ZZ Top vocalist / guitarist Billy Gibbons talked to Noise11.com and might have revealed a bit of frustation about working with eccentric producer Rick Rubin (who is producing ZZ Top's forthcoming album).  Although Gibbons and Rubin have been friends for years, this is the first time the two have worked together.

"Everythings buzzing.....I guess the irony of the whole picture is that the band is wondering. Where is this thing? When do we hear it? Ricks funny.", Gibbons said, "Weve been friends for as long as I can remember. Triple decades and this is the first time we have broken the mould as business pals.

Gibbons continued, "He's got a somewhat unorthodox way of doing everything that he does including making records but he has a sense of intuition that cant be beat."

Several months ago Slipknot / Stone Sour frontman Corey Taylor gave a brutal recount of his time working with Rubin on Slipknot's third album 'Vol 3': "Let me give you the fucking truth of it: Rick Rubin showed up for 45 minutes a week. Rick Rubin would then, during that 45 minutes, lay on a couch and have a mic brought in next to [his] face so he wouldn't have to move.....Hes a thin shadow of the Rick Rubin that he was. He is overrated, he is overpaid, and I will never work with him again as long as I fucking live.  Taylor went on to say, "I wouldnt know what its like to work with Rick Rubin. I only saw him about four times. Rick Rubin is a nice man. He's done a lot of good for a lot of people. He didnt do anything for me. Im not happy with the vocals on that record. There were a lot of takes that I thought were much better than the ones they fuckin used and I wasnt asked about a lot of shit. It sounds amazing; the songs are great. But we were being charged horrendous amounts of money. And for me, if youre going to produce something, youre fucking there. I dont care who you are."

Another account came from Muse frontman Matt Bellamy who, in jest, thanked Rubin, at the Music Producers Guild Awards, for "teaching us how not to produce".