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.
In 1980, Evans was approached by a management company that specialized in the unscrupulous and frequently legally actionable practice of reforming groups with a minimum of original members, often in violation of trademark and contractual law. They offered him a chance to sing again under the Deep Purple name and he accepted. According to Nick Simper, the original Deep Purple bassist, Evans asked him to join the "new" Deep Purple, but Simper refused. Evans himself claimed in September 1980 that his former Deep Purple bandmates Jon Lord and Ian Paice had also been contacted to participate, but both were uninterested. This "bogus Deep Purple", comprising no former Deep Purple members apart from Evans, played a number of shows in Canada, Mexico and the US. The band performed renditions both of songs from Evans' own tenure in the band, which Deep Purple biographer Dave Thompson described as "reasonable", as well as songs from the Gillan and Coverdale eras, which were described as "horrendous" and to confirm the "bogus Deep Purple's" "complete lack of legitimate credentials". Several shows ended in what was described as "rioting", with chairs being thrown onto the stage at a gig in Toronto on August 12, 1980. The band had also talked of releasing an album of new material under the "Deep Purple" name, with 6 tracks being recorded in Los Angeles; this angered Jon Lord, who described such a possibility as "the worst lie”.
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| Photo courtesy of Deep Purple online. Rod Evans (second from the left). |
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.
According to Deep Purple's founding bassist, Nick Simper, Evans was hired after "dozens" of other singers were auditioned. Evans clinched his place in the band after sharing an idea to rearrange the Beatles' song "Help!" as a ballad. This version of "Help!" was subsequently recorded for Deep Purple's debut album Shades of Deep Purple, but the most recognised song recorded with Evans is a cover of a Joe South composition called "Hush", which reached No. 4 on the US Billboard charts in October 1968.
Deep Purple had one other US Top 40 hit with Evans on vocals, a cover of Neil Diamond's "Kentucky Woman", which appeared on the band's second album and peaked at No. 38. Both "Hush" and "Kentucky Woman" are used in the Quentin Tarantino film, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood.
After recording three studio albums and one non-album single ("Emmaretta"), Evans was dismissed in the summer of 1969 while on tour, with the last Deep Purple performance to feature Evans and Nick Simper taking place at the Top Rank in Cardiff, Wales on 4 July 1969. Evans was replaced by Ian Gillan. It had been decided by Ritchie Blackmore, Jon Lord and Ian Paice that Evans' pop vocal style would not be suitable for the heavier hard rock sound the band wanted to achieve moving forward. Another factor in Evans' dismissal from Deep Purple was his desire to move to the United States and become an actor.
Evans has not appeared publicly since the 1980 court case and his current whereabouts have been of considerable interest to fans of early Deep Purple online since at least the late 1990s.
In 2015, Ian Paice said, "If anyone knows where Rod is or even if he is still on the planet, that would be good news. We haven't had contact with him since the late 1970s. Nobody seems to know where the hell he is, or even if he is still alive. Not a clue."
In a 2015 interview, Captain Beyond (another band Evans sang for) drummer Bobby Caldwell mentioned that he was in touch with Evans, saying that Evans is "just doing fine these days" and had gone back to working in respiratory therapy for a long time. Caldwell similarly confirmed in September 2017 that Evans was "doing great", adding that Evans, who is married to another respiratory therapist, was residing in Northern California and had no plans to perform again.
Just like with everything mysterious, people shared theories about Evans and his whereabouts after the infamous trial. One of those stories states that someone saw him working as a gas station attendant somewhere in the USA. There is no photographic or any other kind of evidence to support these claims. There was also one darker and more sinister theory stating that the singer committed suicide.
/ Courtesy of the Sunset Blvd Records Facebook page.
A 1980 recording of ”Smoke on the Water” with Rod Evans on vocals.
Unfortunately poor quality, but fun in a way.