The MAJESTIC THEATRE welcomes
ZZ TOP
SUNDAY, OCTOBER 21 at 7:30PM
TICKETS ON SALE FRIDAY, AUGUST 24th @ 10AM
San Antonio, August 20, 2012 – ZZ TOP a/k/a “That Little Ol’ Band From Texas”,
lay undisputed claim to being the longest running major rock band with
original personnel intact and in 2004 the Texas trio was inducted into
the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
Of course, there are only three of them – Billy F Gibbons, Dusty Hill,
Frank Beard -- but it’s still a remarkable achievement that they’re
still very much together after more than 40 years of rock, blues, and boogie
on the road and in the studio. “Yeah,” says Billy, guitarist
extraordinaire, “we’re the same three guys, bashing out the same three
chords.” With the release of each of their albums the band has explored
new ground in terms of both their sonic approach and the material
they’ve recorded. ZZ TOP is the same but always changing.
It
was in Houston in the waning days of 1969 that ZZ TOP coalesced from
the core of two rival bands, Billy’s Moving Sidewalks and Frank and
Dusty’s American Blues. The new group went on to record the
appropriately titled ZZ Top’s First Album and Rio Grande Mud that reflected their strong blues roots. Their third, 1973’s Tres Hombres,
catapulted them to national attention with the hit “La Grange,” still
one of the band’s signature pieces today. The song is unabashed
elemental boogie, celebrating the institution that came to be known as
“the best little whorehouse in Texas.” Their next hit was “Tush,” a
song about, well, let’s just say the pursuit of “the good life” that was
featured on their Fandango! album released in 1975. The band’s
momentum and success built during its first decade, culminating in the
legendary “World Wide Texas Tour,” with a production that included a
longhorn steer, a buffalo, buzzards, rattlesnakes and a Texas-shaped
stage. As a touring unit, they’ve been without peer over the years,
having performed before millions of fans through North America on
numerous epochal tours as well as overseas where they’ve enthralled
audiences from Slovenia to Italy, from Australia to Sweden, from Russia
to Japan and most points in between. Their iconography – beards, cars,
girls, and that magic keychain – seems to transcend all bounds of
geography and language.
Following
a lengthy hiatus during which the individual members of the band
traveled the world, they switched labels (from British Decca’s London
label to Warner Bros.) and returned with two amazingly provocative
albums, Deguello and El Loco. Their next release, Eliminator,
was something of a paradigm shift for ZZ TOP. Their roots blues skew
was intact but added to the mix were tech-age trappings that soon found a
visual outlet with the nascent MTV. Suddenly, Billy, Dusty and Frank
were video icons, playing a kind of Greek chorus in videos that
highlighted the album’s three smash singles: “Gimme All Your Lovin’,
“Sharp Dressed Man” and “Legs.” The melding of grungy guitar-based
blues with synth-pop was seamless and continued with the follow-up album
Afterburner as they continued their chart juggernaut. ZZ TOP
had accomplished the impossible; they had moved with the times while
simultaneously bucking ephemeral trends that crossed their path. They
had become more popular and more iconic without ever having to be
“flavor of the week.” They had become a certified rock institution,
contemporary in every way, yet still completely connected to the
founding fathers of the genre.
They stayed with Warner for one more album, Recycler, released in 1990 and switched to RCA where they debuted with Antenna and followed with Rhythmeen and XXX. Mescalero,
their latest, is one of the deepest sets ever presented by the band
with 16 tracks brimming with virtuoso musicianship, humorously enigmatic
lyrics and even a track sung entirely in Spanish. Beyond that, both a
lavish four CD box set compilation, Chrome, Smoke & B.B.Q. and a two-CD distillation of that package, Rancho Texicano, were released in recent years by Warner Bros.
Now after a lengthy hiatus from the studio, ZZ Top is prepping the release of La Futura, the band’s first album in nine years, to be released in the fall of 2012.
Four of that album’s tracks were gathered under the title Texicali and
released digitally in the late Spring. Those four tracks, “I Gotsta Get
Paid,” “Chartreuse,” “Over You” and “Consumption” have confirmed the
hopes of their legion of fans: the band’s sound is stronger than ever
and their approach is as ‘down and dirty’ as it was 42 years ago.
The
elements that keep ZZ TOP fresh, enduring and above the transitory fray
can be summed up in the three words of the band’s internal mantra:
“Tone, Taste and Tenacity.” Of course, the three members of the band
have done their utmost to do their part in assuring that ZZ TOP
prevails. As genuine roots musicians, the members of the band have few
peers. Billy is widely regarded as one of American finest blues
guitarists working in the rock idiom. His influences are both the
originators of the form – Muddy Waters, B.B. King, et al – as well as
the British blues rockers who emerged the generation before ZZ’s
ascendance. In his early days of playing, no less an idol that Jimi
Hendrix singled him out for praise. Part mad scientist, part prankster,
he’s a musical innovator of the highest order.
Dusty
has long had an affinity for rock’s origins; his earliest performances
as a child included Elvis songs convincingly performed. Not only is he a
bass virtuoso in his own right, his vocal prowess is awe-inspiring.
He’s the lead voice you hear on “Tush” and his ferocious vocals are
heard, to great effect, on “Piece” on the new album. Good natured and
diligent, Dusty is the rock solid bottom of ZZ TOP.
Frank
has also been keeping the beat in that great tradition. As both a
roots and progressive drummer, he has been acknowledged as key to the
band’s powerful on-stage and in-studio presence. He and Dusty, in their
early years together, served as Lightnin’ Hopkins’ rhythm section which,
as Frank tells it, was a life changing experience. Frank, despite his
last name, is the guy in the band without a beard. But when you’re with
him, you’re with a Beard. He’s a rockin’ paradox who provides the
pulse of ZZ TOP.
ZZ
TOP’s music is always instantly recognizable, eminently powerful,
profoundly soulful and 100% Texas American in derivation. The band’s
support for the blues is unwavering both as interpreters of the music
and preservers of its legacy. It was ZZ TOP that celebrated “founding
father” Muddy Waters by turning a piece of scrap timber than had fallen
from his sharecropper’s shack into a beautiful guitar, dubbed the
“Muddywood.” This totem was sent on tour as a fundraising focus for The
Delta Blues Museum in Clarksdale, Mississippi, site of Robert Johnson’s
famed “Crossroads” encounter with the devil. ZZ TOP’s support and link
to the blues remains as rock solid as the music they continue to play.
They have sold millions of records over the course of their career,
have been officially designated as Heroes of The State of Texas, have
been referenced in countless cartoons and sitcoms and are true rock
icons but, against all odds, they’re really just doing what they’ve
always done. They’re real and they’re surreal and they’re ZZ TOP.
Tickets for ZZ Top ($95.00 - $45.00) will be available at all Ticketmaster outlets, including the Majestic Theatre Box Office, online at ticketmaster.com or charge by phone at 800.745.3000. All tickets subject to applicable service charges and fees.
For more information, visit zztop.com, or majesticempire.com. Or connect with us on Facebook (facebook.com/