When Adam ‘Atom’ Willard was 15 years old, he started working at a San Diego skate shop to avoid attending church with his family on Sundays. Since then, he’s only held one other job title: punk rock drummer.
As a young teenager, he made small waves in the San Diego scene with Crankshaft, but by the time he was 16, Willard took over as the drummer for what would become one of the most beloved SoCal punk bands of the ‘90s, Rocket from the Crypt.
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Over the coming decade, he established himself as one of the most talented drummers in the genre. Defining his sound on albums like Circa: Now!, Hot Charity, Scream, Dracula, Scream! and RFTC, Willard was a highly desired veteran commodity long before his 30th birthday.
His combination of technical ability and unbridled energy was immediately apparent and remains unrivaled, arguably making him the most sought-after percussionist in punk. And after spending a decade in Rocket from the Crypt (along with a few reunions), Willard was ready to sow his musical seeds across a wide array of punk bands.
Playing with more than a dozen top-notch crews since leaving Rocket in 2000—including lengthy stints in both Angels & Airwaves and Against Me!—the sound of Willard’s drums has powered nearly every corner of the genre at one point or another.
But according to many who’ve played with him, Willard is more than a drummer-for-hire. He’s the kind of collaborator who elevates a band both performance-wise and creatively. He doesn’t just improve the rhythm section, but helps write leads and melodies.
This machine is broken: Atom Willard five days after undergoing a career-threatening rapid deceleration against a hard surface on his motorcycle. (Credit: Atom Willard’s Instagram: @atomwillardisme)
Yet all that nearly ended on August 13, 2022, when Willard was cut off in traffic going 45 m.p.h. and wrecked his motorcycle, suffering a broken collarbone, four broken ribs, a pulmonary contusion, a broken toe, road rash, and a broken right thumb and wrist which required surgery. It was the kind of accident some people don’t survive, much less recover enough from to violently play the drums again.
While others may be away from the drumkit for years, Willard was back in action by February 2023, making his first public performance as part of the house band for Late Night with Seth Meyers before taking on new rock gigs. A few months after that, he was announced as the new drummer for Alkaline Trio—a band he’d briefly played with back in the early 2000s.
Even if it’s only for a short while, Willard’s improved every act he’s joined. But don’t take our word for it. Here are members from nine bands the legendary drummer has played with discussing their favorite master of dad jokes (and Willard’s thoughts on his time with each band).
Rocket from the Crypt in Los Angeles, California, 1998. Atom Willard is at left and John Reis is grinning in the middle in black. (Credit: Steinfeldt/Michael Ochs Archives via Getty Images)
Rocket from the Crypt (Swami John Reis)
How did Atom come to join the band?
Rocket had a drummer before Atom, but we were rebuilding the band so that it could get out of San Diego and start playing all over the country—because that’s what the core members of the band really wanted to do. We saw all these other kids our age touring in vans and having a great time playing shows all over the place. We wanted to do punk rock tourism. Atom was in a band called Crankshaft, and I don’t think he even auditioned for us. If he did, he was the only one who auditioned and then he was in the band. We did the first record with the original drummer, and then Atom joined maybe a year after that and we started to become a lot more prolific with him because he shared the same enthusiasm that we did.
Is there any memory that stands out to you as the defining Atom Willard moment?
When we recorded with Atom, we liked where we were going as a band, but we felt that Atom needed to cut loose—like he needed to unleash something that he could very easily do. Atom was really into the more technical Drive Like Jehu side of music that I was making, and he was adding these more off-kilter technical ‘90s drumming bits and whatnot that I didn’t really want in the band. I wanted to be lean and mean. We were at rehearsal and I told him, “I don’t know if this is really working out.” I don’t remember the language—I probably said something kind of dick-ish—but we wanted someone to bash the fuck out of their drums and he’s like, “I can do it. I can do it.” So we booked a show at the Casbah—which was the epicenter of our scene in San Diego—and that kind of was Atom’s audition after he was already in the band. He basically never turned back and went fully in that direction, just dedicating himself to that very physical style of drumming. He might be the hardest hitting drummer in the world, and it all started that night at the Casbah.
What’s Atom like as a person?
To this day, there’s still an innocence to him. For someone who’s so traveled, he still looks at and enjoys the simple things. He’s always supportive of his friends and he really puts everything into what he’s doing—he never fakes it and always has a very positive attitude. That’s really important because making music is supposed to be fun, and there needs to be a joy in that. He brings a lot of joy to what he does, and a lot of really terrible jokes. Whenever I hear a terrible joke and share it with him, he already knows it. It’s surprising that he doesn’t have any kids, because his jokes are the kind that someone with a lot of kids would collect over the years.
Rocket from the Crypt with Willard
ATOM’s thoughts on Rocket from the Crypt: Rocket saw me play with Crankshaft at some point, and they were like “Hey, do you want to join the band?” I said, “Sure!” because I didn’t know any better. It seemed insane at the time, but kids these days are so good at such a young age that they’re killing it and doing all kinds of stuff. I’d be surprised nowadays if a serious aspiring drummer didn’t have a serious band at 16. My parents were like, “So what now? What are you going to do?” and I was like, “Oh, it’ll be great. Don’t worry.” But it was a surreal time to be so young and start touring. We went to Japan when I was 18. We signed to a major label pretty early on, and it was just always the way we lived. We didn’t know any different. We were just really fortunate how quickly we became self-sustaining. I was able to only do music and focus on it full time.
We didn’t know what we were doing or that we were making stuff people would like years later. We never thought about the far-reaching effects of spending this much time on the road or writing these kinds of songs or making these videos. You just don’t think like that when you’re that age. I wasn’t thinking 30 months into the future, much less 30 years—but what kid does? You just do what you love until you can’t, and then you figure out a way to do it some more. It was all much to my parents’ chagrin—because my dad’s in education and both my parents went to school and all that stuff, so they wanted me to go to college. They moved out of California right before I turned 18, and I was like, “I’m staying. I’m in a rock band.”
Patrick Wilson of Weezer playing Coachella 2001 in Indio, California. (Credit: Tim Mosenfelder via Getty Images)
The Special Goodness/Weezer (Patrick Wilson)
How did Atom come to join the band?
I think I first saw him in San Diego playing with Rocket from the Crypt, because he was with them for like 10 years, but started pretty young. But then I ran into him at a rehearsal space in Los Angeles, and I don’t know who he was there with, but Weezer had been rehearsing there for a little bit. I wanted to have another band, and I thought, “Oh, this guy’s rad. He’s a great drummer, and—maybe more importantly—he has a hot rod truck.” I was super into hot rods at the time, so we sort of just hit it off and started working on some music that I had.
As a drummer yourself, what about Atom made you want to bring him in as the drummer for the Special Goodness?
I loved hanging out with him, and I was super happy to be able to play with him. He really was the reason why we got any gigs at all. He hates when I talk shit about my music, but he got us gigs like opening for Audioslave, which we had no business at all doing. But we went up there as our little trio and we didn’t get booed. People didn’t throw shit at us, so I considered it a huge win, because none of those people knew our music, they just wanted to see Audioslave. But I think his drumming propels the music because of his full commitment. That’s how I would describe his drumming. The first time I shook his hand, I was like, “Dude, what the fuck is wrong with your hands?” His calluses were like if a dog chewed on a plastic toy for 10 years. I don’t even know how to describe it, but he’s just such a motherfucker about pounding the drums. I’d look at my hands like, “Have I ever done a day’s work?” I’m super gentlemanly when I play, whereas he just brings it. If he doesn’t expend 1200 calories playing, it doesn’t feel right to him. He looks like he’s going 100 miles per hour every time he’s drumming, and I’ve always been sort of jealous. I just look so fucking chill when I play, and then I’ll have a show where I think I’m Dave Grohl or Atom Willard, but I look at the house footage of me and it looks like every other show I’ve played. I’m just calmly playing the drums. So I always have a lot of admiration for people who visually have that energy.
And you liked playing with him in the Special Goodness so much that you also hired him as your drum tech for Weezer. But I can’t imagine him playing for Weezer.
It would be like having this top fuel dragster and using it to deliver groceries. It just wouldn’t work. We actually had a few rehearsals when Weezer didn’t know which direction it was trying to go and I remember being on keys—which is hilarious because I don’t play piano or anything—and Adam was playing drums. I thought it sounded cool as shit, so I mean it could have worked.
What’s Atom like as a person?
He has what I would call a ‘full send’ approach to a lot of things in life, whether it’s drumming or competitive mountain biking or recreational motorcycle riding in Los Angeles—which in and of itself is frightening. He’s just a sweet, sweet man who gives energy to whatever situation he’s in. He’s a can-do kind of guy, and he’s very quick comedically. He can sum up a situation, read the room and see what’s funny about something immediately, whereas I’ll feel more like I’m autistic in those situations. He brought out a lot of the funny stuff in me, and I really liked our chemistry together in that regard.
The Special Goodness with Willard
ATOM’s thoughts on the Special Goodness and Weezer: That was definitely a weird time for me. With Rocket, there were so many of us and so much overhead that we would come home from touring and not have a lot of money to split up—so it was getting to a point where it was really difficult to survive. Then, a band offered to pay me a salary, so I was in LA rehearsing with this band 2-3 times per week and getting a monthly paycheck, but we never played any shows. I was like, “Holy shit, I’m making so much money and staying home!” That rehearsal studio is where I ran into Pat. We were looking at each other’s cars and talking about cars and shit. We just ended up being on the same level about a bunch of different things, and it was like a fast friendship. We’d met through playing festivals or shows in the past, but this was a different thing.
Then the whole Weezer thing came about just because all of a sudden, there was more interest in Weezer again. They were about to go on tour right as we were working on our record, so I was like, “Why don’t you just bring me as your drum tech, and we’ll continue writing and finish the songs and everything during practice and soundcheck?” That turned into a year, and then we recorded and I kept touring with them. I also played percussion with them, but [the few times Atom played drums in rehearsals], it was definitely not Weezer. It didn’t sound like Weezer. It sounded like me pushing a band to its limits because my style and my feel is so different from Pat’s. At the time, I thought “Oh, this sounds killer!” but with hindsight and really appreciating what Weezer was about and how Weezer was supposed to feel, I wasn’t doing that.
Noodles (L), Dexter Holland (C), and Atom Willard of The Offspring backstage at the Bill Graham Civic Auditorium in 2003. (Credit: Tim Mosenfelder/Corbis via Getty Images)
The Offspring (Noodles)
How did Atom come to join the band?
Well, I saw him play with Rocket from the Crypt, but I didn’t get to know him until he came and tried out for us. He was just a really good fit. It’s so hard to find a great drummer with a good feel and a great look. He’s just fun to watch. Anyone who’s ever seen him play loves watching him play drums.
What do you think makes him such a good fit for jumping into super established bands like the Offspring?
He’s a great player and just a powerhouse. I felt like we really stepped up our game once we had him playing with us. Everything just felt stronger from the get-go and it was always just an absolute joy playing with him. He’s a genuinely nice guy and really easy to get along with, which is also a big part of it. And like I said, he’s just so fun to watch. My son was young when Atom was playing with us, and he just couldn’t take his eyes off watching Atom play. He hits so, so hard. His timing is great and he’s got a great look.
What’s Atom like as a person?
Super chill and one of the nicest guys in the world with a really awful sense of humor in the best way. The jokes he would tell were just hilarious to me. Some of them were jokes you only tell your friends, because otherwise people would get the wrong impression about you. He was just always funny and just had this weird timing to come out of the blue with a bad joke in any situation. We would just be shooting the shit, having a good time hanging out, joking and laughing about not trying to not take life too seriously. It was just always really comfortable with him. It was always a fun conversation, and we always had a great time hanging out on the bus and traveling the world.
What was it like when he left the Offspring?
We were doing a video shoot or something when he told us he’d been working with Tom [DeLonge] on Angels & Airwaves and that it looked like they were going to start a touring cycle around the time that we were going to start a touring cycle as well. I knew that was something that he really had his heart into, and it was going to be his own thing, so who are we to say no. I was stoked for him. I was bummed that we’d have to get somebody else, but I was stoked for him that he was following something that he was dreaming about. The transition was great. He was a big help. He helped Pete [Parada] a lot when Pete joined us. I think they talked quite a bit on the phone and might have even gotten together once or twice. I was sad that he was moving on, but I was proud of him.
The Offspring with Willard
ATOM’s thoughts on the Offspring: We had a great time together, but I feel like I broke up with them to go to Angels, so I’ve always felt like the dick girlfriend that dumped her boyfriend. It was way different than anything I’d done up to that point, because it was a well-known band, but I didn’t know the music. I’d heard their stuff on the radio, but I didn’t have a bunch of their records laying around. So I had to learn the stuff and then go do my first ever audition. I still can’t believe they called me back, because I went in and was just going off and changing the drum parts like, “I don’t know what the fuck is wrong with this…” Then the manager called me like, “Hey, the guys had a great time playing with you. They want to get together again. Did you know that Dexter writes all of the drum parts? Keep that in mind, and see you next week.”
They’re super sweet, and we really had a good time during those years. They took care of me really nicely and it was super easy. They always let my wife come along, and it was just awesome, super fun and totally different for me. I wasn’t used to headlining the Reading Festival or these crazy soccer stadiums in South America. It was insane. There were a few times where it was like, “Maybe I won’t put my contacts in tonight, because I don’t need to see all that.” At that point, we might as well be in the practice room, because I can only see rough shapes past the cymbals and drums.
(L-R): Angels & Airwaves band members Ryan Sinn, David Kennedy, Tom DeLonge, and Atom Willard pose backstage after a 2006 appearance on MTV’s Total Request Live, New York City. (Credit: Evan Agostini via Getty Images)
Angels & Airwaves (Tom DeLonge)
How did Atom come to join the band?
The first time I was ever aware of him was when he was playing with Rocket from the Crypt, and I watched him play every day on the Warped Tour. He just had this phenomenal passion every time he played. But actually the first time I ever saw him play was when he opened for the Dead Milkmen. He was in the opening band—whatever he was in before Rocket from the Crypt. I remember he came up and put a little piece of wood in front of his kick drum and screwed it down with a drill because he hit so hard and didn’t want the drums to move. I just thought that was the coolest thing I ever saw. Then later, I saw him with Rocket from the Crypt everyday on Warped Tour with all that passion and glory. I just always remembered that he looked cool, he hit really hard, he was always smiling when he played, and he was from San Diego. So when I put Angels & Airwaves together, it made a lot of sense to reach out to him. I wanted that passion and somebody who hit the drums like he wanted to destroy them.
What’s Atom like as a person?
Oh, he’s awesome. He’s so kind. He’s so positive. He’s got a really great sense of humor. He’s got a really calm demeanor. He’s a very team-spirited guy. He doesn’t have an ego about things. He’s all about who can do the best thing for that moment of the show. I always found him to be extremely collaborative. He’s also really hard on himself, which I was always trying to tell him to not be because I was very hard on myself and I hated that—because we were just a couple of punk rock kids trying to punch above our weight. He’s a really great soul, and a wise soul. I think that’s why he’s been in so many bands. He just brings a little bit of peace and tranquility, but also his excitement and love of playing the drums. I think that’s something that every band is hoping to have in a band member, and he’s got it in spades.
How did your sense of humor line up with his dad jokes?
His dad jokes were phenomenal. They were the dumbest shit you’ve ever heard, but always right on point and at the perfect time, so they worked wonderfully. His sense of humor is pretty great, because when everyone’s going for a really raunchy dick joke, he’d throw in a dad joke. It was the polar opposite, which made it even funnier. We used to always have this joke that when he wanted to talk about something serious, he would clap his hands once and say, “Hey guys, can we talk for a second?” And everyone would be like, “Fuck, we’re in trouble. Are we in trouble?” We called him Dad, which became a running joke within the band. But he’s just a wonderful human and a wonderful team player.
Angels & Airwaves with Willard
ATOM’s thoughts on Angels & Airwaves: There was a little bit of trepidation and fear to get into something that was unproven and not established, but I also had a real taste of what it is like to be a hired person and not have a lot of influence on the direction of the music or the artwork for the t-shirts or anything like that with the Offspring. That’s their thing. I missed the level of involvement that I had with Rocket where it was always a team effort even on the imagery and the stuff—where we were in it together. So when Tom offered me that type of situation like, “We’re going to be a family. We’re going to be a four-way unit, and I want you to be the 25% that sits in the back and does their thing,” I just had to trust that it was gonna be great. Or at least that my wife’s not gonna hate me because we’re just buying a house and I’m quitting my job to start a new thing, right.
Those were magical years, honestly. I never laughed so hard about the stupidest shit that we did making those records and doing those tours. It was just so much fun and I got to be so corny. They would make fun of me because I was back to being the oldest guy in the band. They were always like, “What was it like going to high school in the ‘50s?” and I was like, “You know what? Get fucked.”
Jonny ‘2 Bags’ Wickersham of Social Distortion in San Jose, California, 2004. (Credit: Gregory Bojorquez via Getty Images)
Social Distortion (Jonny ‘2 Bags’ Wickersham)
How did Atom come to join the band?
Way back when he was in Rocket, I met Atom at a show at the Fonda in Hollywood. I was standing out by the merch for whoever was playing that night, and I saw him. He and I both wear this shoe called wino shoes, which are these old Cholo shoes. At the time, Hurley made some, but I hadn’t seen them yet. Anyway, he has them on, so I go, “Hey man, what are those?” and I pointed at his shoes. He points at his shoes and says, “Shoes.” It was fucking typical Atom. Not quite a dick, but just real dry and funny. It was awesome. Then, years later, when we had an audition for new drummers, he just killed it. He pretty much ruled the whole thing, so it was an obvious decision.
What do you think makes him such a good fit for jumping into super established bands like Social Distortion?
He’s an awesome guy to talk to and he’s an amazing drummer. He’s such an asset to anybody he plays with, which is why he keeps getting hired by great bands. He’s really proactive. He wants to get involved and contribute and help make things happen. He’s such a pro. Being on tour is not for everybody, and it can be really difficult if someone doesn’t have the type of personality that works well in a touring situation. It’s like being in jail or something, because you gotta be able to hang and you gotta have a small footprint if that makes any sense. The secret is to have a small footprint, but a big presence on stage, and not everybody is capable of that. It’s a little easier when you’re on a bus instead of a van, but it’s still not a lot of room when you’ve got 11-12 people on there. Some people just have their shit out all over the place and it’s a disaster, but Atom is not like that at all. He knows exactly what he’s doing, and he’s funny as hell. He’s always got everybody laughing.
Considering that he filled in between two long-term drummers for Social Distortion, was there any noticeable difference with Atom on the drums?
To be honest, it was a really smooth transition. He definitely brought a new energy to the band with his particular style of playing drums. He’s definitely a very high-energy drummer for our kind of music, but I think he enjoys playing that style quite a bit.
Atom’s thoughts on Social Distortion: Tom reunited with Blink for a little bit, and it was like, “Well, shoot, what am I going to do now?” I’m friends with Mike [Ness]’s manager, and he was like, “Hey, do you want to come mess around with this?” It totally worked out, because Mike was really keen on being “punk” again, as he was saying. He really wanted to be more aggressive, and I’m like, “I got you. Let’s go.”
It was really fun and really interesting. He’s such a special guy to work with, because he’s aware of everything that’s going on behind him without looking at you. You have to learn these little hand signals and his body language to know, “OK, that’s pushing, that’s pulling.” It was a total learning experience. Plus, they’re just iconic songs that are part of the social fabric of Southern California. They’re woven into the dirt and the way the world works down there. I was also excited to be the young guy again. My whole career flip-flops between being the youngest guy and the oldest guy, so I always like being the young guy and coming in all fresh-faced and excited and happy and full of adventure.
Against Me!’s Inge Johansson, Laura Jane Grace, James Bowman, and Atom Willard during the 2014 Forecastle Music Festival in Louisville, Kentucky. (Credit: Taylor Hill via Getty Images)
Against Me! (Laura Jane Grace and James Bowman)
How did Atom come to join the band?
Laura Jane Grace: In December of 2012, we were booked to play the Big Day Out festival in Australia, and like a week or two before Christmas, our drummer at the time, Jay Weinberg, quit and left us in a pinch. He quit via Twitter, so I literally sent out a Tweet like, “OK we’re kind of fucked. We need a drummer,” and Atom raised his hand. Obviously I knew him from the bands he’d played in, but we also toured with him on Warped Tour when he was playing with Angels & Airwaves in 2008. But in my head, I’m like, “Holy shit that’s Atom Willard from fucking Rocket from the Crypt.” I knew immediately that he was one of maybe three or four drummers who would actually be able to make it happen with no rehearsal, so I was like, “Hell yes!” He came with us to Australia and did that tour, and it went really well. Before it was even over, I was like, “Hey, would you be down to go into the studio with me and re-record all the drum tracks?” for the album that became Transgender Dysphoria Blues. It was just an immediate awesome fit, so we kept going from there.
James Bowman: At Warped Tour 2008, Atom would always come over and watch what we were playing. I always knew who he was because of Rocket from the Crypt and stuff like that, and for a few years after that, we would always get lumped into the weird year-end radio shows or festivals with Angels & Airwaves. He would always be around, but I never really talked to him because I always thought he was angry—which is funny because I later found out that he always thought I was the mean, angry one. We just never really talked or hung out beyond a hello or whatever, but when Laura and I were doing Transgender Dysphoria Blues, we didn’t have a drummer. That’s around when Laura posted on Twitter, and I couldn’t believe he reached out. I was like, “No way. That’s like the least likely person…” I thought he liked our band, but I didn’t think he liked us. But it just worked out really well. I think he came in for two or three rehearsals before Australia, flew home to do some shows with Danko Jones and then met us in Australia. We were like, “Oh man, I hope this really works.” But of course, it’s Atom. He came in and crushed it.
Laura Jane Grace playing here with Laura Jane Grace and the Devouring Mothers in Dana Point, California, 2019. (Credit: Joe Scarnici via Getty Images)
What do you think makes him such a good fit for jumping into super established bands like Against Me!?
Grace: As a drummer, what’s great about him is that he’s so solid. Sure, he hits like fucking thunder, but his tempo never fluctuates. It’s just so steady each night, and personality-wise, he’s exactly like that too. He’s just completely reliable and steady. It’s a level of professionalism that’s pretty unmatched out there. The reliability is just unparalleled, and maybe it’s because I started out playing bass in punk bands, but I always really lock in with the drummer. That’s what I need to vibe with in order to feel like it’s working. I’ve just always felt a really strong connection playing with him and I play really well with him. He has an innate natural ability—and obviously he practices regularly and has the experience and everything like that—but there’s something about him that I think he was just born with. I don’t know if it’s his wrists or his metabolism or what, but he just has this natural ability to play drums with rhythm that’s so incredible, and then he has the work ethic on top of that.
Bowman: He’s one of, if not the, best rock and roll drummer in the world. Going from being a big fan of his music to a good friend was totally unexpected and crazy for me, but it was really awesome and I feel like we got really lucky. He’s a super talented musician and fantastic drummer that has a great feel for parts and tempos. He’s a monster. He just destroys drums, cymbals and sticks, and he’s just a complete and total beast behind a drum kit. It brought a whole new vibe, feel and energy to our band that I can’t describe. I think any band is just very lucky and very fortunate to have him around.
Aside from being an incredible drummer, what’s Atom like as a person?
Grace: In addition to being extremely talented, he’s also a very genuine and cool person. He’s really good at DJing hangs—like he can set the tone for any backstage hang. It’s pretty impressive how good he is at making everyone comfortable, putting on the right music and making sure everyone’s taken care of. He’s also just a good person. When we started playing together, I had picked up some bad personal habits, like smoking cigarettes and stuff like that. He totally helped pull me out of it. We bonded over a love of running, and he got me running again. Oh, and one of my favorite details about Atom is that every time he goes on tour, his wife makes him two or three prepared meals in jars. You’ll arrive somewhere like Spain, and he pulls out this jar of food and just eats the pre-made meals until they’re gone.
Bowman: He is seriously one of the funniest and kindest people. He is full of puns and bad dad-jokes. He’s also just fun to be around and an overall cool person. He’s a drummer who used to ride motorcycles and wears a leather jacket. He’s like the definition of cool, and to have him hanging around with you makes you look better. But I think the most surprising thing is how genuinely nice he is. He’s been around forever, known so many people and done everything on so many different levels, so you would think someone like that could be a dick. He can be a dick, but he’s really a genuinely nice and funny guy to be around. I think he’s just happy to be playing music. Another surprising thing is the sheer volume of food that that man can eat. He weighs like 80 pounds and eats more food than I’ve seen anybody eat in my entire life. It’s crazy.
How did your sense of humor line up with his dad jokes?
Grace: Well, there’s one thing we need to make absolutely clear. I am the one singer of any band that he’s played with who is actually funnier than him. I feel like he’s learned a lot from me when it comes to the humor department, and we need to make it clear that he stole a lot of his material from me for the last decade. But yes, he is very fucking funny too. We’d trade puns like currency within the band. If you look at our text exchanges or DMs on Instagram, we’re just sending bad jokes back and forth all the time.
Bowman: I’m funnier than both of them, but every other word out of his mouth is some sort of pun or joke. He’s been working on this pasta joke that goes on forever. It’s this whole story, and he’ll call me up sometimes, start telling me a story, and it always ends in this joke. I always fall for it, and he does shit like that all the time. The notes in his phone are all just jokes and guitar riffs he comes up with strumming his old Danelectro guitar at home. He’ll even text me jokes for my son sometimes, I think because they’re just constantly coming out of him.
Against Me! with Willard
ATOM’s thoughts on Against Me!: Against Me! came out of nowhere. They just needed somebody in a hurry, and we totally hit it off in Australia. Then Laura was like, “Hey, do you want to play on this record?” and that was that. I was such a fan. I was so into that New Wave record, I knew it top to bottom. It was really easy to assimilate into the culture of the band because James is just a sweetheart, and Laura and I hit it off because she was so into having someone that could adjust on the fly and work off each other creatively. We complemented each other pretty well in that way. We were really firing on all cylinders and it just felt really strong. The songs were were super great—Transgender Dysphoria Blues is such a great fucking record There’s so many great songs on it, and I’m so happy to have contributed to that.
Laurien Denitzio of Worriers, with Lucy the dog. (From Worriers’ Instagram: @worriersmusic)
Worriers (Lauren Denitzio)
How did Atom come to join the band?
He and I met when we were on tour with Against Me!, but I’d certainly heard his name before that and I knew it was a big deal for Against Me! when he joined. Then he and I ran into each other at The Fest, and I realized that even though we’d just known each other peripherally for a long time, that we both lived in Los Angeles at that point, so it was just one of those, “Hey, let’s get together and make music some time.” I mentioned to him that I was trying to write more music that was a little bit different than Worriers, and he said he was just playing around with other friends for fun bands and side projects. So in 2020 and 2021—when I couldn’t go meet up with people that I’d been playing music with previously—we started writing music that started sounding like the next Worriers record.
What was it like writing and recording with Atom having not really worked or played with him too much before?
I can’t speak highly enough about working with Atom. I have to be careful to not make it sound like I’m just blowing smoke. In addition to being a very talented drummer, he’s a really great collaborator who always has ideas and suggestions and thinks about things outside of the rhythm section. He brought so much more to the table than just the drum kit, and not everyone does that on any instrument if you’re not the main songwriter. He really is invested in every song we worked on together, and it’s just been such a pleasure to not just find another collaborator, but a cheerleader for the band.
Aside from being an incredible drummer, what’s Atom like as a person?
I feel like it’s gonna start sounding like a broken record from people, but he’s just a genuinely hilarious person. When you get a random phone call from him, it’ll start off as a story, but it always turns into a joke. It’s also really nice how we’ve bonded over our rescue dogs and how he really loves animals. I have a lot of pictures of him with my dog, and at the last show that we played in Los Angeles, he had a big photo of a dog of his that had passed away on the kick drum. I knew I found the right person if they want to have their dog on their drum kit.
Repairing punk’s drum machine. (A post-crash X-Ray posted on Atom Willard’s Instagram)
As one of the bands Atom was working with when he had his motorcycle accident, do you remember your first thoughts when you heard the news?
It sounds really cheesy, but his motorcycle accident was right before we were supposed to play a show in Los Angeles with the full album lineup—which still has not happened yet. He knew that that was so important to me—and he should have been focused on literally anything else—but somehow took the time to try to troubleshoot things with me and try to make it happen anyway. All I could do was be like, “Dude, just get better. Rest and heal up. Don’t worry about this.” I couldn’t believe he was calling me like I was going to be upset with him about getting hurt. That was how he told me about it, so I knew he was OK, so my first thought was just, “Are you going to be able to play again and how can I help?” For a drummer to ride a motorcycle all the time, it really puts in perspective how easily somebody can be hurt and how glad I am to have him in my band and in my life.
Worriers with Willard
ATOM’s thoughts on Worriers: Lauren was so open and excited about collaborating with somebody. They were very open to the way I like to contribute to songs and the way I rearrange things and approach different sections. They know what they want, but can also open their mind to different approaches. It was really fun to be able to debate stuff where they’re like, “Well, I think that this needs this,” and I’m like, “I get what you’re saying, but the reason I’m doing this here is it does this and this and this.” Of course, this was all over email, because we did like 90% of the songs during COVID. It was really one of those things that wouldn’t have been something I put so much time and effort into if Lauren hadn’t been so accepting and excited about alternative approaches to everything.
John Reis, aka Swami, performs at Moby Dick in Madrid, Spain, 2011. (Credit: Mariano Regidor/Redferns via Getty Images)
Plosivs (Swami John Reis again)
How did you decide to reconnect with Atom for another band all these years later?
I was playing with Rob [Crow, of Pinback] and a different bass player and drummer, who were both very capable and very good musicians. But when COVID happened and we wanted to continue doing something, I immediately thought of Atom because you could just give him music without any real direction and just let him run with it. I knew this wasn’t going to be something happening in a practice room, because we weren’t supposed to be with any people. We were virus recluses, prisoners of fear and germs. Rob knew Atom, and I don’t think they’d ever played together, but Rob was really stoked because he was a big fan of his playing. I knew that Atom could do all of the things that would excite me, but I also knew that Rob and I had different styles and Atom can go in that direction too.
What’s it like playing with Atom now, as opposed to the first time around when you were basically kids?
Well, he’s a pro now. When we started, being considered a pro was probably a negative thing. Nowadays, to be great at what you do and be able to come in and get the job done at a very high level is a compliment. He’s just been doing it for a long time, so he’s always very prepared. He’s never lacked confidence, but he has a resume that really supports it now. I always think every musician has their bag of tricks of what they bring to the table—things that are inherently your style and come from your brain to contribute to a song. Atom’s bag of tricks is vast at this point. He’s pulling from so many different influences and experiences that he just brings so much to anything he’s doing.
As someone who’s known Atom since the beginning, is there anything you think some people don’t realize about him?
Atom lives and breathes the drums. It’s how he connects to people and musicians. He uses the drums to communicate not just a beat, but a language as well. By listening to him and the way he plays, you know something about him. That is who he is, it’s not just something that happens on the stage, and that’s not the case for everyone.
As one of the bands Atom was working with when he had his motorcycle accident, do you remember your first thoughts when you heard the news?
“Fuck stupid fucking motorcycles.” I was just frightened, sad and worried. I had a couple of friends who had motorcycle accidents right around that time and it was just really frightening. Once you know that he’s fine and alive, your mind immediately goes to his ability to play drums. It’s such a massive part of who he is, so I’m very grateful that he healed. Once I heard that he had a long road ahead of him, but that he would make a recovery, I knew the long road was going to be shorter because of who he is. He takes such great care of himself and is so serious when it comes to his craft. He wanted to get back to where he needs to be in order to play the way he needs to play more than anything. He’s such a physical drummer that he’s really more like a professional athlete.
PLOSIVS with Willard
ATOM’s thoughts on Plosivs: I did some shows with Rocket in 2017 or 2018, and it was so nostalgic to play those songs and to get back with those guys. But honestly, it was that energy of writing and playing with John on new material and new songs that was super fun. He’s all about those downstrokes and he’s going to have this killer melody, and it’s going to be all these different things, because that’s just how it is with John. It was really familiar, but also exciting and fresh. We just fall right back into the way that we used to write together, and then having Rob in the band brings such a different energy. He has so many songs and so many ideas, and he’s just incredibly technical in this way that I wasn’t used to.
It was a real challenge, but also the best thing to have through COVID because I had to figure out how to play in these different time signatures and still make it sound and feel like me. Like I don’t want anyone to think, “This section’s in a weird time signature and all over the place,” I just want everyone to keep moving their head. My goal was to smooth it out or make it be perceived as normal. But yeah, Rob’s awesome and John is really fun. I did test the waters with my first demos, because with Rocket, there was definitely less room to go off. We were trying to write songs that would be on the radio, and we were definitely thinking about being accessible on a different level by the end of it. We were trying to be conscious of song structure and working with producers and people to help us craft songs that would be widely listened to. I don’t know how to say that and sound cool, but everybody knew that [Plosivs] wasn’t going to be like that. It was just going to be for fun and everybody having the best time they could have.
Atom Willard, Matt Skiba and Dan Andriano of Alkaline Trio perform during the 2023 Ohio Is For Lovers Festival in Cincinnati. (Credit: Daniel Boczarski via Getty Images)
Alkaline Trio (Matt Skiba and Dan Andriano)
How did Atom come to join the band the first time around?
Dan Andriano: I think both of us think Scream, Dracula, Scream! Is one of the best-sounding drum albums of all time. I just fucking loved the drums on that record, and then when I saw Rocket live, I fucking loved that too.
Matt Skiba: Rocket from the Crypt had just signed to Vagrant, and we had drummer issues before Derek [Grant] could join the band. He had Vandals touring to do, so we needed somebody to fill in for this Vagrant tour we were doing. Rich Egan from Vagrant was like, “If you could have anybody you want play drums for you guys for the next two weeks, who would it be?” and Dan and I both said Atom Willard from Scream, Dracula, Scream! He wasn’t playing with Rocket anymore, but he was getting ready to be in another band. Rich reached out to him, Atom said yes, and I went and picked him up from the airport. I’d never met him before, but like Dan was just saying, I saw him play with Rocket from the Crypt two or three times at that point. We were both huge fans but had never met them, yet it was like talking to a guy that I grew up with. He’s just such a down to earth, funny, sweet, warm guy. Then we started playing together and we were very reluctant to let him go.
Do you remember what he was like back then compared to today?
Andriano: I remember one show that we did together. It was some crazy festival, but all of the shows were great. We just had fun hanging out—like Matt said, it was instant friendship. We connected on a level right away, and that doesn’t happen with everyone. Certain bands—like Hot Water Music—become our brothers pretty quickly, and this was kind of like that. Even knowing that he was going off to do something else, we approached him about being in the band. It was almost like, “If we’re ever looking again at some point, you’ll know.” He was just too cool. Matt went on to make other recordings with him too, so we’ve always been in touch.
Skiba: When we were rehearsing for that tour and hanging out in Chicago, it almost felt like we were a band after the first practice. Then Atom and I started riding motorcycles together, going to shows, and just being buddies hanging out, so we had this idea to just play together whenever he would have breaks in his bands and I would have a break in Trio. We would just record stuff for fun and put it out ourselves, and it was all just an extension of hanging out and riding around on motorbikes.
When Derek left, what made you want to bring Atom back over anyone else?
Andriano: Knowing his love for drumming and what the guy went through a year ago, it’s unparalleled in terms of surviving and then getting back on that drumming horse. He just loves it and wasn’t gonna let anything take that away from him. It’s pretty special. Also, just knowing how good of a dude he is and how well we got along, we knew that part was gonna work—and that’s almost equally, if not more important than the drums. He’s a great drummer, but we knew it was gonna be a little different than Derek stylistically. We’d played with him before and we were still friends, so we just knew that he was going to be the guy.
Skiba: It was also that he had a desire to do it. I kept Atom in the loop that we were having some issues with Derek and that there was a possibility of Derek departing. He was one of the few people I told anything, and he expressed to me how badly he would want in if Derek left. He was kicking himself for not staying with us when he was filling in, but he had prior obligations and Derek had already signed on for the band—which turned out great for a long time. Atom was just really psyched to hopefully get another chance to play with us, and having somebody that great that wants to play with us means a lot.
Derek Grant of Alkaline Trio drumming at The Greek Theatre in Berkeley, California, on August 14, 2022 (one day after Willard’s crash). (Photo by Steve Jennings via Getty Images)
Do you remember your first thoughts when you heard the news of Atom’s motorcycle accident?
Skiba: Knowing Atom and how much he loves his motorcycle, it was impossible for me to picture him ending up in the hospital. I haven’t ridden my motorcycle much since then. We rode together a lot, and he was one of the few people I enjoyed riding with. I’ve gone on rides with groups of people before, and it’s too macho. It’s too much testosterone and people end up wrecking. I don’t want to get hurt because some idiot tried to do a wheelie and crashed into me. Atom was the only guy I ever really rode with because he’s such a good rider. He’s confident and fast, but also careful and courteous. He’s not a jackass to other drivers. He’s just a gentleman on a bike. It sounds dumb, but when other friends of mine have gotten hit—some haven’t lived and some can’t walk anymore — it never really kept me off my bike. But when Atom slammed, I knew if it could happen to him, it could absolutely happen to me, so I stopped commuting on my motorcycle. It was a shock enough that I pretty much stopped riding—I mean, I’ll take my bike out to warm it up and ride here and there but then I put it right back in the garage and don’t tell Atom about it. It’s not a matter of if, it’s when you’re gonna get hit or when you’re gonna slam, even if it’s not your fault. Seeing him in the hospital like that was sobering.
Aside from being an incredible drummer, what’s Atom like as a person?
Skiba: He’s real fucking smart and hilarious. We were in Chicago playing our first show together [in 2023] at Wrigley [Field], and when we were warming up—I wouldn’t say the mood was heavy or anything, but it felt like a new thing—Atom goes in the bathroom and comes out in this sparkly skin-tight body suit covered in sequins. Mind you, Dan’s wife and teenage daughter are there along with other band family in the room.
Andriano: It was very fucking revealing.
Skiba: He came out looking like a little skinny green bean with this fucking big dick. He was worried about offending the girls in the room, so he took tissue paper from the bathroom and stuffed it in his crotch so it wasn’t so defined—but it just made it worse. I still remember the look on his wife’s face when he walked out and was like, “I’m ready to go.” I was laughing so hard, but I was also trying to figure out why he had that. I remember either earlier that day or the day before, I walked into practice carrying my backpack and a little rolling bag, and Atom was like, “How do you carry all of your stuff and pack that light?” We were only gone for like a day or two, but he still had this big crappy old suitcase, which now I know is just full of novelty clothes and joke props.
Andriano: He’s there anytime the room needs a joke. Most of his questions are setups for punch lines, and there’s never a dull moment with him. He’s also a lovely man both to his fellow man and to animals. His dogs are his kids. You would think he has children, but then it always turns out he’s talking about his dogs.
Alkaline Trio with Willard
ATOM’s thoughts on Alkaline Trio: It’s sort of a Cinderella story. They have been so welcoming, and the fans have been so accepting. It’s such big shoes to fill because Derek had been such a superpower in that band for like 20 years or something. It’s a little bit daunting to try to come in, but I knew I had to come in and be myself from the beginning, because I’m not ever going to be happy if I can’t be me. Matt was like, “Just be yourself and play what you feel, and I’m sure it’s gonna be fine.” When we got together, we just had a couple practices before our first show, and it was just instantly fine. It was so easy. They were so stoked. I was so stoked. It was just a love fest of excitement and happiness.
It also came at a great time for me, because I was healed enough to feel confident. I was glad we didn’t start out playing full-on headline shows and multi-hour-long sets, because my body had a chance to assimilate to playing with show adrenaline and show volume and everything else. You can try to replicate that in a practice space, but it’s not the same. If your body’s not going to do it, you’re not going to know until you’re in it, so I was a little nervous about residual effects from the accident going into it. It’s all just been super awesome to the point where I’m afraid to talk about it or I’ll jinx it. It still feels so new and fresh.
[Regarding the sparkly green bodysuit,] I just thought, “OK, here’s these tattooed guys who are always wearing black and look cool, so I need to just come out in the craziest and most ridiculous thing I can wear.” It was these iridescent white tights and some neon green cycling shirt, because I figured everybody’s going to be a little nervous. It’s a hometown show. It’s Wrigley Field. It would be funny if they thought for just a split second, “Are you gonna wear that on stage?!” and It was funny! I kind of wish that Dan’s wife wasn’t there when I walked out, but oh well. We’re family now.
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