ZZ Top fans, take heed – Banger Films, in conjunction with Eagle Rock Entertainment, is making the first-ever feature length documentary about the famed Houston rock band, and they need your help gathering rare photos, videos and audio. Known for their long beards and praised for their technical mastery, humorous lyrics and blistering live shows, the enigmatic power trio has influenced countless rock, pop and country artists over the past 47 years, but there’s very little archival material documenting the band’s mysterious past. That’s where the fans come in, according to filmmakers Scot McFadyen and Sam Dunn.
Over the past decade, McFadyen and Dunn have co-written and directed docs about Rush, Alice Cooper, Iron Maiden and the global impact of metal as a musical genre. Their goal for the still untitled ZZ Top documentary is to feature interviews with the band as well as their friends, family and colleagues, alongside never-before-seen footage, photos and audio tracks, to detail the group’s history. The band was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2004 and earned seven platinum records and 11 gold records.
ZZ Top is notable for having the most consistently stable lineup in classic rock. Singer/guitarist Billy F Gibbons, bassist/singer Dusty Hill and drummer Frank Beard continue to impress audiences, drawing material from their 15 studio albums with combined record sales of over 25 million in the U.S. alone. Timeless hits like “La Grange,” “Legs,” “Sharp Dressed Man” and “Beer Drinkers & Hell Raisers” have kept generations of audiences coming back decade after decade. The band is continuing to rock the road well into 2016, taking their spring Hell Raisers Tour to more than two dozen cities in the U.S. and Canada, with focus on the Midwest, Pacific Northwest and American South.
“We’re excited that Banger Films have undertaken the challenge of setting the ZZ Top story into motion,” Gibbons said in a statement. “The band is enthusiastic about the effort. Yes, it’s going to be a fact-based documentary yet considering the subject matter, we expect there to be a continuing element of the band’s infamous surrealism.” (Read Best Classic Bands‘ review of Gibbons’ recent solo debut here.)
Fans and collectors who have ZZ Top footage, photos or audio that they would like to share with the filmmakers are encouraged to contact zzfans@bangerfilms.com with the subject line “ZZ Top Fan Submission.”
