“He got to just be the bass player in the band, and he f**king loved it”: Why Paul McCartney loved playing bass on The Rolling Stones’ Hackney Diamonds album
Producer Andrew Watt has worked with a growing list of legends, and even managed to get Paul McCartney to play on The Rolling Stones’ latest record.
Watt – who has also worked with Elton John, Lady Gaga, Ozzy Osbourne, and more – landed his production gig on the Stones’ 2023 album Hackney Diamonds thanks to McCartney, who recommended him to Ronnie Wood.
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Watt and McCartney had bonded over tea following his Producer Of The Year Grammy Win in 2021. The pair also jammed together, and Watt picked his brains over his favourite Beatles song, Blackbird. Speaking to Mojo for its latest print issue, Watt says of their bond, “Paul McCartney got me the gig for The Rolling Stones! I mean, that sounds like a fake-ass dream.”
As sessions began for the record, Watt ended up playing bass on a number of tracks as well as co-writing three: Angry, Get Close, and Depending On You. Of his bass contributions, he explains, “It’s not me pushing in and just inserting myself. Sometimes there wasn’t a bass player present.”
Though former Stones bassist Bill Wyman famously made a return to contribute to the record, Watt also enlisted some external contributors, including Gaga and his good friend Macca, who played bass on the track Bite My Head Off.
“He got to just be the bass player in the band, and he fucking loved it,” shares Watt. “As I was walking Paul out of the studio, he said, ‘I just fucking played bass in The Rolling Stones, and I’m a fucking Beatle!’”
Listen to the track below:
Last year, Watt explained how he manages to work with so many of his heroes: “Paul McCartney, Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Elton John, Eddie Vedder – they’re fully capable of producing an album by themselves,” he told Variety. “They understand song structure, mix, a good snare drum sound, they’ve done this forever. So none of them need a producer – but they are choosing to hire a producer.”
On how he’s managed to attain such an impressive list of collaborators, he added: “Just ask. When I asked Paul McCartney to play bass on a Rolling Stones song: silence for 10 seconds, then ‘Yeah, I’d love to.’ Just ask the question! The worst that can happen is no.”
The post “He got to just be the bass player in the band, and he f**king loved it”: Why Paul McCartney loved playing bass on The Rolling Stones’ Hackney Diamonds album appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.
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