CATCHING UP WITH ZZ TOP

Discovery Contributing Editor Bob Gulla talks with the Texas trio's powerhouse guitarist, Billy Gibbons

Reprinted from BMG Discovery July 1997

Discovery. Can you imagine doing anything besides playing in this band?

Billy Gibbons: We figured this out the other day. ZZ Top has done this for a longer period of time than marriage, school , and all of those lifelong things added up, so we're pretty much set for the rest of the way.

Discovery. Do you guys have any other skills you could use besides being musicians?

BG: Dice throwing ... (laughs). We're all professional craps players!

Discovery. After all this time together, what do you and Frank Beard and Dusty Hill mean to each other?

BG: The notion of shared input has taught us more than just throwing together a tune or two. When you have the opportunity to share this gift of music ... it's truly a gift, a reward. And we love each other for the gift we've been able to share.

Discovery.- Do you ever lose sight of that gift and bicker or fight?

BG: Dusty and I have always had the upper hand in the band ... We still have Frank trying to guess what's in these beards ... And, you know, that's the source of mischief between the boys.

Discovery. You've made twelve albums through 27 years. It seemed like you could have made more records in that length of time.

BG: The road has been ZZ Top's cornerstone, which is a great demand on one's time. And recording takes time, too. The only gleaming exception might be this "Rhythmeen" release , the creation of which had its origins when Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriquez started requesting material for their film soundtrack. When they offered the opportunity to us, we accepted and when we asked them, "When would you like it?," they said, "Tonight." So we had the first two songs written and recorded in the course of an hour ... We didn't get bogged down in the super-detailed production anchors and it allowed us to proceed quicker than usual.

Discovery. On "Rhythmeen" your sound is modern, but it also has a kind of vintage feel. Was that difficuft to capture?

BG: Certainly, the "Rhythmeen" content delivers an immediate return all the way back to the earliest period of the band.... One aspect is traditional, but doesn't disallow modern experimenting either. I'll tell you, it's a riot in the studio. We've got new guitars, old guitars, drums going back to the '20s, marching drums from Ecuador, pounding pads from Africa. It's a free for all

Discovery: She's Just Killing Me is a monster garage rock track.

BG: For three guys to sound that big you have to play much bigger than yourselves. Well, our title, "Rhythmeen," is ' just a backwards way of saying, "Hey we've got a mean rhythm," and that's basically what you've got with Frank and Dusty.

Discovery.- You have such an unmistakable signature sound. Do you ever feel like branching out?

BG: So far, the brand has been set as the "Little 0l' Band from Texas" and their barroom-based boogie. That's how we've been perceived. At the appropriate moment@a grand shift could be surprising--pleasantly surprising. A real clue would be to peep in the dressing room before the show and watch us warm up. We play anything from cocktail jazz to Tex- Mex to Ranchero.

Discovery: Can you think back on some of the defining moments in your career?

BG: Yeah, our first day together when the three of us decided to see how our talents mingled .... A little 3-minute thing turned out to be a three-hour jam. When we wrapped it up, we said, "Well, that felt pretty good ... I think we got ourselves a band!" There have been some other intriguing moments, too, like the second day. We decided to bring in our most influential recordings, books, art references, just stuff we were interested in, pretty heady for 19-year-olds. But darned if all of us had Jimmy Reed records right at the top of our list!

Discovery. Were you guys ever criticized in the old days for being too white to play heavy blues and R&B?

BG: Oh yeah .... We were asked to open a show'for Ike and Tina Turner at an outdoor venue in Atlanta in 1971, in front of 20,000, and it was really something to take the stage in front of an allblack audience. They were curious and smiling as if to say, "Well, if you say so. Go ahead." Ike Turner came up to me after the show and said, "I want to compliment you and your band. You have a fine musical outfit." He said, "But you're gonna need some better clothes!"