In a brand new interview with Australian Musician editor Greg Phillips, ZZ TOP‘s Billy Gibbons was requested concerning the band’s choice to rent ZZ TOP‘s longtime guitar tech Elwood Francis, who had labored with the group for greater than twenty years, after the “completely sudden” July 2021 demise of their longtime bandmate, bassist Dusty Hill. Gibbons stated (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): “Properly, Elwood and Dusty, they have been two peas in a pod. Elwood beginning off as a guitarist, he and Dusty have been buying and selling bass licks and guitar licks from day one. Elwood being fairly the member of the family. He was with us for — gosh — three many years, realizing us in and out. The massive shock… When he began out, Elwood was the skateboarder with an avocado sandwich and never a chin whisker to be discovered. After receiving the decision from administration saying ZZ TOP is gonna return to work, and I stated, ‘Gee whiz, we would higher go rehearse.’ And it was Dusty that stated, ‘Hear, if I am late to the gig, give my guitar to Elwood. He is aware of it backwards and ahead.’ And I stated, ‘Oh, okay, positive. I confirmed up on the rehearsal and I stated, ‘Who’s the brand new man?’ They stated, ‘Which one?’ I stated, ‘That man over there with the two-foot doormat hanging from his chin.’ They stated, ‘Properly, that is Elwood. And I stated, ‘No, no, the man with the massive beard.’ And so they stated, ‘That is Elwood.’ He acquired lazy, similar to we did.”
The 72-year-old Hill died on July 28, 2021 in his sleep at his Houston, Texas dwelling.
ZZ TOP performed its first present following Hill‘s demise on July 30, 2021 in Tuscaloosa, Alabama.
Francis made his dwell debut with ZZ TOP on July 23, 2021 on the Village Commons in New Lenox, Illinois after Hill was pressured to return to Texas to handle a hip situation.
“After I first began doing it, Dusty was simply sick and going dwelling for just a few weeks,” Francis informed Guitar World journal. “It was solely completely different; I used to be simply serving to out. I did not have to fret concerning the weight of the crown as a result of I used to be simply serving to. They pulled me apart and stated, ‘Are you able to actually say you’ll be able to’t play his components?’ I stated, ‘I can do it, however I do not assume individuals would take pleasure in me doing it.’ They stated, ‘You’ll be able to cowl him for just a few weeks.'”
Francis, whose place in ZZ TOP was made everlasting shortly after Hill‘s demise, went on to say that he nonetheless would not contemplate himself a part of the band.
“We would performed some gigs when Dusty handed, and by that point, I would not say I used to be snug as a result of I am nonetheless not fucking snug,” he defined. “However I had a chunk of paper on the riser for the primary two exhibits if I acquired in hassle, and by the third present, I removed that, and simply did the present.
“It is simply bizarre,” he continued. “Dusty is their bass participant. I am not the bass participant. I am not within the band. I am going to by no means be within the band. I should not be within the band. It is Dusty‘s factor. Certain, I am going to nonetheless play with them, but it surely’s a bizarre factor, man.”
Hill joined ZZ TOP a yr after its formation in 1969.
In a June 2023 interview with Basic Rock, Gibbons stated about how Francis got here to hitch ZZ TOP following Hill‘s passing: “Dusty was an important man, a swell singer. He supplied a stable platform for me to solo with out having to look again. He was all the time on it. Dusty used to say: ‘If I am late to the stage, make sure you give my guitar to Elwood.’ Elwood is a member of the family; he is been with us for 3 many years. And certain sufficient, Elwood picked up the components and items [to replace Hill in ZZ TOP]. However whereas Dusty performed along with his fingers, Elwood makes use of a choose. It is slightly sharper. He brings slightly extra finesse. And on the first rehearsal he confirmed up with a full beard longer than mine.”
Gibbons admitted “there was quite a lot of curiosity” surrounding ZZ TOP‘s return to the dwell stage with out Hill. “‘What’s this going to be like?’ ‘Can this man maintain up the underside of the TOP?’ In a trio it is a huge problem,” he stated. “Every part needs to be working at 100 and ten per cent. However Elwood was prepared, having been part of it for therefore lengthy… [Dusty] stated: ‘The present should go on.’ That was his want, and we granted it.”
