ZZ Top’s perennially bearded vocalist and guitarist previews three UK solo dates in promotion of his third and latest extracurricular release, 2021’s Hardware.
How recently did you begin performing solo gigs away from ZZ Top?
It all started with an invitation to play at the famous Havana Jazz Festival [in 2015]. I said: “Gee, I don’t want to crash a jazz festival with a rock’n’roll party.” We were so curious, it led us to recording a few songs in that style as an experiment, and then down a path to the Afro-Cuban-inspired [solo debut] Perfectamundo [released that same year by Gibbons and his band the BFGs]. We might have never gone in that direction had I not received the phone call.
After more than fifty years of working with the same two guys in ZZ Top – drummer Frank Beard and bassist/vocalist Dusty Hill – stepping away must bring some sense of liberation.
Oh yeah, it was quite a reward. [Drummer] Matt Sorum is famous for playing with Guns N’ Roses, Velvet Revolver and The Cult, and we’ve also got our good buddy Mr Austin Hanks, who plays [his bass guitar] upside down, backwards and left-handed. Watching him, he’s like Jimi Hendrix and Albert King on acid.
Back in the nineties, Austin Hanks was a member of the great but sadly overlooked band Slick Lilly.
Yes indeed, Slick Lilly. That was a good one.
Diese Geschichte stammt aus der Summer 2023-Ausgabe von Classic Rock.
Starten Sie Ihre 7-tägige kostenlose Testversion von Magzter GOLD, um auf Tausende kuratierte Premium-Storys sowie über 8.000 Zeitschriften und Zeitungen zuzugreifen.
Bereits Abonnent ? Anmelden
Diese Geschichte stammt aus der Summer 2023-Ausgabe von Classic Rock.
Starten Sie Ihre 7-tägige kostenlose Testversion von Magzter GOLD, um auf Tausende kuratierte Premium-Storys sowie über 8.000 Zeitschriften und Zeitungen zuzugreifen.
Bereits Abonnent? Anmelden
BORN TO RUM
Dragging traditional folk into the rock sphere while on the precipice of international stardom, The Pogues looked like a chaotically ramshackle and dysfunctional unit in the mid-80s with second album Rum, Sodomy & The Lash. In reality they were a resolutely determined hard-working band.
THE VAGABONDS RETURN
With the release of Thin Lizzy's new Acoustic Sessions, with Phil Lynott's 70sera vocals, guitarist Eric Bell and producer Richard Whittaker tell us about grassaddled sessions, unfinished business and why this project definitely isn't Al.
"I WANTED A GROUP WITH GRIT.EXCITEMENT AND EDGE"
Between two spells with Deep Purple, singer lan Gillan led two of his own bands, with great success. Here he looks back at Gillan, and how intra-band friction tore that group apart.
KILLERS, BEASTS, SLAVES, SONS. SOULS...
With Iron Maiden celebrating their 50th anniversary this year, we talk to all the members of the band and look back over the successes, trials, tribulations, thrills, spills and genre-defining records of the longest-running and arguably greatest heavy metal band of them all.
“LIKE HAVING A BRICK WALL COMING AT YOU!"
In 1974 King Crimson released Red, one of their most underrated albums at the time. On its 50th anniversary, Crimson alumni discuss the continued allure of an album
Ricky Warwick
The Almighty frontman on his new solo album, digging Northern soul, his good work ethic, quitting drinking...
Shaman's Harvest
They've come through life-changing adversity. They know how to party. They're finally coming over here...
Last Train
With album number three they're hoping to pull into stations outside their native France.
The Knack My Sharona
The LA band's stuttering rocker with the dirty m-m-mind, about someone who for co-writer Doug Fieger was \"love at fist sight\", was one of the biggest hits of 1979.
SONGS OF INNOCENCE, SONGS OF EXPERIENCE
Moving to a new studio, and with band members taking on new roles, with their new album The Manic Street Preachers continue to innovate and experiment.
