Clutch Cover ZZ Top’s “Precious and Grace”

I caught ZZ Top live at Hellfest in France last month, my first time ever seeing the band, and during their performance my drunk ass tweeted thusly: “If ZZ Top didn’t have beards, would anyone care about them?”

I was promptly shouted down by the masses with various iterations of “Yes, you fuckwit,” so I stand corrected and humbled. One thing I’d like to clarify, though: I wasn’t implying ZZ Top weren’t worth liking without the beard, just positing that the beards played a big role in their popularity the same way masks do for Slipknot and Ghost, corpse paint does for myriad black metal bands, etc. Which is also totally fine: sometimes a good gimmick really adds to a band’s appeal even if the songs are already good!

Anyhoo, Clutch have covered ZZ Top’s “Precious and Grace” as part of their Weathermaker Vault Series, and I can’t believe it’s never occurred to me before but, holy shit, Clutch are massively influenced by these guys! The boogie, the vibe, the bluesy riffs, and yes, the beards… Clutch are totally modern day ZZ Top. So explains frontman Neil Fallon:

“It should be fairly obvious by now that Clutch are huge fans of ZZ Top. They’re a band that we grew up listening to – and we still listen to them to this day. ‘Precious And Grace,’ from their classic Tres Hombres LP, is easily one of our favorite ZZ Top songs and that’s really the only story behind the choice.”

Have a gander below. It’s a fine cover as Clutch are a top-notch band, but Fallon and co. still have a ways to go towards matching the ‘Top in the beard department.

[via Metal Injection]