But before it gets repeatable, it is definitely out there.

It’s all random until you commit it to the tape machine. It alters the EQ frequencies and at the same time it alters the amplitude.

And it’s heard liberally throughout “I Gotsta Get Paid.” I asked them, “How can we out-fuzz the fuzz?” So we came up with a contraption called the Frazz. Just go to the music store, close your eyes, point through the glass showcase and there’ll be a hundred fuzz pedals.” I said, “You know, the fuzz-tone signal, the square wave, has been chopped up, decentralized, it’s been turned upside down. One afternoon, we had some time on our hands in the studio, and it was just Mr. You have a history of conjuring pretty gnarly guitar sounds, but this song might just have one of the gnarliest tones you’ve ever committed to tape. Maybe the two shall meet!” And that was the genesis. He said, “Well, I can’t envision ZZ Top… I don’t see you as a rap group, just yet.” And I said, “Well, you’re listening to Lightnin’ Hopkins. Moon was the engineer at John Moran’s Digital Services, and he’s the guy that engineered “25 Lighters.” I said, “You remember that song you did for Fat Pat and Lil’ Keke?” And he said, “Don’t tell me that you’re thinking about that.” I asked him why. Somebody unearthed a bunch of film performances of Lightnin’ Hopkins.” And I said, “Well, that may be just the impetus I need. Moon, and he was grinning, and he said to me, “Man, you oughta check out YouTube. Rick Rubin said we needed one more song for the album, and so I was in the studio with Joe Hardy and Gary Moon. It was the retitled version of the song originally called “25 Lighters.” And that was Fat Pat and Lil’ Keke. So we had this great meeting of the minds. They wanted to know where all these guitar sounds were coming from. I wanted to know what all these rap guys were doing. So we had this interesting common ground in the lounge. And then the Cash Money guys over in Baton Rouge started hanging out that was Mannie Fresh, Juvenile. There was Rap-A-Lot Records that’s the Geto Boys – Scarface and the late Bushwick Bill, who just passed away last month. And John Moran’s studio had become extremely popular, particularly with the hip-hop and rap crowd. So we were working there, and the place had a studio on the left and a studio on the right, and the lounge was in the middle – the great meeting spot. He said, “I know you’re reworking your studio. So we wound up driving down the street, and we were using the neighbor studio, which was called John Moran’s Digital Services. When La Futura was set for release, I had been giving my studio in Houston a bit of a facelift. “I Gotsta Get Paid” has its origins down the street. The following interview extract appeared in the October 2019 issue of Guitar Player.Īs far as taking the blues up a notch, you did it with the song “I Gotsta Get Paid,” which interpolates the 1998 Houston rap classic “25 Lighters”

Zz top just got paid