Tube Snake Boogie

I was cruising along staying busy playing guitar on my jazz gigs. Every now and then there would be a more pop-jazz gig to add to my Sunday morning gig at Good Sam Episcopal Church. And the occasional Bluegrass session. And out of the blue I got asked to play bass in a ZZ Top tribute band.

I wasn’t a fan back in the day. Billy’s a good guitar player but I was into fusion and polytonality and harmonic complexity. More into Steely Dan and Gentle Giant and Police than ZZ Top. But it’s one thing to listen to Top and quite another to play it.

We call our tribute band Tube Snake Boogie. It’s fun. Big grooves. Boots. Jeans. Leather jackets. Sunglasses. Smutty lyrics. What’s not to love?

Mike Laughbaum, Ken Herrera and I have been rehearsing for a while. We have a 17 song set that takes about 80 minutes. Mike sings Billy’s parts and I’m covering the late Dusty Hill’s parts. Here’s our 7 song 4 minute demo.