Billy Gibbons joins VB by the Sea on “NPC”

Billy Gibbons is the featured collaborator on “NPC,” the new single from Lithuanian artist Vidas Bareikis, who records as VB by the Sea. Pacific Records released the track on November 11, 2026.

A collaboration beyond ZZ Top

The label credits Gibbons as one of the producers, alongside Karolis Talutis, Martin Guigui and Brian A. Witkin. This is Bareikis’s first release with Pacific Records and an introduction to his forthcoming concept album, The Game.

For guitar readers, the hook is Gibbons taking part in a different artist’s project, not a new ZZ Top record or signature-equipment announcement. The release information does not identify the guitar, amplifier or effects used. There is no basis for attaching a familiar Gibbons rig to this particular recording.

A hotel-room connection

Pacific Records’ follow-up points to a Guitar Player report about the session taking place in a converted hotel conference room in Tallinn, Estonia, before a ZZ Top show. That account describes an improvised recording setting, not a conventional studio visit.

The title refers to a non-player character in a video game. The label describes the song as a challenge to habitual, unexamined behaviour, a theme carried into the planned album. It has not supplied an album release date in the announcement.

Listen through the official release link. Want to dig deeper into Gibbons’ wider guitar story? Read our Billy Gibbons guide.

Billy Gibbons performing in San Antonio, Texas, on January 18, 2015. Archive photograph, not the NPC recording session. Photo: Ralph Arvesen via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0. Resized and padded for layout.