The legendary bluesman talks about the Tres Hombres album art and the inspiration of Mexican food

You probably know the Reverend Billy F. Gibbons from that lil’ ol’ band from Texas, ZZ Top.

Recently, after Billy’s video and photo shoot in the deserts of Joshua Tree for his latest video, we sat down to talk.

I’ve known Billy for years and he shared some cool, and perhaps unknown facts about ZZ Top’s iconic album, Tres Hombres.

Billy F. Gibbons is an avid car collector and custom car enthusiast with an extensive collection that includes several custom cars. We’ll start with the 1948 Cadillac aptly named Cadzilla, a 1962 Chevrolet Impala (known as “Slampala”), a 1950 Ford Business Coupe, and a 1958 Ford Thunderbird. One of his earliest custom cars, a 1933 Ford Coupe (known as “Eliminator”), was featured in three of ZZ Top’s music videos and is also on the cover of their 1983 album also titled Eliminator.  BFG also published a book in 2011 about his love of cars and guitars titled, Billy F. Gibbons, Rock and Roll Gearhead.

The November 2014 issue of Guitar World magazine featured an interview with Gibbons and fellow rock guitarist Jeff Beck about their mutual appreciation of cars, guitars, and everything in between. A super cool article. Find it  if you haven’t read it yet.

We think you get the picture; Billy is into everything custom, from his collection of custom cars and of course his even bigger collection of custom-built guitars. Billy’s guitar collection is a whole other story that we will leave to Guitar World and other guitar mags or I’ll be here for the next 48 hrs writing that story.

I’m sure if you’re a fan of ZZ Top you know that they hail from Texas and have a penchant for Mexican food and the culture. Starting with the names of their many albums and songs like Tres Hombres, Rio Grande Mud, Tejas, I could do this all day folks, but you get the idea.

On the flip side you have the automotive side of ZZ Top with the iconic Eliminator, Arrested for Driving while blind, She loves my automobile and my favorite, Chevrolet.

When you’re around Billy, you feel his power. Not just musical power but his power as an artist and human being. He makes you feel like you’re the star. As a teenager, I played Tres Hombres every day and stared at the inside cover that depicted a huge Mexican food fiesta. To this day when I listen to ZZ Top, I crave Mexican food.

I asked Billy the story about that photo and how it came to be. Billy called the photographer that shot it to ask him if he remembered that day. Another surreal moment for this kid.

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BFG How the Tres Hombres gatefold photo shoot came to be

D!:  Billy, I’ve always loved the album covers, inside sleeve photos, and artwork of your albums. But the Tres Hombres album was the one I stared at for hours. As a Mexican-American kid I had access to all that food that was depicted on that inside centerfold photo, so I ate good while listening to ZZ Top.

BFG:  Yeah that Album accomplished a lot of things, musically, and it caused people to want Mexican food nationwide.

D!:  Can you tell us how that all came to be and who made the food?

BFG:  When we started working on the packaging, we had a pow-wow with the band and Bill Narum. Bill, of course, was the resident freehand artist who did most of the classic ZZ album covers, rest his soul. We talked about how the album was once again a return to the brotherhood of the Texas border and threw around some ideas to reflect that. At one point, I said, ‘Give me an hour, I’ll be back with an idea.’

I pulled up and opened the rear doors of the truck and unloaded all this stuff. Perfect, we said. Set it up and let’s have a go at it.

We found an antique radio and tuned it to our favorite border radio station, XERF, 1570 on the dial.

Leo’s Mexican Restaurant on South Shepherd in Houston

BFG:  Leo’s had a Mexican dinner special for $2.99 that was huge, and terrific. But it was also a far cry from what they prepared for the inside gatefold shot. Galen Scott was the photographer who shot it. We did it down the street in his photo studio.

We found an antique radio and tuned it to our favorite border radio station, XERF, 1570 on the dial. We added the calendar with Adelita, a famous female revolutionary, which similarly set the mood. Then we threw in the bottle of Southern Select, the Houston beer Howard Hughes owned. Being the consummate eccentric that he was, we thought it would be fitting to top it all off.

The shot from the gatefold is the final frame Galen was able to snap.

At some point, we took a fifteen-minute break. When we returned we found his German Shepherd laying on his side gasping for breath. He’d jumped up on the table and consumed the entire lot. He got it all.

D!:  What a wild story! Good thing Galen got the shot.
Now I will always think about that story when I look at that photo.

BFG:  Speaking of food, is anyone hungry?

JIMMY SHINE: There’s a little Mexican Seafood restaurant down the street if you want to go.

BFG:  Mr. Gomez, are you hungry?

D!:  Vamanos! (Let’s go!)

The thought of delicious food ended our interview with Billy. We spent the afternoon talking about cars at Ostioneria 7 Mares, a quaint Mexican Seafood restaurant in Orange County.

Good Times!

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