“Soulful souls seeking solace”: The ZZ Top song written in the eye of a storm
They say that you shouldn’t judge a book by its cover, but when you are looking at a band who are as much of a statement as ZZ Top, it’s hard not to. The fun-loving, beer-drinking party-goers are the forerunners of rock, blues and soul, as their music was a unique blend of all three, which was as intoxicating as their image. It’s hard to deny the band their place as rock ‘n’ roll legends, but their talent and impact run deeper than long beards, hats and sunglasses.
There is undoubtedly a signature sound that ZZ Top has championed throughout their careers. Billy Gibbons’ unique style of playing blues guitar with plenty of added swing separates them from many other bands they might find themselves labelled alongside. That swing has inspired a lot of their work, but the themes of their music come from plenty of different places.
The band had a great reputation as a live act, meaning they spent much time on the road. When performing and partying are two front-running aspects of your life, it’s only natural that you wind up writing about them. That was the case on their 1973 hit, ‘Beer Drinkers & Hell Raisers’, which formed part of their album Tres Hombres.
In the song, we see the band lean further into the partying aspect of their lives. There is an infectious energy about the track that seems to resonate not only with listeners but also with other artists. Capturing the heart of rock ‘n’ roll and life on the road, the song was also covered by Motörhead and Van Halen.
What’s interesting about the song is that it wasn’t written backstage at a show or during a glamorous after-party; it was much more grounded than that. The song took shape as the band was driven from one show to another and found themselves in the eye of a storm, desperately looking for shelter. In their pursuit, they ended up coming across a lot more than just cover.
“On to a gig in Phoenix, we were driving through a West Texas windstorm,” he recalled, “We, the band, were waiting to discover a place with some safe ground cover when the late-night lights of a roadside joint appeared. It was just across the line outside El Paso into New Mexico.”
The band eventually found some shelter and linked up with some like-minded people. As they found themselves surrounded by hippies and lovers of life, the song practically wrote itself. “We ducked in quick and came face to face with our kind of folks,” said Gibbons, “Those soulful souls seeking solace, not only out of the dust and sand but out of mind. What chance does one get better than that? We joined the gathering and started scribbling.”
