By Jeb Wright

ZZ Top will hit the road this summer with Aerosmith, a concert tandem made in rock n� roll heaven.  All eight band members are in the Hall of Fame and the set lists promise to be filled with nothing but classic rock staples. 

Bearded vocalist and guitarist Billy Gibbons took some time to answer a few questions about the upcoming tour and about some classic ZZ Top moments and songs.  The result is a fun and quick read that takes a tiny peek into the mind of the rambunctious Reverend.

Billy clears up what �La Grange� is really about, and reveals the moment of inspiration for the song �Legs.�  Read on to discover how �Heard It On The X� and �I�m Bad, I�m Nationwide� came to be, and how part of Muddy Waters� home became one of Billy�s guitars. 

Jeb:  I think ZZ Top and Aerosmith touring together is going to be the highest grossing tour, perhaps of all time.  Was there any discussion as to who would open and close?   

Billy:  We're guests on Aerosmith's tour, but the main idea behind this outing is, clearly, the alphabet.  Both bands are doing what they do from A to Z.

Jeb: Both bands feature all original members and all 8 of you are in the Rock N Roll Hall of Fame. What are the odds that Aerosmith and ZZ Top would survive the rigors of the road, not to mention the rock n' roll lifestyle, to see this tour come to fruition?

Billy: I think the operative word is, in fact, "odds." That's kind of who we are, so we just kept at it all this time because we really couldn't think of anything else.  You know what we always say? "Same three guys, same three chords."

Jeb:  Are there any set list surprises that you can tell us about?  Will you be pulling out any songs that have not been performed for some time?

Billy:  We're thinking of pulling out some songs that we've never performed at all.  Sometimes we come up with new stuff at the sound check, so if we like it, we may try it on the audience later on.

Jeb:  Tell me about the moves that Dusty and yourself do... how much time do you spend choreographing them?

Billy: We spent the better part of a half an hour and that's, perhaps, an exaggeration, so let's split the difference and say 15 minutes. But Paula Abdul probably spent far more than that getting the choreography together for our videos.

Jeb:  The big rumor is that ZZ is in the studio with Rick Rubin.  

Billy: We've been working on some songs, but this tour, and some European dates have called us out of the studio, so no breath holding.  Let's just say we hope to have something new out before we celebrate our 41st anniversary.

Jeb: I am fascinated that you use a peso for a guitar pick.  Where did you first pick that up and what are the advantageous? Will a US coin suffice in a pinch or is a peso the way to go?

Billy: That goes way back to the earliest days of the band.  Legitimate guitar pics were not easy to find in some of the places we found ourselves in the hinterlands of Texas, but Mexican spare change was plentiful.  Never tried a US coin, but don't want to harm the economic recovery by taking anything out of circulation.

Jeb: Tell me about ZZ Top's First Annual Texas-Size Rompin' Stompin' Barndance and Bar-B-Q.

Billy:   100,000 fans, scores of semis, tons of equipment, and the same three guys and the same three chords.  Seemed like a good idea at the time and, amazingly, it was.  We just figured it would be fun for anybody who showed up and, as it turned out, lots of them did.

Jeb:  My favorite ZZ cover is actually El Loco.  There must be a good story behind that one!

Billy:  It's kind of a follow up to Rio Grande Mud in terms of the look.  Just us three shuffling along in our jumpsuits and sombreros, in that West Texas sand.  Kind of a surreal "thang."

Jeb: I know you have been asked this a million times... But when did you design the Eliminator car, and did the car inspire the music and the videos, or was it the other way around?

Billy:  The trinity of what we do is: cars, girls and rock and roll.  We were just trying to provide two out of three elements; the car -- as evidenced by the videos -- drew the gals.

Jeb:  How is Hogzilla?  Where do you come up with these ideas?  Speaking of your creative mind, any new cars in the works?

Billy:  CadZZilla begat HogZZilla.  When you have a fine car on hand, you just, naturally want a motorcycle escort, but we wanted something to match.  Thinking about SidecarZZilla now that we're thinking of it.

Jeb: Who is John Bolin and what does he mean to your career?

Billy:  He's a wonderfully talented artisan based in Boise, Idaho.  He makes the finest instruments imaginable.  We've been working together for more than 25 years, and he's made over 100 instruments for us.  Can't say enough about how brilliant he is and the quality of his work.

Jeb: Tell me the story about Muddywood Guitar.  

Billy:  We heard that a tornado had lifted the roof off the "shotgun" shack down on Stovall's Plantation in Clarksdale, Mississippi, that had been Muddy Waters' childhood home.  We were presented with one of the timbers from that fallen roof, and decided to have it made into a guitar in tribute to the guy we owe so much.  We got a representation of the muddy Mississippi River painted from the headstock through the length of the instrument to reflect his Mississippi Delta roots.

Jeb: Folklore says that Dusty and you truly didn't know each other was growing a long beard.  
 
Billy:  It was one of those classic double takes.  You look at a guy you know, and then it takes the brain a few seconds to compute the fact that something is very different, and you look again. Happened to both of us at that special moment so it was kind of like looking in a mirror -- twice.

Jeb: Did Gillette really offer you a million dollars to shave your beard? Did you consider it?  I would shave my head for MUCH less!

Billy:  We were too afraid to shave for fear of what we'd see, and no amount of money is worth that!

Jeb: I am going to end the interview by asking you questions about some ZZ Top songs. Is "La Grange" about the Best Little Whorehouse in Texas? Where did you get the idea for that riff and the 'huh huh huh huh" intro?

Billy:  Let's just say that the song is about a long-standing "coming of age" tradition in our part of the world.  As far as the "huh, huhs� it's kind of our version of fill-in-the-blanks, or use your imagination.  No need to describe in words what you mind would do a better job imagining. 

I played an older-model Stratocaster [on the song].  It had a particular sound that seemed to work with that kind of shuffle.  Buddy Holly�s �Peggy Sue Got Married� inspired the closing line, �But I might be mistaken.�  That place was the scene of many a "rite of passage."  The movie The Best Little Whorehouse In Texas made it famous after the fact.

Jeb: Tell me about "Francine"?

Billy: Stevie P., who's mentioned in the song, is one of the co-writers.  We were songwriting pals, and wound up collaborating on that with Kenny Cordray, who was a great guitarist.  The Spanish version was a translation by a friend of my dad's and Leo, of the famous Leo's Mexican Food Restaurant, who contributed the food for the inner spread of Tres Hombres.

Jeb: What was the inspiration behind "Jesus Done Left Chicago"

Billy: The two songs, "Waitin' For The Bus" and �Jesus Just Left Chicago, were written separately during sessions that were not too far apart.  We were in the process of compiling the tracks for the album Tres Hombres, and that segue was a fortunate miscalculation by the engineer.  He had been attempting to splice out some blank tape, and the result is that the two come off as a single work.  It just seemed to work.

Jeb: "Heard it On the X" was a famous illegal radio station... what is the
story?

Billy: XERF came into Texas, and there was XEG and XERB, all those great border stations.  The Mexican government allowed broadcast facilities to far exceed the 50,000-watt maximum for U.S. stations.  XERF had a 500,000-watt transmitter, so you could hear it in parts of Hawaii and Western Europe.  In goes without saying that, even though Dusty, Frank, and I grew up in different parts of Texas, we all listened to the same stations, and, as a result, have a lot of the same musical and cultural reference points.  Wolfman Jack used to push a collection called Uncle George's Record Pack, the content of which seemed to change each week.

Jeb: "I'm Bad, I'm Nationwide" must be autobiographical. Do you remember coming up with the music on this one?

Billy: We saw a performance one evening, featuring Freddie King.  At the conclusion of the show, we were attempting to describe the fierce intensity of that night's experience, that kind of omnipotent badness that is of a universal proportion.  This seemed like the way to go.

Jeb: "Cheap Sunglasses" is another famous track.  People actually buying cheap sunglasses and coming to the gig must blow your mind....

Billy: It was long before the day of the convenience-store spin-around rack of $1.99 sunglasses.  You could buy Ray-Ban Wayfarers back then for five dollars.  All of our heroes wore that style.
 
Jeb: "Heaven, Hell or Houston" is another great title.  What is the inspiration?

Billy: It's one of the spots-the corner of Austin and Capitol, where the three of us used to gather.  The Old Quarter was a fascinating place.  It was where poets came to meet, and it was a real up-close-and-in-your-face kind of musical scene.  Dusty functioned as part of the house band for a time.  It was a hangout.  There really is a Chandelier Island chain off the Louisiana coast.

Jeb: "Legs" took it all to a new level.  Whose legs is "Legs" about? 

Billy: The song is our attempt to touch upon all body parts and adornments.  We were making a mad dash to a practice session, and it began to rain, as it so famously does in Houston on an unexpected basis.  There was this tall, gorgeous creature across a wide boulevard-a four-lane road.  As it began to rain, there was immediate concurrence on the part of all three of us: "We've got to turn around and give her a ride.  We can't let her get drenched."  We hadn't gone 50 feet, and, like vapor, she was gone.  She used her own legs to get her out of the rain.  �She's got legs and knows how to use 'em,� was the thought that struck us.  Doing the video a second time was a gift.

Jeb:  Last one:  If the Reverend Billy could perform the nuptials for any couple, living or dead, who would it be?

Billy: I got into the marriage biz too late to help Prince Charles and Diana out, but I'm willing for do it for Prince William when he finds the right gal.  

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