New ZZ Top Album Will Include Bass, Vocals From Late-Dusty Hill | Q104.3 | Ken Dashow Late-ZZ Top bassist/vocalist Dusty Hill did a significant amount of recording for the band's forthcoming album earlier this year. ZZ Top guitarist/vocalist Billy Gibbons tells Variety that Dusty didn't finish everything, but he did enough that the band can ensure his presence will be felt on the new album. The band has "got a couple of things [with Dusty singing lead] that'll make sense," he added. Dusty joined forces with Gibbons and drummer Frank Beard in ZZ Top in 1969. Together, the trio was the longest continuously active musical group in history. Dusty passed away in his sleep last week at age 72, days after leaving ZZ Top's 50th anniversary tour to address a broken hip. ZZ Top canceled its scheduled concert the night of Dusty's passing, but picked it up a couple days later with the appropriately-bearded Elwood Francis (the band's longtime guitar tech) on bass, per Dusty's wishes. The new ZZ Top album — the band's first studio offering since 2012 — was expected to arrive late this year. It's unclear how Dusty's passing will affect the timeline. Gibbons admits to "the waterworks coming and going" since Dusty passed, but he says he's also felt a sense of relief, knowing that Dusty persevered on tour over the years through numerous health issues and was in significant pain when he left the band's tour to see a doctor. ZZ Top's golden anniversary tour has dates on the books through spring 2022. See them all here. Repeating
I just heard back from Ticketmaster, they are not offering refunds to any shows since the show is going on as scheduled.
i'd still go see the band without Dusty if i had a ticket for this tour. i am a little surprised at the amount of people that would want a refund or not go at all now. If it was Billy i could see it, and they somehow continued without him... Dusty was great and will be greatly missed, but people that can should be going to the shows and still showing love and support for this great band. Don't abandon them when they need the fans for support the most. Show Billy, Frank and even Elwood some love. Elwood is doing his best in an odd circumstance and Billy & Frank want to continue on in honor and tribute to Dusty. Come on now...
Having never seen ZZ Top live before, I got tickets thinking this might be the last time I get to see the band live. When Dusty died, that changed my take on wanting to see the band as to me it isn't the same as seeing all three on stage. It's not abandoning the band or not supporting them in their time of need, it's feeling like the show is now something other than what you paid for and deciding that it isn't for you. I know that it is circumstances beyond their control and they are doing what they think is the right thing to do, but everyone should be understanding if people don't want to go once Dusty is no longer with us because it's not the same to them. It's a personal take and I see nothing wrong with myself or anyone thinking that a refund would be a nice option. There was no need for the "come on now" comment people see it from different points of view. I'll still go and will still enjoy it, but I did want to see if I had other options since it isn't the same.
Pre-recorded track? Maybe Dusty couldn't get that vocal live anymore and they had a tape and forgot to remove it for when Billy does the song?
Looking back, I'm not sure he sang much of anything live when I saw the band in 2019. I was fixated on Billy's vocals and the differences between his songs that were pre-recorded and those that weren't... But now, it seems they specifically dial in that part that Billy can't hit. Awkward as heck.
OK, asking this gingerly ... it's been stated on another music forum that I monitor and post at that Billy owns the logo, rights, name, etc., in other words the whole shooting match that's ZZ Top ... and that Dusty and Frank have been, essentially, contract employees who show up when it's time to make a record (at least Dusty, supposedly Frank doesn't bother) and play shows. Does anyone know that to be accurate?
We know so little about the behind the scenes politics of these guys. They never speak about it but clearly there's some strangeness. I'm curious too.
I'm just curious as to how much of their live show is "live" over the past decade or more. (Really even back to the 80s.)
Whether by his own choice or by Billy's doing, to me Frank always comes across as a guy just there to do a job and collect a paycheque. Nothing more.
In this recording, Billy does not sing Tush at all and also doesn't act as if he does. Not sure I should post it, I've got very mixed feelings about this... I would like to read the original post! But I suspect there is a lot of truth in this. On another thread (the one about Billy's solo album Hardware) one forum member categorically stated that Frank definitely didn't play on "Rhythmeen". Then there is the tweet from Chad Smith who said he was excited to be playing on the new ZZ Top album (but there isn't any mention in the liner notes). Billy is also the only one of the classic three that has been on the very first ZZ Top release (the "Salt Lick"/"Miller's Farm" single) but I'm not sure if that has any bearing on him owning the name. Certainly, in the 1970s they seemed to be on a pretty equal footing; it was only after El Loco that Billy started to construct ZZ Top records with other people like Linden Hudson and Terry Manning. Hudson also said that Frank stopped practicing around that time and seemed pretty oblivious to what was going on with the music.
OK this comes from The Gear Page. I'm not going to share the name of the poster because I don't have permission to share his name. There were several other posts along these lines. It was in a thread on an interview Gibbons did about moving forward that folks said seemed kind of "business-like and cold." From the beginning, Bill Ham (had) the kind of say in ZZ Top that "boy band" svengalis have over their creations like Menudo and their ilk. That's why the band members never guested on other band's records, did outside projects or side projects, until very late or after the split with Ham. Within the three members, yeah, it has essentially been Billy and the "help", which seems a bit pejorative and perhaps dismissive of their contributions, but functionally, that was it. Don't cry for Dusty and Frank. Very CLEARLY, they made peace with whatever their role was in the entity, creatively, financially, etc., long ago. You don't play in one band for 51 years with the same members and not work out the differences one way or another. FFS, Frank isn't even playing on their biggest hits, but he still goes out and plays those drum parts night after night. As for Gibbons seeming "cold", you can look at the situation with a larger view, or at least, I can. Hill had already left for medical reasons and did not look good in the last videos. Certainly they wouldn't have planned a tour if it didn't look like Hill could do it, but I have seen situations where someone's health took a turn in shockingly short order. I don't think Hill's passing was as much of a surprise to the band as it was to the public. Hill may have said something to the effect, "I just want to go home and die in my own bed". Gibbons, in his role as bandleader, has a few different roles. He needs to guide the "business" forward, showing steady leadership. ZZ Top's messaging and image have always been well crafted and peppered with obfuscation. He also has to respect Hill's privacy and his family. I can also assure you, one, perhaps not the best, but viable, method for working through grief, is to pour yourself back into work and ZZ Top is Gibbons' job.
To be honest ZZ Top and the personnel has fascinated me. For instance what did Frank think about being replaced by a machine with Eliminator? He's one of my favorite drummers And I've read it's murky on what he played after that.
If Billy owns the whole shop, then why release a "Billy Gibbons" album instead of a "ZZ Top" album. Kiss have done worse. Dusty/Billy seemed to be chummy offstage, seems odd if it were a boss/employee situation.
I don't know anything about the inner workings of ZZ Top, but I wouldn't find it unbelievable if they were really a Billy Gibbons vehicle in the guise of a band from the very beginning. Especially considering how hot blues rock was back then, I could see him and/or Bill Ham deciding to put together a project around Billy. After all, the Allman Brothers were originally supposed to be a trio built around Duane Allman. If that's the lineup that stuck, it would have still been Duane Allman's band, even if they'd given it the name of a band rather than "The Duane Allman Band." I think sometimes fans don't realize just how many band members out there are really just hired employees. Even Ronnie Wood didn't become a full member of the Rolling Stones until the 1990s.
This is the first time I ever heard the Allman Brothers were supposed to be a trio. I honestly believe you are thinking of a different band. Who were the other two players that were going to round out this trio?
Billy has of course earned the right to do whatever he pleases with the ZZ Top brand. But they have cultivated a very visual image where it's the same three guys, two with beards and so on, whoever played on the post El Loco albums. It just seems unnecessary to carry on the brand by now, after completing this booked tour, especially as Billy has his solo career going with good reviews after a super terrible first album under his own name. Call me a cynic, but I can see very little reason to continue the band except money. The brand can still continue for that purpose, but making new ZZ albums with the guitar roadie? Dunno.
IMO fans can have a naive view of rock bands as these perfect democracies where the members are straight out of Alexandre Dumas and are "brothers" and have each other's backs eternally. It's one reason why (I hate to go there but I gotta) Robbie Robertson and John Fogerty catch so much grief. What is it they say about you should never watch the sausage being made?
