Beaumont, east Texas is an oil town. The black gold was first struck in 1901 and the population tripled within a year. It sits over near the Louisiana state line, a half hour inland from the Gulf Coast with its vast stretches of golden sands. Notable Beaumont alumni include plenty of modern day JR Ewing's, plus slap-bass originator Larry Graham, bluesman Blind Willie Johnson, ill-fated 50s singer The Big Bopper - and now party rockers Purple. Don't be put off by that tag: this is a party you want to be at, Purple the three sardonic outsider school kids who grew up to become the coolest gang in a town that drains cultural ambitions like it sucks up the Texas tea. Half their friends ended up in their refineries. Some couldn't take it; some ended their lives. Were our young charges going to let their lives follow the same path? Hell no. Because Purple chose something else. Purple chose to party.
