What do you get when you allow a superfan to produce your band’s newest album? Hackney Diamonds.
Andrew Watt, who helmed the Rolling Stones‘ first album of original music in 18 years, wants it known that, first and foremost, he is a Stones fan, with an admittedly unhealthy obsession at that. Sure, he’s won the Grammy for Producer of the Year, as well as Grammys for albums he produced or co-produced for Ozzy Osbourne and Dua Lipa. And yeah, his credits include records by pop, hip-hop, and rock hitmakers: Justin Bieber, Miley Cyrus, Post Malone, Future, Eddie Vedder, Iggy Pop, and Elton John, among them. But his biggest heroes have always been Mick Jagger and Keith Richards.
“If I revealed how many Rolling Stones concerts I’ve been to, I don’t think the band would ever talk to me again,” the endlessly energetic 32-year-old says. “I’ve seen them in the rafters. I’ve seen them up close. I’ve lived this band as a fan.”
Seriously? “I wore a different Stones shirt in the studio every day,” he says. “My collection of Rolling Stones shirts goes deep; I have old ones and everything. I should’ve been ejected from the control room. The number one thing I would tell the band in the studio is, ‘You took a freak from behind the barricade and let him produce the album. “I just think [the album is] the Stones this year,” Jagger told Rolling Stone last month. “I wanted it to be great. I didn’t want it to be just an album that was OK. And I think the album delivered what I wanted.”
How did the session with Stevie Wonder and Lady Gaga come together?
Stevie was late. I was like, “I’ve got the Rolling Stones here sitting around waiting.” I called his right hand, and she says, “Stevie’s on the way. He just stopped to vote. It’s a very important thing.” When I came in and told the guys, everyone was laughing. It was a great icebreaker.
So Stevie comes and we’re getting into it. I’m calling the chords and showing him the sections. And he calls out in the middle of it, “Andrew, you got a bass?” I picked up the bass, and he goes, “This is the bass line.” And he starts singing it. I had to figure it out, and it became a theme that the guitars played, and he played it on the Moog. It was this big climactic thing. To make a gospel rock song with Moog bass, that’s tricky.
Then you took a break for a couple of days for your session with Paul McCartney before he recorded with the band. How did the band pick “Bite My Head Off” for him?
It would be expected to have him play on a great big ballad like “Depending on You,” or one of the softer songs to get that “melodic Paul McCartney” thing. But you’ve got to also understand, Paul McCartney loves to fucking rock. So I thought, “Why not pick the most punk-rock fucking song — the one where everyone’s on 10 the whole time — and let these guys have the time of their lives rocking out together?”
Paul really digs into it during his solo, too. How did he get that sound?
I had just gotten Paul a ’64 Hoffner, a lefty one, as a present. He was like, “Why are you giving me this bass? I obviously have my famous one from the Beatles. I don’t need another.” I said, “Just touch that switch right there.” My guitar tech, Mark, put in a Univox Super Fuzz circuit into the bass, so when he hit one of the Hoffner switches it gives the loudest, most wicked fuzz bass you ever heard in your life. So he was crying laughing. He had that as his secret weapon.
Ronnie Wood: Paul McCartney “really rocked it” on Rolling Stones collaboration
"We've been doing a little rehearsing to see how these songs translate live," Wood explains. "And they're really cooking."
“I can say it’s about time,” he tells Fallon. “It feels so exciting. Because I’m so excited about every track on it, every track has something to say and a different direction.”
So Paul comes in, learns the song, everyone’s playing around a little bit, we start going for takes, Paul stands up. All of a sudden, Ron stands up, Keith stands up, Mick drags a mic into the fucking center of the room, and I swear to God, the roof left the fucking building. I can’t explain what that feels like, but it was the Stones and the Beatles. It wasn’t heavy for them; it was a fucking blast. And the smile on Paul’s face kept getting bigger and bigger. We did three or four takes of that. And Paul hit the switch during his bass solo, and Mick literally goes, “Come on, Paul, let’s hear something” in his Liverpool accent. Like, you can’t make it up. Everyone was on fire. We did another tune because we were having so much fun.
Just how much fun did Paul have?
When I was walking Paul out, he literally was like, “I just played fucking bass with the Stones — and I’m a fucking Beatle.” He literally said those words. These guys were literally like they were 18 again, and you can hear it in the recording. It’s ferocious.
You can read the full interview on Rolling Stone.
Keith Richards: John Lennon and George Harrison would have fitted into The Rolling Stones.
Richards opened up about The Beatles and the rivalry between the band’s fans in the sixties.Richards explained: “I don’t think John Lennon would have had much problem fitting into the Stones, or George, if you can imagine that sort of thing happening.”
“We were the same generation, and we all loved the same music. When we first heard The Beatles, we were relieved that there was some other band in England on the same track that we were on. And within a few months, that track was the main track.
