Try this on for size…Xiu Xiu covers the classic ZZ Top song “Sharp Dressed Man” on an upcoming split 7″ with the Italian minimal wave band (r). Due out December 8th on Polyvinyl, the split 7″ really started with Xiu Xiu’s cover of the ZZ Top song for The A.V. Club this past June, but the actual 7″ came about with a suggestion by (r) that the two bands do a ZZ Top and ZZ Bottom split. Here’s what Xiu Xiu’s Jamie Stewart has to say about the whole endeavor:
“It took me a long time to come around to ZZ Top. When I was a kid I thought they were a joke band and their beards and campy sexuality freaked me out. Later on Xiu Xiu tours, we would and still do always listen to the Black Flag tour diary “Get In The Van.” wherein Henry Rollins mentions playing ZZ Top to all the punks in England, telling them it was the new exploited record and watching them cry. This was funny and I thought hmmm. Then after watching a long jag of music documentaries, Billy Gibbons, of ZZ Top, time and time again was a commentator. He was always incredibly smart, clearly deeply devoted to the history of music and insane looking. We were asked by the AV Club cover’s series to play a song from a list they had chosen. Everything on the list was a bunch of 90s RnB that I was never into or lame-o indie rock EXCEPT for “Sharp Dressed Man.” The stars had aligned. I had no idea what a radical guitar part it was and what a pleasure it was to learn, by the end of the song I had to have 4 different fuzz and distortion pedals on to make it as zonked out as it needs to be. Walking down the streets of Torino on tour and talking with dear friend and long time collaborator Fabrizio Palumbo of (r) and his husband Paul Beauchamp. I mentioned we were covering the song. They said very matter of factly, Xiu Xiu as ZZ Top and (r) as ZZ Bottom. Let’s do a split 7 inch. He sent in his perfect minimal, experimental, goth, cabaret version of “Gimme All Your Lovin.” A perversion made in heaven was born…”
Watch Xiu Xiu’s cover of “Sharp Dressed Man” below and check out the band’s upcoming live dates after the video embed…
Watch: Xiu Xiu “Sharp Dressed Man (ZZ Top Cover)”
Xiu Xiu Tour Dates 2017
11/10 – Somerville, MA @ ONCE @ Hassle Fest 9
11/21 – Athens, Greece @ Temple
11/22 – Milan, Italy @ Circolo Magnolia
11/23 – Turin, Italy @ Astoria
11/24 – Fribourg, Switzerland @ Fri-Son
11/25 – Luzern, Switzerland @ Neubad Keller
11/26 – Heidelberg, Germany @ Karlstorbahnhof
11/27 – Erfurt, Germany @ Frau Korte
11/28 – Dresden, Germany @ GrooveStation
01/06 – Chicago, IL @ Thalia Hall *
* Xiu Xiu Plays the Music of Twin Peaks
