1990–2000, 2011, 2013, 2014: Rocket from the Crypt Willard joined the
San Diego,
California rock band
Rocket from the Crypt in 1990, after their original drummer Sean had moved away from San Diego. In a 2006 interview Willard recalled of the experience: It was crazy, man. I was just 16, I would drive down to this kind of sketchy, strange rehearsal space in this part of town I'd never been, and there were people living in some of the spaces. It was just
weird, and everybody was older than me. But the sound was rad. It was a lot of
soul, a lot of
Otis Redding,
James Brown–but it was up against a serious
punk-rock influence, and just regular
rock 'n' roll. Every song had four personalities! In 2000, however, he decided to leave the group due to disagreements with the other members over the band's direction: I was getting disillusioned with the way we were doing business. It was getting harder and harder to survive–those tours where you'd come home with no money, that was getting less cool. [Laughs.] I didn't just want to get some temp job to survive and go on tour anymore. I wanted to play the drums; I wanted to play music and make a living off of it. And I thought I could. And
we all could. I wanted some changes and
Speedo and I were kind of at odds on that stuff; we disagreed on how we should go about it. Willard was replaced in Rocket from the Crypt's lineup by
Mario Rubalcaba. In October 2011, he reunited with Rocket From the Crypt to perform the song "He's a Chef" on the children's television show Yo Gabba Gabba. In September 2013 he played 3 shows with the band for
Riot Fest. In November 2014 he played with the band at
Fun Fun Fun Fest in Austin, Texas.
2000–2003: The Special Goodness and temporary acts After leaving Rocket from the Crypt Willard served as a drum technician for
Weezer. In 2000 he filled in as a touring drummer for
Alkaline Trio and appeared with them in the music video for the single "
Private Eye". He soon joined Weezer drummer
Patrick Wilson in his side project
the Special Goodness, in which Willard drummed while Wilson sang and played guitar. Willard also filled in with
Moth in 2002 for tours in support of their third album
Provisions, Fiction and Gear and appeared in their music video for "I See Sound". Willard's first recorded output with the Special Goodness was 2003's
Land Air Sea. The band have not released an album since then. Willard also recorded drum tracks for the songs "Head Unbound" and "Would If I Could" on
Melissa Auf der Maur's debut solo album
Auf der Maur (2004).
2003–2005: The Offspring In 2003 Willard became an official member of
the Offspring, replacing long-time drummer
Ron Welty who had left the group earlier that year. During Willard's tenure with the group he performed on numerous tours but only performed on one song. Professional drummer
Josh Freese had recorded the drum tracks for the band's 2003 album
Splinter after Welty left the group. Willard joined shortly before the album's release and appeared with them in the music video for the single "
(Can't Get My) Head Around You". However, in 2005 he became a founding member of
Angels & Airwaves (see below), and his commitments to the new group began to draw him away from the Offspring. The Offspring released a
Greatest Hits compilation in 2005 including two new songs, "
Can't Repeat" and a cover of
The Police's "
Next to You". Willard appeared with the band in the "Can't Repeat" music video and recorded the drum tracks for "Next to You". In July 2007 it was officially announced he had left The Offspring to focus on Angels & Airwaves. Freese again recorded drum tracks for the Offspring for
Rise and Fall, Rage and Grace (2008) before he was permanently replaced by former
Face to Face drummer
Pete Parada. Offspring singer
Dexter Holland later commented: The simple truth is that Atom had been working on a few of his own projects during our down time, including Angels & Airwaves but other things too. We think that's great. Unfortunately, in order for him to see those things through he isn't left with enough time to devote to future Offspring stuff. It was a tough choice, but we understand. Atom's been a great drummer for us and we're sure Pete will be great too!
2005–2011: Angels & Airwaves While the Offspring took a "touring hiatus" in 2006, Willard joined
Tom DeLonge in his new group Angels & Airwaves. In an interview with
Shave Magazine, he said that felt the collective experience of all the members of the band made joining very easy for him. There's nobody trying to figure out what is and what isn't going to work, not just for themselves but for music and for a band, what life's going to be like on the road and all that kind of stuff. Everybody had enough experience to just buckle down and do the work. It really has made it easier than anything else." DeLonge remarked that Willard "has always felt to me like the single largest score in music. He is a loyal, honest and humble friend, but an even better showman." The band, which also included former
Box Car Racer/
Hazen Street guitarist David Kennedy and former
Distillers bassist
Ryan Sinn, released their debut album ''
We Don't Need to Whisper in May 2006. It peaked at #4 on the Billboard'' 200 and spawned several successful singles including "
The Adventure", "
It Hurts", "
Do It for Me Now", and "
The War", and Willard toured extensively with the group in support of the album. In July 2007, during production of the band's second album
I-Empire, Willard left the Offspring to focus on his work with Angels & Airwaves. The album was released in November 2007 and went on to sell over 200,000 copies in the United States. Singles from
I-Empire included "
Everything's Magic", "
Secret Crowds", and "
Breathe". He also played on Angels & Airwaves third album,
Love, released in February 2010. Willard toured with Angels & Airwaves in support of the album in May and July. On October 4, 2011, Willard officially left from Angels & Airwaves. The split is said to have been "amicable" with the rest of the band. Prior to his split with Angels & Airwaves, Willard had completed recording all drum tracks for the group's fourth studio album
Love: Part Two released in November 2011.
2009–2010: Social Distortion In April 2009, Willard replaced
Charlie Quintana in
Social Distortion. He toured Europe and the United States with Social Distortion in 2009, was scheduled to tour South America with them in April 2010, and had been in the studio recording their seventh studio album. On March 8, 2010, due to scheduling conflicts with Angels & Airwaves, Willard departed from Social Distortion. He was replaced by
Fu Manchu drummer
Scott Reeder for their South American tour.
2011–2013: theHELL In February 2011, Willard joined
Matt Skiba of
Alkaline Trio for a side project called theHELL. Their debut EP,
Sauves les Requines, was released in January 2012. theHELL put out another EP titled
Southern Medicine in 2013.
2011–2013: Danko Jones In June 2011, he became the drummer for Canadian group
Danko Jones. As of July 2013, he is no longer in Danko Jones.
2013–2020: Against Me! Willard filled in with
Against Me! for the band's 2013 Australian tour dates. On July 31, 2013, Willard officially announced on his Twitter page that he was the full-time drummer for Against Me!, led by
Laura Jane Grace. In 2018, he also became a member of Laura Jane Grace and the Devouring Mothers.
2001, 2023–2026: Alkaline Trio In early 2023, Willard reunited with Skiba to form a new band, Lektron, alongside
AFI bassist
Hunter Burgan, and SpiritWorld guitarist Randy Moore. In the coming weeks, he was also announced to be reuniting with Alkaline Trio, this time as their full-time drummer following the departure of
Derek Grant. On February 2, 2026, he announced on
Instagram that he left Alkaline Trio. == Musical equipment ==