Andrew Watt describes producing The Rolling Stones as “the greatest honour”
Superstar producer Andrew Watt has opened up about his experience producing The Rolling Stones’ upcoming album Hackney Diamonds, describing it as “the greatest honour”.
The 32-year-old producer revealed the opportunity to work with The Stones came about while he was in London working with Dua Lipa in the summer of 2022. Although the legendary band have worked on a new album of original material many times since releasing A Bigger Bang, they didn’t get anywhere and in a new interview, Watt revealed he was initially apprehensive about embarking on the project.
“You have this moment where you’re like, ‘Am I even capable of that?’ It’s the greatest honour as a kid with a guitar who grew up idolising every single thing Keith Richards ever did,” Watt told Billboard. The producer also explained “these legends don’t owe anyone anything” and said it’s critical the remember “the only reason they’re making a new album is for themselves.”
On the privilege of working extensively with The Stones, Watt said: “Any fan wants to hear the greatest live rock ’n’ roll band of all time, so to do anything else with them in the studio is just letting everyone down.”
Watt also played a crucial role in securing Paul McCartney’s appearance on the Hackney Diamonds track ‘Bite My Head Off’. In an interview with Apple Music 1’s Zane Lowe, Mick Jagger revealed Watt had double-booked sessions with The Stones and McCartney, which led to them working together in the studio for a day.
Jagger revealed: “The thing was that Andy had said to me, ‘Look, I’m working on this, Mick. It’s had my complete attention, my complete focus, for six months.’ And then he said to me, ‘I didn’t really tell you completely the truth because I had this week booked with Paul McCartney right in the middle’… right in the middle of the three weeks we got booked for, we only had three weeks booked for cutting tracks.”
Although information on Watt’s work with McCartney remains undisclosed apart from ‘Bite My Head Off’, it did change how the producer views the recording process. He told Billboard: “Watching Paul McCartney arrange background vocals and harmonise with himself? I’m taking that s–t with me to every production I do for the rest of my life.”
Earlier this week, The Rolling Stones shared their new single ‘Sweet Sounds Of Heaven’ with Lady Gaga and Stevie Wonder. It’s the second track to be released from their forthcoming album, set for release on October 20th.
Keith Richards provided an insight into the making of ‘Sweet Sounds Of Heaven’ during the inaugural episode of the new BBC Sounds podcast Sidetracked with Annie and Nick, hosted by former BBC Radio 1 DJs Annie Mac and Nick Grimshaw. He revealed: “Lady Gaga came in and had definitely not been to bed, she was beautifully chaotic, and was like ‘I want to play you my new music and I was like ok, great!”
“Thinking, another time. And she took me into another studio and played me a song, and stood really close to me, which is my hell, and sung all her songs to me, in my face and she’d not been to bed and I had, and was like ‘oh yeah!’ trying to get into it. And it was good and I love her but it was just too much to handle,” Richards added.
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