Behind the Boards with Andrew Watt: Producer Talks Eddie Vedder, Lana Del Rey and More

The post Behind the Boards with Andrew Watt: Producer Talks Eddie Vedder, Lana Del Rey and More appeared first on Consequence.

Behind the Boards is a series where we spotlight some of the biggest producers in the industry and dig into some of their favorite projects. Here, we sit down with Andrew Watt to discuss working with some of the biggest names in music.

Producer Andrew Watt is game for just about anything. In the studio, playing as an instrumentalist, or at the helm of his own Gold Tooth Records, Watt has worked with folks that run the gamut from Justin Bieber to Ozzy Osbourne. Pop star or rock star, Watt rises to the occasion.

Reflecting on his career so far in conversation with Consequence over Zoom, Watt seems to be an optimist who thinks everything is at least worth trying. He’s the kind of producer who heard Lana Del Rey wanted a track to evoke a Red Hot Chili Peppers sound, so he decided to just see if the Chili Peppers themselves would come by the studio. (A few of them did, and in the conclusion to a three-year mystery, Chad Smith is indeed an uncredited contributor on Norman Fucking Rockwell!)

Similarly, as a lifelong fan of Eddie Vedder and Pearl Jam, Watt has managed to bridge the sometimes tricky gap from fan to peer, and now works regularly with one of his musical heroes. “Now we play in a band together, so don’t be scared of your dreams, because they can come true,” he says.

Meanwhile, Watt has teamed up with Guitar Center for the “Greatest Guitar Sale on Earth,” and is still a bit amazed to walk into the familiar shop and see his own image on the wall. “When you’re a kid and pick up a guitar, where do you go? You go to Guitar Center — every kid ever goes to Guitar Center to buy packet strings, picks, cable, and everything you need,” he recalls. “I looked at all those posters of all the amazing guitar players on the walls and learned so much from walking into Guitar Centers as a kid, so to be able to be one of those people? It’s an absolute honor.”

Below, Watt digs into the processes behind Eddie Vedder’s Earthling album, Camila Cabello’s smash “Havana,” and more.

Camila Cabello – “Havana” ft. Young Thug

Camila was working on her first solo record at the time, and she was very, very much the driving force of all of her music. Especially back then, she had a bunch of these titles of songs that she knew she wanted to write about things that were happening to her. One of the titles that she mentioned to us was “Havana,” because that’s where she’s from, and that just struck a chord with everyone.

It was just something that kind of materialized right there in the moment, and then from there, a lot of different people got involved to make it the amazing record that it was, but it was kind of birthed off this initial conversation with Camila.

Miley Cyrus – “Plastic Hearts”

That was an amazing record and amazing collaboration in a time in which we were able to do this rock thing that Miley really wanted to do. She gave me the freedom to make music and create vibes that she was then able to take. She always writes about what’s happening to her at the very moment, and how she feels about the world and all these different things, and she uses her voice in such a special and distinct way. So what I was really stoked on with that album is that I really feel like we were able to come with a sound — it doesn’t feel like a pop record that is all over the place.

Sometimes those are the best records, but they kind of feel like they have so many different people working and so many different sounds so it’s just kind of all over the place. Plastic Hearts really feels like it has a sound to me, and it’s in a specific place and time, and that is always the hardest thing when you’re working with an artist of her stature to make sure the record has a sound because there’s obviously influence coming from all different places. When I listen to it, it feels very consistent. I think because of that, it will stand the test of time.

Lana Del Rey – “Fuck it I love you”

Lana and I did a Sublime cover together, and we had such a ball in the studio. Then, Lana told me she had the song that we actually wrote at Eddie Vedder’s [Ohana] festival together, watching the Red Hot Chili Peppers play [in 2019], and we were just talking and loving the Chili Peppers. Eddie, and Lana and I were watching them from the side of the stage. Lana said she had the song on a record where she wanted it to have a Chili Peppers vibe. So I said, “Why don’t I just get Chad [Smith] and Josh [Klinghoffer] from the Chili Peppers to come over and do their thing? Why not just get the Chili Peppers?” To me, that’s the obvious thing.

She was into it, Chad and Josh came over to do their thing, and then Jack [Antonoff] took all the stuff that we did and worked it into the master version. What you hear started with Jack, then I put a bunch of stuff with those guys on, and then he took it and made it awesome record that it is now.

Eddie Vedder – Earthling

Eddie is my hero, my childhood hero. We’ve had the kind of a distant pen-pal relationship for a while since 2012. It came to fruition over a 10-year period where it made sense for him to work on a record, and he wanted to try and do that with me, which was just mind-blowing. It’s one of the most beautiful experiences of my entire life. I’m so proud of that record, I learned so much.

Then, it led to starting to work with Pearl Jam, which is my bucket list of all bucket lists. I just love every member of that band so much and every instrument. Making the Earthling album was incredible, watching Eddie work and put together songs and write lyrics and deliver vocals. We were in tears every other day.

Dua Lipa – “Break My Heart”

That’s one of my favorite records. She is so cool and willing to take risks, and she’s such a great leader. When we got into the studio, she wanted me to pick up a bass and focus on something bass-heavy, and I just started playing that baseline. All of us in the room really clung to it. But what’s so cool about her is that she loves live instrumentation, and she is not afraid to put that into her pop music and have things that feel really live and feel really organic, and then turn them into these monster pop songs. She’s so good at that, and so good at the levels of layering that go into making really great pop production, and we just have so much fun.

She’s an awesome, amazing, humble, great person and an absolute fearless leader in the studio. She knows exactly what she wants to do. It makes it so awesome because there’s not a wasted minute. She’s an absolute force of nature.

Behind the Boards with Andrew Watt: Producer Talks Eddie Vedder, Lana Del Rey and More
Mary Siroky

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