Jason Willer

Willer joined the group the Enemies at the age of 18,[6] with Mike Pelino, the band's singer, guitarist, and main songwriter and whose sister had given the band its name. Playing bass for the Enemies was Rick Jacobus, who had been a childhood friend of Pelino[3] and would later team up with Willer again in his band Alaric.[7] Like many punk rockbands in the Bay Area, Enemies got their start at the Gilman.[3] The band would release their first recordings in 1998 on an album released by S.P.A.M. Records titled Conquered / Concord which was a compilation with another Bay Area band, Second Hand Spit, in which Enemies were represented by two songs, This Mess and Feed Your Greed.[8]Lookout! Records would release their album Seize the Day in 2002 with Dave Edwardson of Neurosis on bass.[3] Critical acclaim for the album[9] resulted in an eighteen months tour which included high profile events for Thrasher magazine and Real Skatebords. The band would remain active until 2004 when they played their final show at Bottom of the Hill in San Francisco.[10] Pelino would go on to play guitar and sing backup vocals for Green Day.[11]

In 2001, Willer heard that the U.K. Subs, a British punk rock band that had been active since 1977[12] needed a drummer for a Brazil/Argentina tour.[1] At the time, being concerned about heroin use among his housemates and other associates, he decided getting out of the Bay Area would be a smart move[5] and within weeks was in South America, touring and recording and would continue to be a drummer for the band until 2006,[1] touring Europe, Canada and Japan.[5]

While still drumming for the U.K. Subs, Willer moved to Germany in 2004 and started the band Cross Stitched Eyes which are on the Alternative Tentacles label as well as Ruin Nation Records.[6] Cross Stitched Eyes would release 6 albums between 2006 and 2013 which were largely classified in the Anarcho-punk genre as well as Crust punk.[13] Willer carried the vocals for Cross Stitched Eyes in a style described as abrasive off-kilter punk in the tradition of Peni's Death Church LP and the first, self-titled Killing Joke LP.[14]

After returning to the US, Willer reached out to Shane Baker with the idea of forming a dark band inspired by the heavy metal he had grown up on with some British anarcho influences. The band Alaric was formed in 2008 with former bandmate Rick Jacobus on bass and Baker as the lead vocalist, singing songs that convey emotions like loss and regret.[15] The band released their self-titled Alaric in 2011 with 20 Buck Spin records.[16] The band's final release came after the band parted ways and then re-united to release End of Mirrors in 2016 with Neurot Recordings.[17]

The name Drain The Sky comes from William Faulkner's The Hamlet,[18] and the band featured bassist Carl Auge, formerly of His Hero Is Gone and George Wunderlich.[19] The band would release one album with Willer, Haunted By Rivers, on Level Plane Records in 2008.[20]

Formed by guitarist Greg Valencia of the New Mexico hardcore scene of the 1990s, The Born Uglys would release one album with Willer, Pictures of Ugly Babies Sell Records in 2009 on Prank Records.[21]

In 2012 Willer teamed up with Nicky Garrett from U.K. Subs again to back up Nik Turner from the UK space rock/prog band Hawkwind.[1] After the 2013 release of Turner's Space Gypsy album, Willer would accompany the band on a 30 city tour of the US called Space Ritual, between October and November of that year.[22] Willer would play drums for Turner on four studio albums, the latest of which, The Final Frontier was released in 2019.[23]

The concept for the band Hedersleben began in 2011 with Nicky Garrett and Uve Müllrich, bass player of the Krautrock band Embryoin, in Hedersleben, Germany. In 2012 when Garrett became the music director for Nik Turner the opportunity to reunite with Willer presented itself, during the recording of Turner's Space Gypsy.[24] In August 2013, Willer joined keyboard/flute/sitar player Joel Vandroogenbroeck, founder of the Krautrock band Brainticket, to collaborate, and record Past, Present, and Future, the first Brainticket studio album in 15 years. Hedersleben recorded their debut album, Upgoer back to back with Braintickets's Past, Present & Future. Willer accompanied Hedersleben opening for Nik Turner on tour in 2013, 2014, and 2015.[25]

Jello Biafra and the Guantanamo School of Medicine, was founded in 2009 by the former song writer and singer for The Dead Kennedys.[26] Willer would join the group in 2016, replacing drummer Paul Della Pelle. In the first LP release since 2014 by Biafra, Willer plays on Tea Party Revenge Porn, to be released by Alternative Tentacles in January 2021.[27]

In 2017, after Willer began teaching Matt Freeman's (Rancid and formerly Operation Ivy) son to play drums, Freeman and Willer decided to experiment together playing metal influenced rock. After establishing some rhythm parts that they both enjoyed, they brought in Drew McGee,[5] former guitar player for God Lives Underwater.[28] The result would be called Charger and their first self-titled album would be released by Pirates Press Records in 2019, followed by a tour with The Old Firm Casuals. Charger went on to release two singles Watch Your Back and Stay Down in 2020.[29]