In 2023, the members of Pearl Jam — Eddie Vedder [vocals], Jeff Ament [bass], Stone Gossard [rhythm guitar], Mike McCready [lead guitar], and Matt Cameron [drums] — retreated to Shangri-La Studios in Malibu where they simply plugged in and played with producer Andrew Watt at the helm.
“Anyone in my life knows what (Pearl Jam) means to me,” Watt shared on Instagram.
“That line about never meeting your hero’s is a bunch of bullshit… Ed Jeff Stone Mike and Matt thank you for taking a chance on a fan. Here we go DARK MATTER up first.”
The name Andrew Watt in recent years has become synonymous with one very true phrase: the music industry’s not-so-secret weapon.
Since 2015, the multi-GRAMMY-winning and platinum-selling music producer has been a hit-making machine, having collaborated with some of the last decade’s most exciting, and ground-breaking artists, including Justin Bieber, Ozzy Osbourne, Cardi B., Post Malone, Dua Lipa, Metallica, Stevie Wonder, Miley Cyrus, Bruno Mars, Shawn Mendes, Elton John, Lana Del Rey, Mick Jagger, Brandi Carlile, Paul McCartney, Smokey Robinson and Lady Gaga, to name a few.
In 2021, Watt took home his first GRAMMY Award for “Producer of the Year” at the 63rd annual GRAMMY Awards for his work on Ozzy Osbourne’s Ordinary Man, Miley Cyrus’ Plastic Hearts, both of which he executive-produced, Dua Lipa’s Future Nostalgia, which took home the GRAMMY that year for Best Pop Vocal Album, and Post Malone’s Hollywood’s Bleeding, which was nominated for Album of the Year.
The following year saw Watt produce the widely publicized and critically acclaimed Elton John and Britney Spears collaboration “Hold Me Closer,” the entirety of Eddie Vedder’s solo release Earthling, and Ozzy Osbourne’s GRAMMY Award winning Patient Number 9, which earned Watt his second GRAMMY win for “Best Metal Album” at the 65th GRAMMY Awards.
2023 was also a stellar year for Watt, kicking off the top of the year with the release of Iggy Pop’s long-awaited 19th studio album, Every Loser, released via an exclusive partnership between Atlantic Records and Watt’s own Gold Tooth Records.
This past summer also saw a slew of high profile and record-breaking releases on which Watt is credited as co-writer and co-producer, including; The Kid LAROI’s single “Forever and Again” which was released as part of the Barbie movie soundtrack, and Jungkook’s “Seven,” which debuted at #1 on Billboard’s Hot 100 chart and amassed a record-breaking 217.1 million streams and 269,000 downloads in just its first week of release.
Watt ended the year with the release of “Hackney Diamonds,” The Rolling Stones’ first album of original music in 18 years, which was fully produced by Watt.
The album’s lead single “Angry” earned Watt a GRAMMY Nomination for “Best Rock Song” for his work co-writing and producing the track.
Pearl Jam will release their twelfth studio album, Dark Matter, on Monkeywrench Records/Republic Records on April 19, 2024 and launch a 35-date worldwide tour this May.
Produced by multi-GRAMMY® award winning producer Andrew Watt, Dark Matter, marks the band’s first release since critically-acclaimed Gigaton (2020).
Full details are available at https://pearljam.com/.