In addition to being Roger Waters’ guitarist and producer, Jonathan Wilson also makes solo music [ENTREVISTA]

Rush can be a word that exemplifies the career of Jonathan Wilson. The 48-year-old artist’s routine is quite busy as a producer, with which he has worked with names such as Father John Misty, Margo Price, Billy Strings, between others. Additionally, he is a solo singer and guitarist for Roger Waters at live shows.

On September 8, 2023, Wilson released their fifth studio album, titled Eat the Wormwith tracks like “Marzipan,” “Ol’ Father Time,” “Charlie Parker” It is “Hey Love,” which he spoke about during an interview with Rolling Stone Brazil.

According to the artist, the creative process was quite fun. Isolated due to the coronavirus pandemic, the entire journey to the album was fun. “I wanted to bring something fresh and new, and something different that I hadn’t brought before,” he explained.

This stoppage in the music industry, in which artists around the world were prevented from performing and had the studio and live broadcasts as an escape to maintain their livelihood. With that thought, Jonathan Wilson He took the opportunity to focus on music, compositions and production.

Throughout his solo discography, the producer and singer made few collaborations with other artists, also known as feats. This doesn’t happen in Eat the Worm: the tracklist only features the participation of Jonathan Wilsonwithout other singers.

“This time it wasn’t about that. It wasn’t about friends and family. This time, it was about me. It was about my songs, my thoughts, my visions,” he said. “However, this is not about me in an aggressive way. But about me in terms of a singular thought being more powerful than a diluted collaboration. So it was about concentration, not collaboration.”

It was harder to work with all these other people. I think when it came time to work on my own stuff, I was like, ‘You know, this is the moment where I don’t want to have a band, I don’t want people in the studio, I don’t want a sound engineer. Basically, it was the same process I used when I was a teenager, which was just me and all this gear.

Roger Waters and Brazil tour

In the next days, Roger Waters will arrive in Brazil with the tour This Is Not a Drillwhich includes the participation of Jonathan Wilson as a guitarist. It’s worth remembering that this wasn’t the producer’s first time in the country: he came in 2018 with the tour US + THEM.

“It’s fantastic there. The [brasileiros são os] best fans ever, you know? So funny. I was there in 2018. And now I’ll be back. I fly to Brasília on the 17th of this month, which will be great. I am an extremely big fan of the country and the people. So, yes, I’m excited,” he commented.

Even with a great relationship with Brazil, Wilson isn’t completely nervous about the passionate country crowd: “There’s definitely some nerves involved. When you start the show, you’re like, ‘Damn, look at all these people.’ But it gets fun. And it basically gets back to the musical thing.” , which is what I’ve been doing since I was a teenager.”

The passion for music production

Back to his solo career Wilsonhe started experimenting with ways of creating music since he was a teenager, when he had a four-track Tascam and was impressed by how he could layer vocals, guitar and bass, for example.

I started when I was 13 and now here I am, 30 years after that basically. And it’s been the same thing. There was no college, no school, no marriage, no parenthood. Now I’m going to be a filmmaker, none of this has been the same every day.

For the next steps, especially your career as a solo singer and songwriter, Jonathan Wilson wants to make it even weirder, weirder and increasingly challenging. “Nothing boring and songs we’ve all heard 80,000 times or something poppy,” she said. “Something that succumbs to a modern sound, or something that is more like the dull sound of the future, or something like that, is definitely not the goal.”

Explore and do something new, strange and weird, and definitely something beautiful. It’s basically the same goal, so maybe it will happen in 2025. Maybe not. So who knows?

Read the full interview with Jonathan Wilson below

What was the creative process like for Eat the Worm? What kind of message did you want to bring with this album?
The creative process was fun. It was fun man, it was a fun journey for me. And I wanted to bring something fresh and new, and something different that I hadn’t brought before.

It is his first album in the post-pandemic period. How has this time of disruption in the music industry impacted Eat the Worm and you as an artist?
Yeah, well, it was kind of powerful, because it kind of leveled the playing field. So I was like, ‘Oh, sh*t, like now, it’s more about what you actually do in the studio, so the hype and the show experience, and producing a live show was out of the question for everyone.’ . So it was more about the songs, the compositions and the production.

Your entire solo discography has few feats with other artists, but Eat the Worm is just you, without another guest artist. What is your relationship with this? Is it a choice or does it happen naturally?
Like, not this time. This time it wasn’t about that. It wasn’t about friends and family. This time, it was about me. It was about my songs, my thoughts, my visions… it wasn’t about friends and family. However, this is not about me in an aggressive way. But about me when it comes to a singular thought being more powerful than a diluted collaboration. So it was about concentration, not collaboration.

I think it was just a matter of time, and it was also [uma época] post-pandemic. So there was all this time to come up with things and to… all the collaborations were a little laborious in terms of where it was. There was a virus and testing, you know what I mean?

It was harder to work with all these other people. I think when it came time to work on my own stuff, I was like, ‘You know, this is the moment where I don’t want to have a band, I don’t want people in the studio, I don’t want a sound engineer. Basically, it was the same process I used when I was a teenager, which was just me and all this gear.

Were there any obstacles working alone?
It’s fun to work like this, especially now that I can control my entire studio from my phone. So I can start and stop Pro Tools, you know? Which is great, because there’s no one there. There’s no engineer, there’s no drummer, there’s no bass player, there’s no keyboard player, there’s no photographer… there’s no one there. So you can achieve deeper concentration.

How does your solo schedule work? Do you do shows? How is this part?
Not so much the live shows, it’s more about the process. Sort of like the album process, which is usually from 6pm to 6am, or something like that. It’s a long, personal process that took many, many days, but luckily I have a studio, so I can experiment there – and for free, which is a great thing, because it’s day after day, after day, after day of ‘what song is it next? And how can we turn this into something?’ I say ‘we’ but I mean ‘I’.

How do you divide your time as a solo singer, producer and guitarist for Roger Waters? Can you rest?
Sometimes yes. But it’s harder to do. While there is so much to do. This is the time I rest, on the big fucking tour, I mean, and I’m in the hotel room, as you can see, this isn’t my room, it’s like a fancy hotel room. And that’s the time I can sleep at 10:34.

You know, while I’m at home, I stay up until 5 or 6 a.m. to try to make the cut, because I have a day job as a producer. I have a whole band and a whole album and a budget and people worried about the mixes and the album, and I do this as my day job. And when it ends, now, suddenly I’m on my own path.

So I basically need to sacrifice hours of sleep. This goes from eight to five hours – or something like that.

Speaking of which, you’ll be coming to Brazil with This is Not a Drill this month. What are your expectations? Are you nervous coming here?
It’s fantastic there. You [brasileiros são os] best fans ever, you know? So funny. I was there in 2018. And now I’ll be back. I fly to Brasília on the 17th of this month, which will be great. I am an extremely big fan of the country and the people. So yeah, I’m excited.

If you go out in front of a huge crowd like that – I think when we get to Brasília and go back to Rio it’s a huge crowd, like 60 thousand people or something like that. There are definitely some nerves involved. When you start the show, you’re like, ‘Damn, look at all these people.’ But then it gets fun. And it basically goes back to the music thing, which is what I’ve been doing since I was a teenager.

Which songs do you like playing live the most? Both your music and Roger Waters’.
I kind of like all of it. I think kind of where I’m at right now, or when a song comes on, if it’s mine, if it’s a Roger song, if it’s a Pink Floyd song, it’s all the same. You know, it’s basically you giving the best you can to each song.

As for your life as a music producer: how did you discover this side of music? How is it working on this currently?
This was definitely something I discovered a long time ago, around the time I was a teenager. And it kind of started with a four-track Tascam. So this tiny little thing that you could basically overdub me, and then I could play bass and guitar, and I could sing again and sing again and sing a third track and a fourth track. And I said, ‘Holy s***.’

So that kind of started, which was like a four-track song, a long, long time ago. It kind of expanded from there and stuff. I feel like with certain people it’s just what you used to do from a young age or something like that.

I started when I was 13 and now here I am, 30 years after that basically. And it’s been the same thing. There was no college, no school, no marriage, no parenthood. Now I’m going to be a filmmaker, none of this has been the same every day. Blah blah blah.

What can we expect from Jonathan Wilson’s future? What will this filmmaker thing be like?
I would basically like to make this album that I made next time something even bigger and better, stranger and weirder, and more and more challenging. Nothing boring and songs we’ve all heard 80,000 times or something pop. Something that succumbs to a modern sound, or something that is more like the monotonous sound of the future, or something like that. This is something that is definitely not the goal.

Explore and do something new, strange and weird, and definitely something beautiful. It’s basically the same goal, so maybe it will happen in 2025. Maybe not. So who knows?