ZZ Top: Still Sizzlin’ After Almost 40 Years

Tom Netherland
Special to the Herald Courier
Published: May 29, 2008

Born to boogie.

On Feb. 10, 1970, three teenagers stepped on stage in Beaumont, Texas. Built on blues and razor sharp rock, the band boogied hotter than three pawn shop pistols.

Thirty-eight years later, Rock and Roll Hall of Fame member ZZ Top is pretty much the same little ol’ band from Texas. While change whirs all around them, they haven’t.
“Not really that much,” said drummer Frank Beard, who with Billy Gibbons and Dusty Hill, formed ZZ Top in 1969.

One year shy of its 40th anniversary, ZZ Top will appear on May 30 at Freedom Hall in Johnson City.

“It don’t seem like 40 years,” Beard said by phone last week from Los Angeles, the night before ZZ Top appeared on “American Idol.” “I’ve been married to my wife for 25 years, and I’ve been married to Billy and Dusty for 40 years.”

Though ZZ Top enjoyed occasional hit singles during the 1970s with songs such as 1975’s “Tush,” their status as road warriors made them stars.

“We worked when we first got together, we worked solid until 1978,” Beard said.
Even in those days, before the long beards and fast cars, ZZ Top were rock’s Barnum and Bailey. Take their “Worldwide Texas Tour” in 1976.

While the boys boogied to songs like “La Grange,” rattlesnakes, a longhorn steer and a buffalo co-starred on stage with them.

“They traveled better than we did,” Beard said. “But they didn’t always do right. We had six buzzards on stage, and they kept eyeballing me when we did a slow blues song. I guess I wasn’t moving enough.”

ZZ Top parked their show in 1978. After nearly 10 years on the road, they needed a breather.
“We took a break for about a year,” Beard said. “We all went our separate ways and didn’t see each other.”

A most noticeable change occurred while apart.

“When we got back, Billy and Dusty had not shaved,” said Beard, ironically beardless. “They looked at one another and went, ‘Wow.’ ”

The two Tops had grown long beards.

“So I shaved mine,” Beard said. “People think it was a marketing thing, but it wasn’t. You can’t plan those really great things.”

Likewise, the 1983 album “Eliminator” sort of surprised them and the music world. By then, ZZ Top’s sales record was impressive, but “Eliminator” made them superstars.
“Funny thing about ‘Eliminator,’ the record was a slow starter,” Beard said. “We had already done the Eliminator tour when the record took off six or seven months afterward. We were back home writing ‘Afterburner’ when it took off.”

Videos fueled the success of “Eliminator.” A wise mix of the three cool dudes, Gibbons’ hot rod 1933 Ford and pretty women made videos of songs “Gimme All Your Lovin’ ” and “Sharp Dressed Man” year-long fixtures on MTV.

Consequently, ZZ Top is one of the most recognizable bands in the world. In particular, Gibbons and Hill with their distinctive beards cannot go out incognito.

“They don’t,” Beard said. “I won’t go anywhere with them. But I can go and slide into a mall sometimes without being noticed.”

Meanwhile, change is afoot for the bearded boys. Longtime manager and album producer Bill Ham split in 2006, which had them searching for a new producer.

Enter Rick Rubin. His resume includes producing albums for rock’s Red Hot Chili Peppers. Rubin is credited for having revived the career of the legendary Johnny Cash in his last years. Now, ZZ Top looks to Rubin.
“That’s a project that will happen,” Beard said, confirming what had been rumor of a new album. “We have this tour that will go through all summer, and then we’ll go in the studio sometime after that. It might be next year. We’re writing some stuff.”

So ZZ Top motors on much as they did back in 1969.

Take a plateful of greasy fried fatback, toss in some belly churning onions, spice with Mexican hot peppers and wash it all down with ice cold brew. There, you have the sound of ZZ Top – sizzling. No matter what they sing, they are the same little ol’ band from Texas with the big ol’ sound.

“We used to joke that we could do any song in the world and it sounds like ZZ Top,” Beard said. “We could do ‘Fly Me to the Moon,’ and it would sound like ZZ Top.”

IF YOU GO
Who: ZZ Top
When: May 30, 7:30 p.m.
Where: Freedom Hall, 1320 Pactolas Road, Johnson City
Tickets: $39-$49, children under the age of 2 admitted free
Info: (423) 461-4884
Web: http://www.zztop.com

TOM NETHERLAND is a freelance writer. He can be reached at .