In a brand new interview with Final Basic Rock, ZZ TOP frontman Billy Gibbons was requested how he and his bandmates will method a doable farewell tour when the time comes. He responded: “I borrow the dialog from an alternate I used to be in a position to get pleasure from with Keith Richards. He mentioned, ‘Man, if we’re fortunate sufficient to comply with the phrases of Muddy Waters, he mentioned, ‘Do it till you die.” After all, Muddy Waters was fortunate sufficient to just do that. He was enjoying proper up till the tip. So we needs to be lucky, I suppose.”

Final September, Gibbons instructed Basic Rock that ZZ TOP that he and drummer Frank Beard had a dialogue about their future plans after the “completely surprising” July 2021 loss of life of their longtime bandmate, bassist Dusty Hill.

“Though Dusty had his bouts with this and that, he appeared to bounce again every time,” Gibbons mentioned. “And in reality once we had been getting ready for the tour we had a seven-days deliberate rehearsal and the whole lot was straight forward. Dusty wasn’t actually out of types till we confirmed up for the primary efficiency. We received by the night however I might inform he wasn’t 100%. And eventually he mentioned: ‘I might prefer to take a second and go see the doctor and see if we are able to iron out what’s received me on the ropes.’ He returned to Texas and made an appointment to see the doc. And it was that night time he went to sleep and it was… lights out. It was simply… it was completely surprising.”

Relating to ZZ TOP‘s resolution to rent the band’s longtime guitar tech Elwood Francis, who has labored with ZZ TOP for greater than 20 years, to step in for Hill, Gibbons mentioned: “Effectively, it was an surprising actuality that landed not solely in my lap, however allowed me to hunker down and get critical with Mister Beard. And the 2 of us each agreed that as an honor to the legacy of the band, we felt it could be extra appropriate to attempt to choose up sticks and keep on, reasonably than simply throw within the towel. And thankfully, with the arrival of Elwood Francis that chance grew to become a actuality. And right here we’re in the present day having as a lot enjoyable up there on stage as we ever have.”

ZZ TOP performed its first present following Hill‘s loss of life on July 30, 2021 in Tuscaloosa, Alabama.

Francis made his reside debut with ZZ TOP on July 23, 2021 on the Village Commons in New Lenox, Illinois after Hill was compelled to return to Texas to handle a hip subject.

Hill joined ZZ TOP a yr after its formation in 1969.

Again in 2017, Gibbons instructed Panhandle PBS that there have been no ideas given to a doable retirement. “The needle is at ‘F’ and we’re nonetheless on the market on the observe, typically lapping ourselves,” he mentioned. “‘Retirement’? We do not know the which means of the phrase, but it surely does embody ‘tire’ so, relaxation assured, we have got loads of tread left.”