Get all your news in one place.

100's of premium titles.
One app.

Get all your news in one place.

100's of premium titles. One news app.

FOUND: Zz top | Mind Blowing Facts

Gibson has just made a forensic Custom Shop replica of Billy Gibbons’ Pearly Gates Les Paul – and if you buy one you’ll be treated to an exclusive performance from the ZZ Top frontman

This Collector's Edition replica is limited to just 30 instruments worldwide and Gibbons is launching it himself with an exclusive event on October 16 at the Gibson Garage Nashville

MusicRadar

Frank Beard was the enigma at the heart of ZZ Top. "I never wanted to quit ZZ Top. And I never wanted to get fired"

Frank Beard was cool, calm and collected - but ZZ Top’s human metronome had his dark times

Louder

“We were opening for ZZ Top at Madison Square Garden. I told the guys, ‘I’ll go out there and blow for 60 seconds, then we’ll go into the first tune.’ I hit the first chord and my Marshall blew up”: Richie Sambora on Bon Jovi's nightmare arena debut

Reflecting on the experience decades later, Sambora said that – embarrassing as they are in the moment – mishaps like that are “what shape you as a pro”

Guitar World

From analysis to the latest developments in health,
read the most diverse news in one place.

"I wanted to get Jeff Beck in the band. Then I wanted to get Keith Moon. I went for the big time." George Thorogood is at peace with not being Bob Seger or Steve Miller

George Thorogood turned barroom blues into arena rock, traded licks with greats, and missed out on dates with the Stones when commitments got in the way... and he's done it all his own way

Louder

ZZ Top's 'insurmountable obstacles' force last-minute Hollywood Bowl cancellation

Fans were left stunned after the veteran rock band called off its Los Angeles concert just hours before taking to the stage, with no further explanation beyond "unforeseen personnel matters".

BANG Premier

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

Read news from The Economist, FT, and more,
with one subscription

“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

“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

"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

Get all your
news in one place.

100's of premium titles.
One news app.

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

Guitar World

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 ...

Get all your
news in one place.

100's of premium titles.
One news app.

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

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

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

1 2 3

People

From analysis to the latest developments in health,
read the most diverse news in one place.

Organisations

Read news from The Economist, FT, and more,
with one subscription

Topics

Places

Fourteen days free

Download the app

One app. One membership.
100+ trusted global sources.