ZZ TOP’S BILLY F GIBBONS ANOUNCES THIRD SOLO ALBUM AND RELEASES SINGLE
ZZ Top front man Billy F Gibbons has wrapped recording and post-production of his third solo album, Hardware. The album is set for release June 4th by Concord Records
Produced by Gibbons along with Matt Sorum and Mike Fiorentino with engineer Chad Shlosser providing additional production, the album was recorded at Escape Studio in California’s high desert, near Palm Springs.
The album’s release is preceded by the release of the single ‘West Coast Junkie’ today. Check out the video below
Drummer Matt Sorum, a veteran of GNR, Velvet Revolver and The Cult is on drum duties and he is joined in the album’s core band by guitarist Austin Hanks. The same line up that recorded The Big Bad Blues, Gibbon’s earlier solo effort for Concord and winner of the Blues Foundation’s Blues Music Award.
The album features a guest appearance from blues duo Larkin Poe and eleven of the twelve songs have been penned by Gibbons, Sorum, Fiorentino and Shlosser. The sole exception is “Hey Baby, Que Paso,” originally recorded by the Texas Tornados.
The album title is a tribute to legendary ZZ Top producer Joe Hardy who worked with the band from the mid 1980’s.
Billy says of the album;
“We holed up in the desert for a few weeks in the heat of the summer and that in itself was pretty intense. To let off steam we just ‘let it rock’ and that’s what Hardware is really all about. For the most part, it’s a raging rocker but always mindful of the desert’s implicit mystery.”
Hardware is available from June 4th on Concord Records and s available to pre order here
