![]() He had a friend who would DJ locally, earning $1,000 a night-around five times what Watt’s strumming and singing was bringing in. The nightclubs proved especially important. Financially, he says, “I was hurting.” He played every restaurant, bar, and nightclub that would have him. They cut him off, and much of what followed wasn’t fun. “My parents were freaking out,” he says, amused at the decision ten-plus years later. Watt was accepted to New York University’s Clive Davis Institute of Recorded Music, but he didn’t stay long, dropping out to go on tour with songwriter Jared Evan’s band. “God bless my mother and father,” he says. “I just watched the New York greats-the session cats and the jazz musicians and the blues musicians, the guys who could do it on the fly.” Come 2:00 or 3:00 in the morning, he’d slink back home and then head to school by 8:00 a.m. Except on Mondays-those were always reserved for the Monday Night Jam at the Cutting Room, a venue formerly located in the Flatiron neighborhood. He’d hop on the train, with or without his parents’ permission, and look for any blues bar he could find. As he says, “I had to get inside it.” By age 11, he was playing the bass, certain of his future-and by high school he was commuting into the city near nightly, guitar in hand, to study under the local legends. “My dad had probably had a couple glasses of wine, and when my mom would come in the house, I’d say, ‘Hey, Dad, leave the car out.’ ” Watt would climb up into the front seat alongside his pops, and the two would blare songs like “A Day in the Life” by the Beatles “loud as fuck.” “I remember being eight years old and so excited when my parents would come home from dinner,” Watt recalls. None of his family members played instruments, but they loved records. Watt-born Andrew Wotman-grew up in Great Neck, New York, on Long Island’s North Shore, less than an hour from Manhattan. He could produce it himself! He’s choosing to work with a producer.” “If an artist is choosing to work with a producer, that means, to me, that they want to be produced. It’s a big thing to think about.” That helps him, he says, when faced with a visage he’s idolized since childhood-maybe one he’s even hung on his wall, like Vedder’s-in his own studio. The setup: “There are four words you never want to hear a fucking band say when you’re at a concert.” And the punchline: “ ‘Here’s a new one.’ ” (Cue big laugh from both Watt and me.) Turning serious, he continues: “I’m the one making the new music. But for those who think it’s a cushy job, Watt has a convincing reply. Working with the Mount Rushmore of rock gods is a thrill. How does Andrew Watt approach his work? As he calls it, he’s "producing from the front row." Danny Clinch In 2021, Watt won a Grammy for Producer of the Year, Non-Classical. Eddie Vedder’s Earthling, which Watt produced in its entirety, hit number one on the charts. ![]() And last fall, Iggy Pop logged his first rock-radio hit in more than 30 years (!) with “Frenzy,” which Watt cowrote, produced, and played guitar on. Watt has been credited with Ozzy Osbourne’s resurgence in recent years, spearheading the Black Sabbath frontman’s well-reviewed 2020 LP, Ordinary Man, as well as his 2022 album, the Grammy-nominated Patient Number 9. He’s partnered with all of them, and it’s working. Beyond collaborating with a who’s who of mainstream hit-makers-Selena Gomez, Lana Del Rey, and Camila Cabello also feature on his résumé-Watt serves as the go-to soundboard whiz for rock ’n’ roll legends. The star power of his Rolodex may not have lost its luster for Watt yet, but his high-profile bookings come as no surprise to anyone who’s followed popular music in the past decade. “It’s overwhelming to work with people who are part of your musical DNA.” “It brings me to tears sometimes,” the 32-year-old admits. Except Watt isn’t feeling stifled by the secrecy. ![]() ![]() Every day is just a bundled-up shuffle from the hotel to the studio and back again, keeping quiet when people like me ask what he’s up to in the Big Smoke. What can he mention? First off, that it’s freezing outside. But it’s important-“the most excited I’ve ever been about anything,” he says about the mysterious project. It’s mid-December in London, and the record producer behind hits by Justin Bieber, Miley Cyrus, and Post Malone is feeling a little tongue-tied. Andrew Watt can’t say what he’s working on.
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