Interesting to see that Andrew Watt
has included parts of the People Mag
interview in his Instagram reel .........

[www.instagram.com]



ROCKMAN

Why Are Old Rockers Recording Their Best Albums in Years? Because of This Platinum-Blond-Haired Guy

Carlos Marcos
6–8 minute read

Who are we talking about when we refer to Andrew Watt? Mick Jagger has an answer:

“Andy is fantastic because he’s young and he plays guitar, bass, sings… He knows the history of music inside out. When he talks with me, Keith [Richards], or Ronnie [Wood], it’s obvious that he knows all our records. He knows the chords to any Stones song. And he’s not someone who approaches recording from an intellectual or electronic point of view.”

The Rolling Stones singer explained this in an interview with El País in 2023, when the British band released what was then their latest album, Hackney Diamonds. Watt produced that record, and he is back for the group’s new album, Foreign Tongues, due out on July 10. The Stones had gone 18 years without releasing new material, but then Watt arrived and managed to get two albums out of them in just three years.

Andrew Watt (New York, 35) has become the man bringing the most joy to classic rock these days. In addition to being a musician, the New Yorker works as a producer—that often indispensable professional who advises artists in the studio, shapes sounds, manages band egos, and contributes greatly to the sonic architecture of an album.

Rock veterans have put themselves in his hands, and the results have been remarkable. Ozzy Osbourne, Elton John, Iggy Pop, the Rolling Stones, Pearl Jam, Paul McCartney… The latest albums by all these legends bear the same producer’s signature: Andrew Watt. And all of them are at least very good records.

Spanish producer and guitarist José Nortes, who has worked on albums by Miguel Ríos, Coque Malla, and Ariel Rot, is also among Watt’s admirers:

“He’s extraordinary. He knows how to reconnect established artists with the best parts of their past while updating their sound, much like Rick Rubin built his career.”

Rubin, of course, belongs to the select group of producers who have profoundly shaped pop culture, having worked with the Beastie Boys, Adele, and Johnny Cash, among many others.

Watt grew up in a well-off family in Great Neck, Long Island, and was diagnosed with ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder). School barely interested him, so he focused on playing guitar and listening to his father’s classic rock records.

At 22, sporting a long brown mane, he became the guitarist for California Breed, a serious rock band led by Glenn Hughes—the hard-rock legend known for his time in Deep Purple and countless other musical adventures. On drums was Jason Bonham, son of Led Zeppelin’s John Bonham.

But Watt’s career took a major turn when he was hired as guitarist for Justin Bieber’s band in 2015. He developed a close friendship with Bieber and soon began producing and writing songs for the Canadian superstar. Word spread quickly, and Watt started collaborating with young pop luminaries such as Selena Gomez, Camila Cabello, Dua Lipa, Miley Cyrus, Lana Del Rey, and Charli XCX. The hits kept piling up.

The key moment came when he produced Take What You Want, a collaboration between rapper Post Malone and Ozzy Osbourne. The heavy-metal icon was captivated by Watt and asked him to produce his next album.

Watt effectively revived Ozzy’s career—despite the singer’s declining health—with the final two albums of his life: Ordinary Man (2020) and Patient Number 9 (2022).

Elton John took part in one of Ozzy’s recording sessions, liked Watt’s approach, and asked him to produce his excellent album Who Believes in Angels? Then the old-rocker telephone network kicked into action:

“Paul, you need to work with Andy.”

McCartney listened to Elton’s advice.

Watt once told The New York Times:

“If these veteran stars show up to work with you, it’s because they want to hear opinions that challenge them.”

At the beginning of this article, Jagger highlighted one of the reasons artists enjoy working with the New Yorker:

“He’s young.”

For octogenarian legends, collaborating with someone in his thirties who understands their musical language provides an extra burst of motivation.

McCartney praised Watt’s enthusiasm for work.

“Maybe too much,”

he joked.

Elton John compared him to

“a high-voltage cable—and for someone my age, that’s incredibly contagious.”

In the documentary Ozzy: No Escape From Now (2025), which chronicles the painful yet redemptive final years of Ozzy Osbourne—who died in July of last year—you can see the tenderness with which Watt treated the Black Sabbath singer. He cared for him, laughed with him, encouraged him, and ultimately managed to capture the last ounce of Ozzy’s voice for his final recording.

Jagger shared another story that illustrates Watt’s working style. He was talking about the closing track on Hackney Diamonds:

“We wanted to record something different, something unrelated to the rest of the album. We felt like doing something very simple and rootsy. Andy Watt suggested we write a blues. We told him we could do that, but we could also revisit an old one. So we recorded Rollin’ Stone Blues.”

In that way, Watt helped create a magical and intimate moment between Keith Richards and Jagger as they performed the Muddy Waters blues song from which the band originally took its name.

Watt’s role goes beyond production. He sometimes plays guitar in Iggy Pop’s band and in Eddie Vedder’s side project, The Earthlings, and he actively participates in the creative process.

On Paul McCartney’s latest album, The Boys of Dungeon Lane, released last Friday, Watt co-wrote five songs with the former Beatle.

José Nortes believes Watt’s greatest strength is clear:

“What sets him apart is his exceptional gift for melody. He takes tremendous care with that aspect of his productions. He’s often a co-writer. And sometimes he brings in songwriters from genres completely different from the artist he’s working with, giving the songs a fresh and contemporary touch. On the first Ozzy album, for example, Alexandra Tamposi—who had written songs for Justin Bieber, Ariana Grande, and Kelly Clarkson, artists far removed from heavy metal—co-wrote almost every song with Ozzy and his band.”

Having proven that he possesses a formula for rejuvenating rock-and-roll elders, the question now is: who will be his next client?

Van Morrison?

Rod Stewart?

Maybe Neil Young.

Or what if someone paired him with Tom Waits?

Fortunately, there are still plenty of candidates to choose from.






source: [elpais.com]

Okay, so he is like a defibrillator then? Pumping life into octogenerians bloodstream?

Well said, in Ozzy’s case could have call his last album “Last Rights”

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Stoneage
Okay, so he is like a defibrillator then? Pumping life into octogenerians bloodstream?

That's strange, innit.

Perhaps the article writer doesn't grasp some things. The end of the article explains it with the whatabout list of, oh right, cranky old artists. There's no helping Van Morrison. Rod doesn't care about anything anymore. Neil Young - some people like going to the dentist.

Why would Tom Waits want to work with Andrew Watt - that's the dumbest comment in the article.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2026-06-08 21:34 by GasLightStreet.

Interesting.
Whatever one may think of him, he's produced two Stones albums.
Based on the two FT tracks we've heard, I think we're in for a real treat.
HD is still on heavy rotation in my playlists.

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Stoneage
Okay, so he is like a defibrillator then? Pumping life into octogenerians bloodstream?

That's not a bad metaphor.

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Stoneage
Okay, so he is like a defibrillator then? Pumping life into octogenerians bloodstream?

Yeah, kind of

Eddie Vedder, Mick -- everyone seems to say he gets results quickly. Whether or not fans like the way his stuff ends up sounding, the artists themselves all seem to value the process.

say he gets results quickly

well i say thats a good thang ....

In The Stars is a piece of brilliant work ...
Mixing Mick's soaring vocals with a slight dose
of pop.. cloud reaching chorus and driving Stones riff ...

It handles repeated listenings and aint that a cool thing .....

Goin by the first two tracks they've handed out
Foreign Tongues is gonna be a Stones masterpiece ...



ROCKMAN

Don Was produced four studio albums as well as 6 B-sides/extra tracks, 6 songs for hits comps and partially two on HACKNEY.

It appears that of those 4 albums BRIDGES is the most liked.

The Rob Fraboni produced tracks, which are the three Keith vocal tracks, sound the best. Two of the three Dust Brother produced tracks were singles.

Flip The Switch, Lowdown, Out Of Control and Too Tight are the best of the Don Was produced songs.

Maybe that's why people like that album more than VOODOO or BANG or BLUE.

At least Mick isn't chasing trends anymore. Watt obviously isn't standing in the middle with a hat on and his eyes closed getting stoned by the Stones and taking months to figure one thing out.

In the FT podcast Watt talks about being asked by Was to work on a mix for a track and nothing happened with that track, had he mentioned that before?

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