ZZ Top to start recording in the autumn

ZZ Top are doin' it Texas style on the road this summer, but the group is also thinking about its next album. Guitarist Billy F. Gibbons told us that he expects the band to start work on a follow-up to 2003's Mescalero by the end of the year:
[ click here to listen if you have a Backstage Pass] "We'll probably go back to our studio. We've got a nice room in Hollywood, California, and then of course the old standby Foam Box Recordings there in Houston, Texas. We're hoping our traditional layover through the holidays might give us some time to get into the studio, sometime after Thanksgiving and before Christmas."

Gibbons will publish a book, titled Billy F. Gibbons: Rock + Roll Gearhead, on October 15th. In addition to being a memoir, it also documents his collections of vintage guitars and automobiles.