RIP: Frank Beard. Damn...

[Steve Haynie]

https://www.usatoday.com/story/entertainment/music/2026/08/18/frank-beard-zz-top-dies/91311435007/ 

 

[Disturber]

Sad. There are two drummers from the 1970s who could create extreme greatness, anchoring the band, with what seems like very little effort and a lot of swing. Creating a totally unique sound for their bands just as important as the guitar riffs and lead vocals. You know it's them behind the kit from the first bar of the song. That is Frank Beard and Phil Rudd.

RIP. Legend.

[Saul Goodman]

Goddammit. I'm tired of this getting old shit.

[mrjamiam]

RIP Frank.  Same three guys, same three chords had a good run.

[The Shark]

Frank passed today.  Now, only Billy remains.  Damn.

[DaveH]

https://ultimateclassicrock.com/frank-beard-zz-top-drummer-dies/

Just saw this. 77 isn't *that* old (funny how your perception changes as you get older.) RIP

[Biz Prof]

RIP.

Well, this should be the retirement signal for Billy Gibbons. End of an era.

[Willie G. Moseley]

The gears in BFG's brain are always turning, I predict he'll come up with something that will keep him active and in the public eye but able to go at his own pace. Whatever he comes up with, if not a-one-original-member ZZ TOP, will still be innovative, with great guitar tones (I'm surprised at how much I enjoy Raw). Non-stop activity is simply Gibbons' style.  David Blayney's  Sharp Dressed Men (a 1994 tome) would have a reader think Gibbons and Ham were "management" and Hill and Beard were "labor". I agree with that observation, and had read the book back then on BFG's recommendation.

[Dutchman]

Billy's been doing some stuff with Guthrie Trapp kind of a tex mex style. I like it.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=w3gPGmGbVro

Edited 20 hours ago by Dutchman

[veatch]

RIP

 

: /

[specialk]

 

[topekatj]

[Willie G. Moseley]

[Spinaltap]

RIP, it was a great run...

[gorch]

Un Hombre

[cmatthes]

They were always a fun band live…R.I.P. “Rube”… 

[topekatj]

1 hour ago, cmatthes said:

They were always a fun band live…R.I.P. “Rube”… 

They’s some cool old geezers.

[mrjamiam]

The show goes on, it seems.  Unless this is a hallucination of our AI overlords.

[topekatj]

Apologies for reposting this photo a second time however, I think that the resolution is better on this image, plus there’s so much here that could be easily missed at first glance:

Dusty with his original Fender Telecaster bass, Frank wearing what appear to be bowling shoes. Frank and Billy sitting on the Kustom PA head, Billy cradling Pearly Gates, and lastly, the outline of the Marshall stack over Billy’s left shoulder.

Thanks for indulging me.

 

RIP Frank & Dust.

 

 

Edited 5 hours ago by topekatj

[topekatj]

Rock on forever Boys.

[tbonesullivan]

Such a shame. Aren't they currently on tour? I don't know if this was a sudden thing or whether Frank had been sick. Still, he had a good run, and made it a lot longer than so many of their contemporaries did. Such a solid player, and him and the double kick drums go waaaayyy back.

[alantig]

5 hours ago, mrjamiam said:

The show goes on, it seems.  Unless this is a hallucination of our AI overlords.

In his initial statement, BFG said that Frank wanted the show to continue. 

Edited 1 hour ago by alantig

[topekatj]

1 hour ago, tbonesullivan said:

Such a shame. Aren't they currently on tour? I don't know if this was a sudden thing or whether Frank had been sick. Still, he had a good run, and made it a lot longer than so many of their contemporaries did. Such a solid player, and him and the double kick drums go waaaayyy back.

 

 

ETA: Frank hadn’t performed with Elwood and Billy for at least 9 months.

Edited 4 hours ago by topekatj

[tommy p]

His playing on stuff like Heard It on the X and Manic Mechanic was crazy.  Kind of a secret weapon like Michael Anthony.  RIP.

[tbonesullivan]

1 hour ago, topekatj said:

ETA: Frank hadn’t performed with Elwood and Billy for at least 9 months.

Wow, I didn't know he had been sick. Reading that he had formally left March 2026, after leaving in late 2025 for surgery that was expected to cause a temporary absence. Jeez that sucks.

Any, looks like the tour goes on. Thankfully Elwood has been with the band for decades already, and there's also lots of long time staff there to keep things going as long as BFG wants to.

I just pulled up this rig rundown from 15 years ago and man did Elwood look different