Bonamassa: Lawyers Nearly Split Band

Planet Rock is reporting that hard rocking blues guitarist Joe Bonamassa has revealed why his band with Glenn Hughes, Derek Sherinian and Jason Bonham nearly split a couple of weeks ago.

Speaking to Classic Rock Magazine, Joe revealed that the problems lay entirely with each member’s lawyers.

“That [the near-split] was all down to legal issues. It’s like what might happen if British Airways, KLM, Virgin Airlines and United all decided to merge. The chairmen of the companies might agree to everything, then the lawyers get involved and it all becomes really difficult and a problem.

“That’s what happened with us. We all have separate careers, and suddenly everything was a nightmare. We were paying these guys $600 an hour almost to split us up. But the bottom line is, we’re all friends. So, one night the four of us got on the phone and half-an-hour later… problems solved. The next day we told the legal guys, ‘This is how it’s gonna be’, and things moved forward.”

And the band have finally landed on a new name after ditching Black Country as an option – but they aren’t allowed to reveal it yet.

“It’s all to do with trademarking laws,” says Bonamassa of why he can’t tell anyone the new name. “We got caught out with our original name, Black Country, when someone else had a prior claim on it. So, we have to make double certain this one is OK.”