ADRIAN VANDENBERG Says His Former Bandmates Are Trying To Stop Him From Using VANDENBERG Name

Former WHITESNAKE, MANIC EDEN and VANDENBERG guitarist Adrian Vandenberg has revealed via his Facebok page that he is once again being taken to court by his former VANDENBERG bandmates over the rights to the "VANDENBERG" group name.

He writes: "Sometimes there are things in life that are so ridiculous and seemingly far-fetched, that if the scriptwriter for a cheesy TV soap would come up with it, the producers would roll on the floor laughing, foaming at the mouth and tell the writer to start looking for another job. Well, in my life a situation just as surrealistic is happening as we speak.

"Some of you may remember that before joining my close friend David Coverdale in his band WHITESNAKE, I had my own band under my own name 'VANDENBERG', which I founded, wrote all the music and lyrics for, made the paintings for the albumcovers, designed the logo for etc. etc. and I eventually disbanded my own band in 1986 to join WHITESNAKE.

"Now sit down, fasten your seatbelts, here comes the surrealistic part: almost a year ago I got summoned by a lawyer representing the three guys who I invited to play in my band at the time in 1981, trying to claim my own name 'VANDENBERG' and actually trying to prohibit me from using my own name 'VANDENBERG' through a lawsuit .. now how bizarre is that?!?

"These individuals, singer Bert Heerink, bassist Dick Kemper (appropriate first name) and drummer Jos Zoomer, each of them factually not having achieved anything worth mentioning in about 27 years, now opportunistically trying to lift piggyback on the name/ reputation that I was fortunate to build through years of working my ass off with VANDENBERG, MANIC EDEN and WHITESNAKE. A sad situation indeed, since I always thought these guys were friends.

"The Bert Heerink attempt is even more pathetic than the others, since I had to fire him from my band a year before I disbanded it, for reasons that I won't disclose right now. So this individual wasn't even in my band when I disbanded it. Nevertheless this person attempts to claim my personal name 26 years later.

"Naturally the judge wiped their claims away. You'd expect these leeches would crawl back embarrassed under the damp, mossy stones that they'd been hiding under for 27 years, but noooo; right now they're trying once again to hijack my name through a different route (a 'trademark office').

"It is basically like when you invite a couple of people for a ride on the backseat of your new car, and then after the ride these passengers claim that your car is now theirs because they were given a ride in it. Some people have no shame.

"In Holland their first attempt was all over the newspapers, and after several questions from [fans], I promised to keep [everyone] up to date about this bizarre situation. Don't hesitate to let these individuals know your honest opinion about this, whatever it is, they have [Facebook] pages.

"I will keep you posted again as soon as news comes up about this surrealistic, but actually sad soap.

"Never a dull moment!"

VANDENBERG released three albums — "Vandenberg", "Heading For A Storm" and "Alibi" — before Adrian disbanded the group in 1986 to join WHITESNAKE.