This writer had been subconsciously drawn to ZZ’s Tres Hombres (1973) several times over the late summer without quite knowing why. But maybe now it’s clear.
Drummer Frank Beard died at his Richmond, Texas ranch on 17 August after cancelling an appearance with ZZ at the Hollywood Bowl a few weeks earlier.
He had a lovely, flowing style. He never hit particularly hard but tuned his drums beautifully. Comparisons to Jim Gordon, Alex Van Halen and John Bonham are totally relevant. His playing on Tres and Deguello was every bit as subtle and tasteful as Gordon’s on Steely’s Pretzel Logic.
When this writer used to play the drums at school, ZZ’s ‘Gimme All Your Lovin’ was by far the most requested beat (though it now sounds a bit like a combination of real drums and an Oberheim DMX machine…).
No one played a Texas shuffle like Beard, with formidable kick-drum technique. ‘La Grange’ is much imitated, never bettered. There were many other tricks in his box too.
He was apparently an early adopter of hearing protection, with those big headphones, pre-click-track/sequencers(?). Photographer Ross Halfin also told a funny story about an ashtray being built into his kit so he could smoke throughout live sets.
Beard was famously modest about his skills and hardly gave any interviews. And yes he was generally the only ZZ member sans beard, despite the name.
ZZ’s whole 1980 Rockpalast gig is worth watching but here’s a fine version (with not great sound quality) of a movingtheriver favourite. Zappa meets ZZ, as someone said on YouTube, with ingenious use of backing tapes and a cooking Beard groove. Even after watching it a few times it’s still hard to work out how they did it. Play LOUD…
