As Purdy had begun figuring out the Hollywood scene and LA’s music culture, it was during this time that he was hanging out at The Rainbow and meeting other musicians which led him to forming Orgasm; an over the top theatrical glam band, influenced by the New York Dolls and KISS. That group was short lived for being his first band because of mainly not finding the right players whether physically or technically. They recorded some demos and played themed nights at the Whisky, Dragonfly and the Catclub.

 

With lack of finding like-minded musicians for an original project, this diverted his path to the cover / tribute scene which was very prevalent at the time. There were many tribute bands on the scene and even had festivals dedicated to such. Any barrage of ones such as ACDC, Judas Priest, KISS, Van Halen, Iron Maiden, Scorpions, etc. However, befriending Ralph Saenz of what is now Steel Panther—at the time was in the Atomic Punks, a Van Halen Tribute Band—Purdy seen how successful they were and had discussions with Saenz, coming to the conclusion that there weren’t any good early Mötley Crüe tributes out there. So Purdy took it upon himself to study the costumes, the staging, and recreated the entire ‘Shout At the Devil’ era down to every last stud and detail; later coming up with and taking the name from the passage intro off the ‘Shout’ record, “Children of the Beast” is what Purdy would name the project. Children of the Beast did many local & west coast tours, including going into Mexico, as well as the tribute circuit, which also had many casinos and Vegas stints. 

 

During this time, Purdy started to garner a lot of respect within the industry and began accumulating a lot of contacts via promoters and booking agents where one would never have such a luxury in a young original start up group. 

It was then noted that people would tell Purdy, “Whenever you get an original project going again, let us know and we will help you out.”

It was this spark that eventually led Purdy to start considering looking for members for an original project again.

 

After Children of the Beast’s disbanding and Purdy garnering an abundance of industry contacts, he decided to form another original group. Going back to the recycler and craigslist musicians classifieds started to look for a mature straight ahead rock ‘n’ roll band ala’ Guns N’ Roses, LA Guns, Buckcherry, & Aerosmith. He would eventually find members through mutual friends in the Hollywood circuit. 

Stolen Hearts was then born in 2006 out of a downtown Los Angeles warehouse in the midst of the homeless, drug addicts and strip clubs along 7th and Santa Fe, with the Stolen Hearts members living in and holding ‘after hours’ parties in their rehearsal space. 

The group immediately gained attention as the scene started to be comprised of similar groups that would all be on the bill headlining the Whisky A Go Go. There were very small runs of west coast shows and a few demos recorded, so Stolen Hearts had more of a ‘hometown hero’ sense about them, but unfortunately never made it out of Hollywood. 

 

In conjunction, Purdy was in college and eventually graduated from Otis College of Art and Design with a BFA (Bachelor of Fine Arts) specializing in Advertising/ Marketing. He initially started working as an intern for Rhino Records developing a lot of their catalogs and box sets. Afterward, he moved on to working for fashion magazines and doing graphic design and layouts which Purdy would carry with him as he proceeded to do marketing and advertising for real estate companies, until he next became the lead designer at an Aerospace company in El Segundo, CA; designing trade show booths and other varying marketing materials. This job would continue throughout his time within Stolen Hearts and just before joining Black Veil Brides in 2009.

 

 

The Black Veil Brides Era 

With his last band Stolen Hearts split up, Purdy started putting out Ads in the local LA music recycler and craigslist musician classifieds. He began scouting for other players for a new project or possibly joining another. Simultaneously having an Ad out and answering another, he met up with Andy Biersack. The Ads were similarly the same, listing the same influences and such. They were on the same page about sound and aesthetics and began collaborating frequently in the early days of the growing band; mostly focussing on how they (Black Veil Brides) wanted the band to be perceived. Putting his marketing degree into action, Purdy’s expertise made themselves known as he began reworking the brand, creating merchandise, as well as costumes and staging. Moreover, he developed the business that would be BVB. Using his previous industry connections he garnered through his previous projects, he put the contacts to work once he felt there was a viable new group and something to present. He was an avid songwriter for the band, but most notably known for his stage presence that contributed to instilling the Rock n’ Roll charm that Black Veil Brides would later be well known for. In 2013 Purdy gained recognition and achievements being named as: 

2013 Alternative Press’ Bassist of the Year

In the span of 10 years (2009-2019), Black Veil Brides have released 5 albums, 2 EPs, 1 movie for their 3rd album Wretched & Divine, and have gone on to win several awards as well as going certified RIAA Gold.