After touring in Eddie Vedder‘s solo band this year, Andrew Watt will be playing with another rock legend’s backing group when he joins Iggy Pop live for a run of shows in 2023. Speaking with ABC Audio, Watt reflects on his experience on the road with the Pearl Jam frontman.

“We’re all genuinely friends that love each other,” Watt says of the Vedder lineup, which also included Red Hot Chili Peppers drummer Chad Smith and ex-RHCP guitarist Josh Klinghoffer. “We go on these tours, and we all go to dinner every night and go surfing and hang out.”

“We do it more for the hang, we just like to spend time together,” he adds. “It’s beautiful.”

In addition to touring with the Pearl Jam frontman and the Godfather of Punk, Watt produced their respective new albums: this year’s Earthling and the upcoming Every Loser. They joined an already impressive collection of collaborators who also include Ozzy Osbourne, whose Ordinary Man and Patient Number 9 records were produced by Watt.

Speaking specifically about Eddie and Ozzy, Watt describes them as “completely different artists.”

“They write in completely different ways, but they’re both fantastic singers,” Watt shares. “They also sing in completely different ways and record their vocals in completely different ways.”

Despite each artist’s unique traits, Watt’s role as a producer is always to get the best music out of them.

“There will be times where they wanna follow [your input] and times where they don’t like the idea,” Watt explains. “You gotta just ride the wave of the creativity and make sure that you’re helping get to a landing point that is what’s the best for the song.”

Pop’s tour launches in April, and will also feature Smith and Duff McKagan of Guns N’ Roses.

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