Bob Evans is an American who clearly did work for a while with Tom Evans during late 1981. And granted Bob Evans appears to have some talent as a pop writer. But Bob Evans' credibility to make any valid or believable statements is totally undermined by his actions and his projects he's done over the years.
According to himself Bob Evans first got involved with Badfinger when Joey Molland heard him play and made a few demos with him sometime around 81. Evans somehow got the tapes to Mike Gibbins who allegedly was quite impressed. Mike Gibbins then contacted Tommy Evans and suggested he get involved with this young guy. According to Bob Evans, Mike told Tommy that “this guy is like Elvis Costello, Nick Lowe, one of The Beatles”. Tommy flew over to the US where Gibbins and Evans were situated, to see if they could get a tour going. Bob Evans said that both Tommy and Mike lived with him for nine months or so. Along with keyboard player Steve John and guitar player Jim McCullough they apparently worked to get a show up for a couple of weeks and then took on tour in America.Things didn't seem to work out and Tommy later stated that the situation was not well organized and there were a few disastrous gigs. Both he and Mike were not happy with the situation. Mike said: “I was used everywhere I went. It was always people introducing me, Hi this is Mike Gibbins from Badfinger. They were just using me. People would take me to parties and put me on a pedestal just for their own egos.” After only a few gigs the group split up. For exactly how long Bob and Tommy worked together is uncertain. But we are talking a few months, not nine as Bob claims. From around Christmas 1981 to early spring 1982. Bob Evans later claimed that he in fact replaced Pete Ham.
When Evans looks back at these days he remembers songwriting competitions between him and Tommy, rehearsing in hotel rooms and more. “We really worked hard, I think we had, you know it was a good little band, very good little band. Full of songs full of laughter. This is before gigging became a nightmare, you know showtime was fun time”. “You're hearing Badfinger writing songs. So this really is a piece of history.” Really Evans is having problems with facing the fact that this was not the BIG band Badfinger, just a couple of original members and some additional musicians. ”This was the most disciplined band I was ever in. It was a damn good band, just incredible, we could rock’n roll. I don't think anybody could touch us, I still don't, it was the greatest band on the planet”
Back in late 81,when Tommy left for US he brought a tape of some demos he
and good friend Rod
Roach had been working on.He must have left them with Bob Evans after
they split up because some seven years after Tommy's death Bob Evans
released
a cassette album he called “Badfinger's Evans and Evans: After
Eden”
Side one contains these Tom and Rod Roach demos plus a Bob Evans' bubble-gummy version of the great Pete Ham song “Lay Me Down”. First off, Bob Evans does not own the rights to these songs and second he had nothing to do with the making of them and yet he's giving himself songwriter credit on a couple of them. Side two contains the demos he and Joey had done .To an interviewer he said that Badfinger fans will enjoy the new music because many of the songs were written by him and former member Tommy Evans before his death. “These are our last songs together.” To make the whole thing even more complicated Bob Evans have later stated that “After Eden” was initiated and put out by someone else and he did not condone it.
Bob Evans obviously has let many reporters with little/no knowledge about Badfinger believe that he’s an original aswell as misleading managers claiming there were original members in the band. This is what a journalist wrote in 1990:
-Although the original Badfinger's music lives on in the memories of many, today's Badfinger is ready for a fresh start. “A lot of people like the new record,” Bob Evans, lead singer, guitarist and piano player for Badfinger said Monday. He and the other three members are finishing up a tour to promote their new album, After Eden.” This is what you'd call a compilation record,” Evans said of Badfinger's newest album released in November 1989
Along with three others he took on tour in USA promoting himself as Badfinger. Two of the band members were recruited believing that this was Badfinger and it might be a big musical opportunity for them. One of them said “and on several occasions (Bob Evans said) that the group was Badfinger.” While on tour they called themselves Badfinger's.
Unfortunately problems started developing. From one night one of his musicians commented:
“He was horrible. He was so drunk he could barely walk when he got on stage.”
Bob Evans defends himself: ”OK. That night I had a couple of drinks because I was scared.” Evans contends that an ex-Badfinger member who owns the right to the Badfinger name made DEATH threats against his band for using the name Badfinger's. His permanent musicians, he said, were too terrified to play.
“About 30 people got up and left after 10 minutes. The quality of his music was probably below some garage bands I've heard”
Bob Evans replies to this quote that its a lie , and the reason that the band sounded bad was due to the worst sound system they ever had played on. He also claimed that the crowd loved the show and wanted an encore.
After that show several night clubs canceled their shows with Badfinger's. Around this time Bob Evans had been kicked out of a band mates house due to his behavior. Evans told a journalist that since Badfinger broke up he had gone through substance abuse rehabilitation.
Years went by and no one heard from Bob until late 1998 where he was ready to release yet another Badfinger CD. Why the wait since 1990? Because he has finally gotten through the pain and loss of Tommy Evans, Bob Evans claims. It began with a project named “Perfection”. The CD was to be a couple different live shows, and some intimate moments unplugged with the group sitting around working tunes out. Somehow the project ran in to trouble, though it must have been somewhere near ready to release. In fact this statement could be found on the internet page of Randy Justesen:
“11-23-98 - Charity CD Featuring Tommy Evans and Mike Gibbins
“The "Perfection" CD is at the manufacturer and should be ready to order in the next couple weeks. I will place a link on this page where to order when I know it is at the distributor.”
After that; no postings about the project was published for a long time
until
suddenly, a new and larger-scale project had come along. Now Bob Evans was
advertising the selling of a double CD of his material, Badfinger live
material and rehearsal tapes, as a tribute CD, with the proceeds allegedly
to
go to Cancerbacup (Linda McCartney endorsed charity reference). A tape with
Bob talking about being in Badfinger was also thrown in. Once again some
questionable claims are made. Bob Evans portrayed some very doubtful song
credits on his website. Some songs that clearly was written and demoed long
time before his involvement with the group Bob claims to be co-writer of
and
is copyrighted as 1999 Evansong. If Bob Evans has tried to copyright
material
that is solely written by Tommy that is illegal unless he has Marianne
Evans’
permission. Bob said that he has spoken to Marianne and gotten her
permission
to release the CD’s while she said that she has not spoken to Bob and
will
hang up if he calls.
Once again problems were developing. People were not receiving their CD’s .Bob Degraff, website keeper for Bob Evans has stated in an email that: "Bob Evans is not a follow through kinda guy. I went over to Nashville today at 11:30 am to verbally abuse him for you and several other people. . . You're welcome :) He said, "Then you do the *#%® job!!" I have the CD’s done and all the cover art printed. I need cassettes. I have taken over the operation personally. By the end of this coming weekend I will have all the duping equipment here at my house and will see to it that it REALLY does get to you and all the other people. Give me another 10-15 days please. “
Then the CD's started to go out to the fans. Unfortunately it seems that many got a bit disappointed when they received their copies. Bad sound quality simply seems to be the case. Bob Evans does not mention anywhere that the live recordings were done by one in the audience and sound quality is very poor. A little statement said that this was not professional recordings, but does not either dismiss that it might be reasonable quality: ”These rehearsals and few live performances are not the clean polished versions that anyone can buy today. Don't expect that. These are gritty and personal.“ A little misleading as much of the live stuff are of worse quality than tapes being traded amongst fans. from Bob “The great thing about this Badfinger jam record is that it really shows of a professional band, I mean one of the very best power pop bands in history, bar none”. Evans adds "The live stuff is like Beatlemania, the crowd is going crazy."
Bob Evans’ comments like “costs have been phenomenal due to remixing, mastering” does not correspond with what you hear when you play the CD's. The rehearsal songs are the most interesting part of the package. It definitely is Tom Evans, no doubt about that. But that this is "one of the very best power pop bands in history, bar none" you're hearing rehearsing (meaning Bob's version) seems to be an exaggeration.
The band is working up harmonies, and this is rather interesting. The sound quality is better than on the live tracks; acceptable. But the whole idea that this is the all time greatest power-pop band Badfinger, working up songs and then performing them live (like The Beatles’ “Let It Be”) is an illusion. But the anthologies might be interesting solely because of the tape with Bob Evans talking about Badfinger. Some very interesting stuff is there. I don't think many fans was aware that Hold On in fact was a top ten hit(quote from Evans:”this is the only time Tommy ever performed the song live”) and that Tom was nervous like hell when Paul McCartney “handed him a bass to play on 'Come And Get It.” (Ron Griffiths plays bass on Come And Get It). But there’s more to come, Evans also said : "can you imagine having five #1 singles and having your lights turned off? I talked to (Tom) the night before he died." A total mis-statement along with "The whole thing about this Badfinger thing, story, is bar none, they outsold The Beatles about five to one, on every single".
But apart from these historical errors more important and crucial stories
are
included: “About in 1979, on the second Straight Up (Bob Evans was
leader of
this Badfinger inspired band) record, I had written this thing called
"I've
Been Waiting" which this guy Rod Roach put on Over You...".And
"Rod Roach, stick around, I'll show you how to write a song."
Bob states on the tape. The song is reminiscent of “Waited Too
Long”. I haven't been able to locate just a small bit of information
about this so-called record and the band. They’re not included in the
Rolling Stone Record Guide which is strange because Rolling Stone
according to Evans quote:, ”loved the For You record”. But Bob
Evans definitely seems to hold quite a few things against Rod Roach, he
states "I didn't know Rod Roach was from Tamla-Motown, this guy who
used to get Tommy drunk all the time in this little village in Surrey. I'm
sure if he was any good Tommy would have brought him over and used
him."
If this really is true Bob Evans ought to do something about this. It must be terrible for a songwriter to see a great song like that go out on CD without getting the slightest credit for it - many people would do something about it.
Bob Evans should have included his band’s Straight Up version of the
song on the
CD's to set the record straight, instead he performs a version of it
himself with a
guitar on the explanation tape. Unfortunately it seems he has forgotten
some
of the lyrics and has problems with avoiding singing off key. Bob claims
he's going to play some of
that song's original writing session with Tom and proceeds to play
"Don't Fade Away" again. He do
esn't sing or play on the Over You version of the song. Though claiming
that he wrote the song in 1979,
two years before he met Tommy the song is credited on the anthology as
(Tom Evans, Bob Evans ©1999 Evansong). Another song that is included
on the Over You CD -”A Step From Heaven”, Bob Evans also claims
to have written half of. “ I had this thing called Lucky Star and
Tommy had one called A Step From Heaven. Bob's part is supposed to be the
verse and then Tommy had made the chorus. While performing it on acoustic
guitar for the explanation tape Evans adds a piece of melody to the
version we know from Over You-once again he's having problems with
remembering the words to the part that he had written. The working title
of it was “Lucky Star”. Bob also had nothing to do with the
recording of the song that is on Over You, but has given himself
songwriting credit of the song and it's copyrighted as © 1999
Evansong.
So all in all Evans has a very different tale to tell from many other people, and feel free to believe in it, some of it might be true. But the major lack of evidence to support his claims and his constant way of trying to write his own name in Badfinger history really would make many vote against him. Really Evans is having problems with facing the fact that this was not the BIG band Badfinger, just a couple of original members and some additional musicians. Bob Evans about the band:”This was the most disciplined band I was ever in, in my life” and continues “I don't think any band of that era could touch us, Tommy's voice was so strong, it used to scare me standing on stage with him.” Bob really was encouraged by Tommy who used to tell him "Bob one day you're gonna be a star" - according to himself! These days Evans is member of the band Export E and hopes to get a career going, perhaps we'll hear more from him in projects not associated with Badfinger.Their latest single, according to Bob, “is going Top 20 in Europe and Asia.”- Good luck Bob.