Billy Gibbons will release his third solo album, Hardware, next month, but the ZZ Top frontman says he’s expecting to turn his attention to working on new music with his famous band in the near future.
As previously reported, Gibbons recorded Hardware last year with guitarist Austin Hanks and ex-Guns N’ Roses drummer Matt Sorum at a studio in the California high desert.
The 71-year-old Rock & Roll Hall of Famer tells ABC Audio, “As I was working…on Hardware, I was feeding rough tracks back to Texas, where [ZZ Top drummer] Frank [Beard] and [bassist] Dusty [Hill] were holding down the fort, making heads or tails out of some of the starter pieces.”
He adds, “And it looks like, now having wrapped up Hardware…I get to tiptoe back in and start peeling the onion with both Frank and Dusty. It’ll be ‘ZZ Top Land’ quite soon here.”
ZZ Top’s most recent studio album, La Futura, was released in 2012. Since then, Gibbons has put out two solo efforts — Perfectamundo and The Big Bad Blues — while Hardware is scheduled to arrive on June 4.
Meanwhile, Gibbons tells ABC Audio that he’s excited to get back on the road with ZZ Top after the band was forced to postpone its 2020 tour plans because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“[T]he curtain’s going to rise sooner than later, and I feel fairly certain I can join the multitudes and the many that are ready to get back and go to it,” Billy declares. “It’s time.”
ZZ Top currently is scheduled to resume touring with a June 23 concert in El Paso, Texas. The band has over 25 total dates on its 2021 itinerary, including a five-show Las Vegas engagement at The Venetian Theatre in October.
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