ZZ Top guitarist Billy Gibbons has told BraveWords.com that he wouldn’t shave his famous beard off for any amount of money, not even two million dollars.
Back in 1984, Gibbons and ZZ Top bassist/vocalist Dusty Hill were offered one million dollars each to shave their beards off by razor company Gillete; both musicians flatly turned down the proposition.
Now, Gibbons is adamant that even if twice the amount of money was on offer he would still decline. “No dice,” said Gibbons. “Even adjusted for inflation, this isn’t going to fly. The prospect of seeing oneself in the mirror clean-shaven is too close to a Vincent Price film… a prospect not to be contemplated, no matter the compensation.”
Gibbons also explained why ZZ Top has decided to go digital for their new four song EP, ‘Texicali,’ which is purchasable exclusively through iTunes. “We’re in the music making business, not the platform-specific music making business. Whichever format the fan may want to listen is fine with us; vinyl, wax cylinders, shellac, 8tracks, iPods, “cloud” storage, cranial implants… just as long as it’s loud and rockin’!”
Gibbons said that ZZ Top’s latest single ‘I Gotsta Get Paid,’ which is the band’s first single in nine years, was inspired by a rap song called ’25 Lighters’ by Houston-based rap artist’s DJ DMD, Lil’ Keke and Fat Pat, “Our studio engineer, Mr. G.L. ‘G-Mane’ Moon brought that one to my attention from waaaay back in the day when we got to hang out with some of the greats of Houston underground rap at Digital Services Recording Studio back in H-town, including the Screwed Up Click. We heard DJ DMD, Li’l Keke and Fat Pat’s ’25 Lighters’ and a fire was, so to speak, set. It took a while from that little spark, if you will, to turn into the conflagration that ‘I Gotsta Get Paid’ seems to have become.”
He continued: “We were bound and determined to figure out a way to get our own song out of it by employing the “chopped and screwed” method that is the hallmark of the Screwed Up Click and that took quite a bit of time and there were quite a few distractions along the way.”
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