formed the group England 402 and released their self titled debut album England 402 under Statue records (SLP-1010). The group consisted of Geoff Emery (as Geoffrey England) on keyboards and Eddie Larkin on bass, keyboards and synth, with other band members John Draper, Dave Hayes, Pat Hennessy and Patrick Miriam Stanton.
A 7" single outtake from the album was released in 1985, Last Chance Tonight (Stanton-England-Hayes), with the title Strangest Love on B-side. The tracks were recorded at Beach Recording studios, Redondo Beach, in California. Pictures: www.discogs.com
A later album by England 402 came out in 1989, featuring vocalist Steve DeLuca (Steve also recalls a guy named Houston on guitars), which was the 12"/33rpm outtake I Got What It Takes (Luca-England-Napier) /Take A Chance (Luca-Henry), 1989, SLP-1991. Steve DeLuca remembers (via e-mail, 2012): "Yes, this is Jeff on keys. We wrote the song in the late 80's if I recall correctly."
Another group he produced and also played on the keyboards was the band Ringleader (album If Licks Could Kill, 1989, originally released on 12" vinyl record, SDLP 5010), that featured ex-Uriah Heep member Stephen "Steph" Fontaine (he was in Heep in 1986) on vocals, Lonnie Dee (who co-produced the album with Geoff Emery) on guitars, Tim Cecchini on bass and Bryan Irving on drums. The album was recorded at Beach Recording, Redondo Beach, and Baby-O-Recording, Hollywood, CA.
Later Geoff Emery recorded with Las Vegas' musician Mark Tatham, who signed with Statue Records in 1996 (album Mark Tatham, released in 1996). The thecastinc.info website wrote: "In 1993 a friend of his sold him a Les Paul and he bought a 4 track and a drum machine and started to make demos. He found a note in Musician Magazine for Statue Records in California needing new talent and got signed in November 1996. The record label teamed Mark up with Geoffrey England (who used to play with Steppenwolf back in the 60's) who plays keyboards and the best drummer and bass player they could find. Mark developed a Santana style and Geoffrey England and him brought Santana and Steppenwolf together."
Mark Tatham: "I grew up in a small town in Colorado called Minturn. I have a record out with Statue Records, and now on the Vicious Records lable. I also do comedy." 
An early concert at the Long Beach Auditorium is mentioned in the Independent Press-Telegram (May 31, 1971), featuring Corroboree, 'Turnquist Remedy' and 'Pacific Oil And Gas'. Being the youngest group on the program with its members still visiting school, Corroboree is mentioned as the "most recently formed and most under-exposed band" of the night. "The group seems to be in the process of developing its own tight, personalized style at this point" and that "they´ll get there right on time", rock-music critic Preston Hekse figured out. Picture: Desiree Crandall
After the split of the original lineup, Rik Shannon and Tom De Rivera continued the band with new members Ron Ravenscroft (guitars) and Gerald Michineau (keyboards). Brad Zapper went on with the group "Spread Eagle", keyboarder Phil Cristian formed a new group called "Fortress" (disbanded in 1981), "Front Page" (featuring later Kiss guitarist Mark St. John) and finally joined "Cheap Trick" in 1982 (also known as "Magic Cristian"). Picture: Desiree Crandall
In the beginning of 1980, after original Deep Purple bassist Nick Simper refused the job offer by Rod Evans to join the "New" Deep Purple band ("Rod Evans contacted me about it, but I didn't want to know. I was not involved with that in any way at all." Nick Simper), Tom won the audition when the band searched for an other bass player. After the 1980 Deep Purple tour and the following court decision against the management and the group in October 1980, Tom seemed to have disappeared from the music business. The picture shows Tom De Rivera at Quebec City airport in August 1980, wearing the original "Deep Purple - 1980 Tour" T-shirt!
Latest news are that Tom played together with a band called Soul Purpose in South Orange County, California, in 2006. The group featured Tom De Rivera (bass, vocals), Bob Glass (keyboards), Anthony G. (also known as Chris, drums) and Tim (guitars). In February that year they recorded and filmed two songs at Mission Viejo Rehearsal Ranch, on which
Tom
In family tradition, Dick was correctly named Dick Jurgens III. His grandfather, Dick Henry Jurgens, was the founder of the legendary Dick Jurgens Orchestra in the early 30's. In 1940, when original vocalist Eddy Howard parted, Harry Cool became the new singer. Over 30 years later, in 1973, Dick was the drummer in a group together with his father, Dick Jurgens II, and vocalist Harry Cool, performing as The Harry Cool Trio. One known confirmed live appearance took place on June 6, 1973, at the Aragon Ballroom in Cleveland, Ohio. You can view the original autographs the group signed that night in the "Picture Galery".
Cindy Bin, who attended a show and interviewed the new group in April 1979, recalls (via e-mail, 2012): "I heard some guy arguing with the drummer about the publicity pictures not being the same as the members in the group we were seeing that night. He was a blond guy, the exact opposite of Ted Bluechel, the original Association drummer who was dark haired and who I had been hoping to see. So obviously others were upset about that, too!"
