Pearl Jam has been recording new music with producer Andrew Watt, and, so far, the results have been “killer.”
That’s according to guitarist Stone Gossard, who tells SPIN that the grunge icons have “recorded a little bit” with Watt.
“We’ve got some things going already, and they’re killer,” Gossard says. “We’re psyched. Andrew is a total character. Really, like immediately, we were writing quickly. Spontaneously. Bring in a riff. Let’s knock it out.”
The guitarist adds, “[Drummer] Matt Cameron is playing his a** off. We didn’t bring any gear down. We were just doing some recording in Andrew’s basement in Beverly Hills, basically. So far, so good.”
Watt was primarily known for producing pop music, having worked with artists including Post Malone and Justin Bieber before linking up with Ozzy Osbourne for the metal legend’s 2020 solo album, Ordinary Man. He then produced PJ frontman Eddie Vedder‘s solo effort Earthling, and played in his live backing band.
“He’s known for some of his pop hits, which I personally love, but he really is a great musician and he knows the band well enough to know when we’re hitting something,” Gossard says of Watt. “His perspective has been great. I hope we continue with that process. It’s been fruitful, everything that we’ve done so far. We’ll see how long it takes to finish it off.”
Earlier this week, Pearl Jam confirmed the details of their North American tour, which will finally kick off in May after a two-year delay due to the COVID-19 pandemic. They’ll be supporting their latest album, Gigaton, which dropped in 2020.
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