ZZ Rider

A thing of beauty is a joy forever, especially if it’s a roaring hunk of steel. In his new book, “Billy F Gibbons: Rock + Roll Gearhead,” ZZ Top’s unreconstructed axeman amplifies on life, music and his collections of six-strings (more than 600 custom “war clubs”) and hot rods (he still yearns to add a Buckminster Fuller Dymaxion to the stable). A Texas native who splits his time between Houston and Hollywood when not on tour, Gibbons chatted us up about the blues, fine machinery and the rewards of surrealism.

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Why do heavy metal machines loom so large in your life story?

I picked up a guitar and learned to play. There was a nightclub to perform at, but I needed a car. It’s always been cars and guitars. And if there’s a few pretty girls along the way, that’s no problem. The girls get the [car] keys.

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You first came to L.A. in its rock heyday of 1967. What was that like?

We pulled up to Gazzarri’s on the Strip, having driven from Houston [in] 36 hours. We started unloading, and it was no questions asked, just, “Come on in.” The famous DJ, the Real Don Steel, was the house MC. He said, “You guys are pretty good. Who hired you to come out here?” I said, “Nobody, we just showed up!”

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ZZ Top toured 10 months in the last year. What’s the ZZ sound?

It’s a raw attempt to maintain and reinterpret the great American art form called the blues. My favorite period was about ’49 to ‘60-’61. I always go back to this shoebox of 45s from that window. Of course, then you get the reggae box.

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Why make L.A. your second home?

There’s this history of westward motion. This is the last stop. I’m happy living among other extremists. You have to be an extremist to make it this far.

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What are some of your favorite things about the city?

The layout demands a lot of behind-the-wheel time. The aromas in this town, the restaurants fuming garlic and chilies. I don’t know any place better to get a spectrum of the aromatic whatevers that wind up wafting through the car.

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Hot rods have gone from declasse to hot and trendy. Why now?

Hot rodding is personality incarnate. The saying goes, any man can restore a car, but it takes a real man to cut one up. In this town it’s an expression of style.

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How did your custom guitar collection become an addiction?

Starting with Pearly Gates, our famed 1959 Les Paul. The attempt to find one that would equal that instrument stimulated the search to get another. They all have a different character. Design aesthetics were not overlooked in the electric guitar.

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How would you summarize your life philosophy?

It was easier to try and interpret Howlin’ Wolf than to try to be Bob Dylan. Me and my compadres were not as word-wise as Dylan, but we understood the secret language in the poetic literature of the blues, and we believed Salvador Dali: At some point in the not too distant future, the world will be surreal. We’ve become the Dalis of the Delta.

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Any advice for young Dalis of the Delta?

The quote is, listen and listen good. And as Muddy Waters stated, you don’t have to be the best one, just try and be a good one.

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Is driving about how fast you get there or the quality of the ride?

The ride. Since the girls keep the car keys, we usually wind up in a taxi.