Friday, Sept. 24, 2004 | 9:01 a.m.
Veteran blues-rock trio ZZ Top are most identifiable by two of their members' beards, but frontman Billy Gibbons insists growing the famously long facial hair was never a scripted effort.
"We all got lazy," Gibbons, the band's guitarist and lead vocalist, said. "We just decided to stop shaving one day, and didn't look back."
In a Sept. 17 phone interview from ZZ Top's bus en route to Bend, Ore., Gibbons recalled the exact circumstances surrounding his and bassist Dusty Hill's unusual makeovers.
"As I remember, we took a vacation at the bicentennial year, '76," Gibbons said. "Dusty went to Mexico, and I went to Europe. And even though we were speaking by phone, we didn't have any face-to-face exchanges.
"Then after a period of time we decided to get back and start playing again. And we walked in, and there you have it: beards. That's how it happened."
Gibbons, 54, and Hill, 55, haven't been clean-shaven since.
The trio's third member, 55-year-old drummer Frank Beard, is famous, ironically, for not having a beard. But Gibbons recalls a time when that wasn't the case.
"If you pull out the inner sleeve on (1979's) 'Deguello' CD, there is one rare photograph of Frank Beard -- the man with no beard -- where he actually sports a little bit of a beard," Gibbons said. "But he dropped out of the running early on. He looked at us and said, 'No, I want to be able to go to the shopping mall without being recognized.'"
ZZ Top brings its iconic beards, along with a truck-full of classic rock hits, to the Las Vegas Hilton Theater for 10 p.m. performances tonight and Saturday.
The shows cap a 46-city North American tour that began on June 25 in ZZ Top's home state of Texas.
"It's been a mean, mean grind this go-around. Just last week everyone was looking forward to getting a bit of a holiday," Gibbons said. "But now that closing night is approaching, everybody's saying, 'Well, couldn't we get an extension?' "
The band's best-known songs include "La Grange," "Tush," "Gimme All Your Lovin'," "Sharp Dressed Man" and "Legs," all of which are included on a new two-disc collection, "Rancho Texicano: The Very Best of ZZ Top."
That greatest-hits set follows 14th studio album "Mescalero," which was released in April 2003.
Gibbons said that on the band's current tour, he and his two mates are also digging deep into their catalog, which stretches back to an appropriately titled 1970 debut album, "ZZ Top's First Album."
"We're playing songs that we don't usually perform," Gibbons said. "We've selected some new ones and some old ones that are kind of off the map, and we're having a blast. We're still trying to learn some of them."
The band takes input from fans into consideration when preparing its set lists, varying them from night to night, according to Gibbons.
"We rely on our Web site," he said. "There's a pretty active exchange between band and fans, and we keep a pretty close watch on any requests that may be coming in. We'll change up from town to town as we watch."
The ZZ Top that takes the stage tonight will differ from the band that played the Mandalay Bay Events Center in August 2003 in one significant respect: The three musicians are now members of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
In March the trio joined Prince, the late George Harrison, Jackson Browne, Bob Seger, Traffic and others in the Hall's 2004 class, which was inducted in a ceremony at the Waldorf-Astoria hotel in New York City.
"There's really no backstage there," Gibbons said. "You have the main ballroom, you have a temporary stage set up and then behind that is the kitchen. So here we were, dodging souffles and having a conversation with Keith Richards (laughs). It was the just the best."
Richards, legendary guitarist for the Rolling Stones, signed on to give ZZ Top's induction speech.
"He's been a friend for a long, long time, and he sure treated us right," Gibbons said. "It was quite an honor not only to be receiving this, but to have Keith Richards step up to bring us in was a real treat. We were quite thrilled about it."
Among the ZZ Top memorabilia included in the band's exhibit at the Hall in Cleveland: the red 1933 Ford coupe featured in several MTV videos during the trio's 1980s resurgence.
"We were wondering the other day if we'll ever get to drive that crazy car of ours," Gibbons said. "And I said, 'Well, it's got a nice air-conditioned home for the year. I think we'll be fine without it.' "
Of course, Gibbons' and Hill's beards are also prominent in photos throughout ZZ Top's Hall of Fame display. Gibbons wouldn't have it any other way.
"It goes without saying that now, it's part and parcel to the whole ball of wax," he said. "I haven't spent too much time at the mirror."
In 1984 Gillette reportedly offered Gibbons and Hill $1 million apiece to shave their beards. They refused.
Twenty years later, would the two men take the cash?
"I asked Dusty that the other day," Gibbons said. "And he said, 'The answer's the same. I'm still not sure what's beneath all of this (hair).' "
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