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FOUND: Zz top | Mind Blowing Facts

Remembering Wayne Charvel, the visionary luthier and Superstrat pioneer who built guitars for Deep Purple, ZZ Top and Eddie Van Halen – and started the hot-rod revolution that changed the world

The Charvel founder and legendary custom builder for guitar's biggest names has died, aged 85

MusicRadar

“I don’t belong on TV, I should be in a circus!”: How ZZ Top’s Afterburner continued one of the most unlikely success stories of the 80s

ZZ Top hit big with Eliminator. So they repeated the formula with Afterburner

Louder

“As for the lyrics, it’s not exactly Bob Dylan. But it felt good from a musician standpoint”: How a half-live album, a monster hit and a travelling zoo helped three Texas icons play to 1.2 million people

Buffalo, buzzards and Tush? ZZ Top’s Fandango album saw the Little Ol’ Band From Texas go nationwide

Louder

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“We’re playing Led Zeppelin songs, and Eddie would imitate Jimmy Page… I mean, he had it down!”: Steve Farris on the time he jammed ZZ Top and Led Zeppelin songs with Eddie Van Halen

The Mr Mister guitarist got a front row seat to Eddie Van Halen's greatness when they they were both Peavey artists playing a NAMM show

MusicRadar

Who has the better concert lineup, a state fair or Trump’s 250th America birthday bash?

Trump says he’s canceling the whole thing and bringing in Lee Greenwood for his ‘Great American State Fair.’ Here’s what you’ll find at actual state fairs

The Independent UK

75 years of Fender Telecaster – an all-star country line-up, a mega jam, and one legendary guitar

The Fender Telecaster has some of the world’s biggest artists as fans, but what has made the guitar such a success? And can it survive in a world of AI?

“Jeff Beck arranged delivery with Marshall’s first factory arrival into the States, loading ZZ Top’s stage with stacks”: Billy Gibbons tells the tale of how an accident with a knife –and a British guitar great – set them up to conquer the ’80s

How Billy Gibbons unleashed the power of his holy grail '59 Les Paul Standard for the Texan blues-rock legend's “in-between” classic, El Loco –and set the stage for ZZ Top's domination of the decade

Guitar World

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"Touring was about how messed-up I could get, and it wasn't about the music any more. Things got very, very dark." British bluesman Danny Bryant hit rock bottom two years ago: Now he comes clean

Walter Trout protoge Danny Bryant has survived alcoholism, divorce and liver disease, but new album Nothing Left Behind is the exorcism he needed

Louder

“Always a pleasure to host BFG in my office, and even better when he decides to take one of my CEO builds on tour!” Gibson CEO Cesar Gueikian has made a stunning custom Explorer – and Billy Gibbons is playing it onstage with ZZ Top

And the Gibson CEO also given us a sneak peak of the forthcoming DES lineup in the shape of a Ghost Burst SG?

MusicRadar

“I’m not anybody’s best guitar player. I’m not the fastest, the most knowledgeable, the shreddiest. I’m none of those things. But I play and it sounds like me”: Mark Morton on the chemistry behind Lamb Of God's twin-guitar groove and what he owes ZZ Top

Morton gets geeky with rhythm and discusses the making of Lamb Of God's pummelling new album, Into Oblivion, and explains why he is proud to be (just) behind the beat

MusicRadar

Leo Fender’s favorite amp, recreated? Fender ’62 Super Amp review

The original, ’62-era Super was said to be Leo Fender's favorite amp. Let’s see if this exacting recreation captures the original magic

Guitar World

“He came ripping into the hotel room and said, ‘Um, do you know this?’ He slapped down a lick that lasted 10 minutes”: When Jimi Hendrix gave Billy Gibbons a guitar lesson unlike any other

Gibbons' pre-ZZ Top band, the Moving Sidewalks, toured with Hendrix for a time in 1968 – and he got to witness the Strat legend's magic up close

Guitar World

“He plays that amazing lead, and I'm like two feet from him. Can you get a better private concert with Van Halen, anywhere, ever?”: Charlie Sheen reveals the real story behind Eddie Van Halen’s legendary Two and a Half Men cameo

The long-running sitcom featured a rotating roster of A-list cameos, including Elvis Costello, Steven Tyler, ZZ Top, but EVH ...

Guitar World

“I went to the Crossroads Festival when I was 7. I've been married to my Eric Clapton Strat since I was 13”: Meet NYC trio Tchotchke and their six-string hotshot Emily Tooraen – who caught the blues bug when she saw B.B. King and ZZ Top as a kid

They've toured with the The Gossip and The Makeup, play self-styled diva rock, and on their sophomore album, Playin' Dumb, Tchotchke are taking their '60s-indebted girl-group sound global. As Tooraen explains, it all goes back to the blues

Guitar World

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MusicRadar

“Even today, that instrument is fascinating. I’ve passed it around and players of all sorts have all come to the same conclusion – there is something magic in that instrument”: Billy Gibbons on why Pearly Gates is one of the greatest Les Pauls of all time

All Gibson Les Paul Standards from 1959 are special but what is it about the ZZ Top frontman's Pearly Gates that makes it so unique? As Gibbons says, it might be something entirely supernatural

MusicRadar

“I said, ‘Rick, you think we should take a break?’ And he goes, ‘Oh yeah, we got it on tape three hours ago – we just like hearing you guys play!’”: ZZ Top’s Billy Gibbons describes Rick Rubin as a “peculiar” kind of producer

Plus: how the Texan trio created something new out of an old hip-hop track

Louder

"We have achieved what we set out to achieve": Aussie rock legends Rose Tattoo will play their final ever show next year

Led by Angry Anderson, Rose Tattoo formed in Sydney in 1976

Louder

ZZ Top add yet more dates to ever-expanding Elevation tour as Frank Beard continues to miss shows

46 shows already played on ZZ Top's mammoth Elevation tour, 63 more to go

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Guitar World

“To be honest, I didn’t like Stevie’s tone as much in the heavy Dumble period. It sounded a little tight to me”: Ian Moore on jamming with the Stones, writing with Billy Gibbons, and discussing those SRV comparisons – with Stevie Ray Vaughan

The SRV disciple admits he confused people by moving from Texas blues to art rock, but believes his skills are only increasing, despite a neurological condition that means he can barely speak

Guitar World

“I thought Billy was the coolest guitarist I’d ever heard, and that opinion hasn’t changed in 50 years”: Add some Texas blues sizzle to your lead playing with this lesson in Billy Gibbons' sweet soloing style

This lesson is the ZZ Top content you need to stay cool while bringing the heat. It will develop your sense of pacing and blues phrasing, and give you a chance to let some pinch harmonics fly off the fingerboard

MusicRadar

“Watching his hands in the studio, I learnt something I never knew”: Steve Cropper on ZZ Top’s Billy Gibbons’ secret sauce

The legendary guitarists have a special relationship

Guitar World

“The Black Crowes got thrown off the ZZ Top tour. We picked up where they left off…Every night the tour manager warned us when the explosions were going to go off”: Michelle Malone gave up sax for guitar – and had John Mayer “begging” to join her shows

With her 20th album looming, the raw Americana player looks back on working with Albert King and Blackberry Smoke members, her ever-loving vintage gear and running her own label

Louder

"We were out on our asses": How Aerosmith took flight with Get Your Wings - only in the new issue of Classic Rock

Also in this issue: John Mayall, Pink Floyd, Joe Elliott, Creed, Phil Mogg, The Cadillac Three, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Joanne Shaw Taylor, LA Edwards and more

Guitar World

“Pearly Gates, our long-standing fave-rave six-string, entered the studio to do that righteous thing”: Billy Gibbons on bringing out his legendary Les Paul for Slash’s all-star blues album – and the liquor store run-in that sparked their friendship

Gibbons checks in to tell us how he and reimagined Willie Dixon's Hoochie Coochie Man for a new era, and to assure us why the blues is in safe hands with today's players

MusicRadar

“I'm not the bass player. I'm not in the band. I'll never be in the band. I shouldn't be in the band”: Elwood Francis says he'll never replace ZZ Top's Dusty Hill

Elwood Francis isn't comfortable being bassist in ZZ Top

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