(From Left) Frank Beard, Billy Gibbons and Dusty Hill. Photo / Supplied

Here for the Hamilton V8s, ZZ Top's Dusty Hill talks about the Texas band's long career to Graham Reid.

As with AC/DC, the Texas trio ZZ Top discovered a successful formula and have barely tampered with it. For guitarist Billy Gibbons, bassist Dusty Hill and drummer Frank Beard - who formed the band 42 years ago in Houston - that sound has been fat-free, blues-based boogie-rock.

Sometimes it has been enormously successful - after embracing the music video on the hits from 1983 album Eliminator and 1985's Afterburner, they were, for a few years, one of the biggest bands in the world and played to an audience of 80,000-plus at Western Springs in 1987.

Their distinctive appearance (Gibbons and Hill with long beards, Frank Beard from Frankston is beardless) and permanently attached shades (in tribute to their song Cheap Sunglasses of '79) means they are always identifiable, and ripe for parody and caricature.

In the past few years they've been in no hurry to deliver another album of chopped and channelled often innuendo-heavy and humorous rock, their last studio album was the hit-less Mescalero in 2003.

On album covers and in videos they have been associated with modified classic cars so it's no surprise they've played at Nascar events - and are coming to Hamilton to play for the V8 Supercars.

Before then bassist Hill called from his hometown - and Houston, we have no problem...

I know Billy is into custom cars, are you into cars on any level?
Frank used to race a bit and Billy is into custom cars, and I'm sort of in-between. I'm not a world class collector like Billy but I've had a few. I drive a '49 Mercury and I also have a Maserati, so it's kinda widespread.

Not a 70s Mitsubishi Lancer?
Well, I try to be green when I can, but I gotta have a sports car for my thrills every so often.

You make your living on the road, which is something others are having to learn in these days of declining CD sales, right?
Yeah, but we're in the studio now and looking forward to this new thing which we'll put out some time this year. But we've toured from the first week we were together. Playing live is what we live for, we have to be in front of people.

You haven't been in the studio since Mescalero in 03?
That sounds about right. We've never been the fastest band in the world for recording and we've started and stopped a few times with this one. But I think we've got a good handle on it and we're excited.

In 2008 there was talk you might have Rick Rubin producing. Is that still happening?
That's still it. It's a strange business, things are on and then they're off. We travel a great deal, not that we aren't willing to come off the road to go into the studio, but because we tour so much it takes us a little longer to get there. We're working with Rick and I don't want to sound all mysterious about it, but it's been talked about for a few years. It's not like it's been difficult or anything, it's just scheduling.

It won't be ZZ Top unplugged, that wouldn't make any sense.
Well, I only play electric bass so it's a little hard for me to unplug. It could be a little more raw here and there, somewhere between Tres Hombres and Eliminator - but for 2011.

That was your classic period. You want to get back to that?
In a way it's the only way we know how to do it. Through the years it changed but also remained the same in some sense. We're a three-piece band and although in the studio we get to use toys or whatever it's still just that three-piece. It's been a long career and continues to be, thank God.

Has the look ever been a limitation or a liability? Some people put sunglasses on to disguise themselves, you can't even take yours off and go unrecognised.
Not really. We never grew beards to look a certain way and the sunglasses are a by-product of what we do. But if I didn't play anymore I'd still have my beard. It's sometimes difficult to not be recognised but I wouldn't gripe about that. We spent years trying to be recognised. It's hard to bitch about celebrity when it's what you do. I've got no complaints. We're always the big costume at Halloween.

Lowdown

Who: ZZ Top
Where: Seddon Park, Hamilton. Saturday April 16
Trivia: In 2007 ZZ Top appeared in cartoon form on King of the Hill in which Dusty played Hank Hill's cousin in town for a reality television show. Their look has also been parodied on The Simpsons and last year the band joined Andrew WK, Flea and others playing the show's theme song for 20th anniversary doco by Morgan (Super Size Me) Spurlock.

-TimeOut