In 1980, ex-Deep Purple vocalist Rod Evans was contacted by a management team who offered him a chance to play under the Deep Purple name again, which he took. He fronted this band of unknown session musicians, which became known to Deep Purple fans as the Bogus Deep Purple. The band played across the US, Canada and Mexico, with many shows ending in riots.
Background
The group was formed by a management company intent on making money from reformed groups with a minimum of original members. Evans was recruited as he was no longer working in the music industry with an active career. He in turn contacted founding bassist Nick Simper, who turned the offer down. The group played their first gig at the Civic Center, Amarillo, Texas on May 17, 1980, and played several shows in the state before headlining a show at the Estadio Inde Olimpico, Mexico City on June 28. On 18 August 1980, Deep Purple's management put an ad in the Los Angeles Times underneath one for a concert that was to take place the following day at the Long Beach Arena, California, stating:
The following STARS WILL NOT PERFORM at the Deep Purple Concert at Long Beach Arena Tomorrow, Aug. 19, 1980. RITCHIE BLACKMORE DAVID COVERDALE IAN GILLAN ROGER GLOVER GLEN HUGHES JON LORD IAN PAICE
The other former members were contacted about the bogus group, and their management sued Evans, given that he was the only member of the band who received booking royalties and who had any rights to the name "Deep Purple". Evans was sued for damages of $672,000 for using the band name without permission, which included $168,000 in actual damages and $504,000 in punitive damages. Being unable to pay this amount, Evans was required to all future royalties from the albums and singles recorded by the Mark I lineup of Deep Purple. This effectively ended Evans' career as a performing musician, as any future earnings he made from performing would have to be paid toward the lawsuit and since then, he no longer receives royalties for his work with Deep Purple. Both Ian Paice and Jon Lord remarked it was not about money, but about saving the good name of Deep Purple. Paice stated, "We didn't make that money, it all went to the lawyers involved. the only chance to stop that band was to sue Rod." Lord acknowledged that he did not enjoy having to testify in court against Evans, stating he must have known that he couldn't get away with a fake Deep Purple and blaming him for "being silly".
The instrumentalists had previously played in a fake Steppenwolf band organised by the same management company a few years before - in fact, there is one gig report stating that the Bogus Steppenwolf opened for the Bogus Deep Purple, using exactly the same backing band.
