ZZ Top History

ZZ Top are Texan and proud of it. Their music explores all of the musical textures that their home state has to offer. To appreciate ZZ Top's larger-than-life image it's necessary to remember just how vast Texas is.

The other day we had to go to a place called Dalhart, Texas," says Gibbons, whose deep, rich southern drawl hypnotizes the way Will Rogers' must have. "Dalhart is closer to twenty-two states that it is to Austin, which is its own state capitol. That's a fact right there that would tend to open some people's eyes about just how vast the state is, and just what a glamorous place it must be to write about. that's what we try to capture."

Texans are famous for bragging about how wonderful Texas is. Billy always enjoys telling people, that Texans parent's tell their children

"If you're very good, when you die you won't go to heaven. No. you'll stay right here in Texas!!"

1963: Billy got a Gibson Melody Maker guitar and a Fender Champ Amp for Christmas.

1963-65 After playing with The Starliners and with The Deadbeats, Rocky & Dusty Hill started The Warlocks with Frank Beard, in Dallas, Texas. Beard came from Fort Worth: Previously he had played with The Hustlers and with The Cellar Dwellers (who had a single to their credit). On their first recording they backed the singer Lady Wilde on a 45rpm that Ara, a small Texan label, released.

1966: The Warlocks recorded two singles : one for Ara and one for another even more obscure Paradise.

1967: The Warlocks changed their name to American Blues. Before the year ended, they went into Robin Hood Brian's studio to  record their first album with Scotty McKay producing

In 1967 Billy Gibbons joined his first band, the Moving Sidewalks. They had a minor success with "99th Floor" which gave them the opportunity to support the Doors tour of Texas, and also Jimi Hendrix in 1968.

Hendrix, later, was interviewed by Johnny Carson, where he named the unknown Gibbons as his favourite guitarist. Billy Gibbons remembers walking into Jimi's dressing room to see Hendrix lying flat on his back rippin off one amazing riff after another. Jimi, noticing Billy watching, said "What do you think?" Billy said it was the best playing he'd heard for ages. It turned out Jimi was referring not to his playing, but his new hairstyle!!!!

Prior to this, at a 67 Doors gig which he attended as a fan, Gibbons met a man crucial to the bands later success - manager Bill Ham.  (Although Bill Ham says that the first time they met was when he met the group whilst the were playing support on a John Mayall solo tour) Ham had always wanted to discover a "monster" unknown act. He wanted a low-down, dirty, smelly blues act. He had an album sleeve ready too. It featured the band drassed, almost as vagrants, sprawled amongst the trash, with an album title of "Back Down In The Alley". 

After the demise of the Sidewalks, Gibbons' noticed another Texan band, "American Blues". It was here he first met Dusty Hill and Frank Beard.

1968: Is Here! by American Blues was released through Karma Records as a limited edition. The cover of Tim Hardin's If I Were A Carpenter stood out from among the other tracks… It became their favourite piece: it was eventually released on a single the next year too. The album turned out particularly successful from the point of view of the band's performance, mixing all the influences of each member: blues, garage and psychedelia, blended into a hard rock from whose source several Texan groups drew on. 

Not long after, thanks to clamour stirred up in local spheres, the band signed for UNI, a subsidiary label of MCA, that was in the position to assure them a distribution at home level. In August the trio, accompanied on organ by Doug Davis, was again in the studio to record a new album.

1969: Do Their Thing kept to a similar path as the previous American Blues record but it hadn't the same creative inspiration. With failing commercial returns, UNI got rid of them and, not having succeeded to spread beyond Texan borders, they disbanded. 

Also this year, the members of American Blues first met "Billy Gibbons" - only, in true ZZ Top style, it wasn't the REAL Billy Gibbons - its was Lanier Greig masquerading as him. The American Blues were horrified when they saw him try to tune a guitar and fail dismally. This guy was supposed to be one of Texas' foremost guitarists!!

(The threesome eventually met in 1969. (The original ZZ Top lineup being Billy Gibbons, Lanier Grieg and Dan Mitchell.  This lineup released a single on Bill Ham's Scat label, Salt Lick b/w Millers Farm).)

Soon after the recording of "Salt Lick" songwriter Jeff Barry asked Lanier to New York to try out a part in a new show called "The Cowboys".  He went, and got the job, although short lived. By the time he arrived back in Texas, Gibbons had fired him.  He quickly disappeared from the musical scene only to reappear briefly playing keyboards on a 1979 album by the band "1994" He was replaced by Bill Ethridge. Dan Mitchell was then replaced by Frank Beard while Dusty Hill subsequently joined in place of Ethridge).  Billy told "Melody Maker":

" I met Frank through a fellow in Dallas and he came down and after one show he'd got a drummer who I had to meet. That was Frank and we teamed up there and then. Then the guy from Dallas, Billy Ethridge, quit so I needed a bass player, and Frank knew Dusty, and that's how he came to join us. I didn't know it, but Frank and Dusty had worked together for about five years before."

Beard is alleged to have said to Gibbons (about Dusty) "He's our kind of guy." after Beard had once introduced himself to Dusty Hill in a bar. Dusty fell to the floor, plastered. It wasn't until he came round that he returned Frank's greeting!!

Billy described their first day thus: 

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!

According to Gibbons, their odd name came from one or more of the following: the two brands of rolling-paper, Zig-Zag and Top, a tribute to blues legend Z.Z. Hill, and/or Gibbons seeing the two words running together on a dilapidated bill board.

In 1969, the name ZZ Top was registered at Paris County Courthouse, TX.

Early rehearsal's took place at the Gibbon's house. Dad Fred Gibbons did his best to ignore the din, but as soon as a bum note came out, he'd be screaming at them "That was meant to be a C sharp, you idiot!!"

Frank recalled about Fred Gibbons, the musical perfectionist:

"Freddy was the only person I've ever known to change the entire air conditioning in his house because it was a half-tone out of tune with his piano!"

A young Gibbons, Hill,  Beard were playing a small room in Alvin. Only weeks since ZZ Top's formation and months before its first album, the emcee says the band is "direct from Salt Lake," after misinterpreting information about the group's marquee song, "Salt Lick." They played to exactly one paying customer, bought that first fan a beer when the set was over and proceeded to talk into the night with him. To this day, the group still sees the man at the occasional show.

 
The first recorded ZZ gig was actually with just the three boys present in the room, on February 10,1970, followed by a debut show at the VFW Hall in Beaumont. 

Billy remembers: "Beaumont and Port Arthur, Texas held a twin-city concert night which is where it all started... The first ZZ disc was just out..."Salt Lick" and Miller's Farm"... kinda hard to find now ... but ...the first night's performance, a Friday night, followed with the famed appearance evening in Alvin, Texas, where we enjoyed an audience of 1 ... !!!
The show 'went' 'on' as they say and it turned out to be quite an experience. We played our first-set, took a break, bought our patron a Coke, went back and finished the night with some smokin' sounds. Killer!

In 1970, the boys were booked to open on a blues tour with Lightnin' Hopkins, Howlin' Wolf, and Muddy Waters. The promoter didn't know, until the band arrived, that he'd booked a white band. They still went down well though, earning their credentials with a knowledgable black audience. Frank recalled:

"There was a poker game going on the whole time...they'd be playing poker and somebody would come down and say "Muddy, you've gotta go on stage". And he'd growl and say "Don't anyone take my money". He'd walk off and leave his dough and his gun. He'd do his set and then come back and just get right on with the game"

The Houston record producer Pappy Daily, now met with Bill Ham and signed a deal with him to finance "ZZ Top's First Album" (1970) (and a handful of subsequent records). From here, the band went into the studio to cut "ZZ Top's First Album" for London Records , which although a fine record did not produce any national recognition, and the band remained a local draw

Somewhat cruelly, segments of the press cast doubt on Bill Ham's production skills, saying that if it was his intention was to portray the band as a bunch of country boys who'd just stumbled out of the moonshine shed, he'd succeeded beyond his wildest expectations.

The seed was sown for a long-running mutual distrust between ZZ Top and the Press.

During the recording of the album, Bill Ham was also busily trying to negotiate a record deal with London Records, who had just lost The Rolling Stones. Bill slyly pitched the band to the label, as "the next Rolling Stones". Although a deal was struck, London were only committing themselves to covering mastering, pressing and distribution. Everything else would have to be financed by Bill Ham and the Daily Brothers. 

It is said that during negotiations, Bill Ham demanded $10,000 for his band, but only got $1,000. Despite the fact that they gigged so extensively, they ploughed so much money back into the band, that on occasion they would have to sleep on the stage, after finishing gigs. With the money they invested, they bought a crucial piece of equipment ; two Marshall Super Lead stacks.

The rest of ZZ Top's sound is, guess what? - shrouded in legend. Billy claims his guitar strings are all made from melted down car bumpers, and he doesn't use plectrums - he uses a peso!

For some of the material on that first album, an uncredited songwriting contributor was Lanier Greig.  He appears to have had an agreement with Gibbons and Ham that he would stay uncredited, due to the fact that he was contracted to write for Acuff-Rose, and no-one wanted to have to pay them a percentage.

The band became a huge draw in Texas, but nowhere else, where they perceived as "hicks". However, they plugged away, opening for anyone they could; from Alice Cooper to Peter Frampton. 

The big break for them came in 1971 when ZZ Top were asked to open a show for the Ike and Tina Turner Review at an outdoor venue in Atlanta. Traditionally at the time, white blues artists could not easily cross the divide to gaining acceptance from a black audience. However, on this occasion, ZZ Top succesfully performed to an audience of 20,000 primarily black music fans. Billy Gibbons recalls: 

" 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!"

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