Andrew Watt, producer for Pearl Jam‘s upcoming album Dark Matter, speaks about his approach to the record in a new interview with Rolling Stone.
“One of my goals was like, ‘Let’s make this sound like a Pearl Jam show, but in the studio,'” Watt, who’s also worked with Ozzy Osbourne, Iggy Pop and The Rolling Stones, explains. “Some of that s*** is wrong, man. Those songs go longer than they should, but it does not matter.”
“You don’t edit [guitarist] Mike McCready,” he adds. “You f*****’ let him play. His eyes are closed. When he opens his eyes, we end the song.”
Explaining how the Dark Matter title track came together, Watt shares that the group was “between takes” when drummer Matt Cameron “just started playing that beat.”
“And [guitarist] Stone [Gossard] was like, ‘No one move. Are you recording Matt Cameron?’ We’re like, ‘Yeah, recording.’ And he played that beat.”
“Stone was like, ‘[Bassist] Jeff [Ament], you take that home. I’m taking it home. Let’s both write different songs to it and come in tomorrow,'” he continues. “So they both wrote different riffs. Matt played the beat again, and then we kind of morphed it together.”
Dark Matter drops Friday, April 19. Pearl Jam will launch a U.S. tour in May.