WG: Myself and two other gentlemen: Justin Tamminga and Bryan Gorder. Justin reached out to Channeary Chea (being the mother of our 3 children) and said, “Tell William thank you for the music he has done, and that I started learning to play drums by trying to play ‘7’ by Sunny Day Real Estate”. She proceeded to tell me about him and was going into detail about the fact that he had a band with his son Lucien and his Daughter Dahlia, and that Lucien was autistic. She also told me that he teaches music to autistic children as well. This was of great interest to me, being that our four year old son Logan is autistic and I wanted to essentially copy off of his homework so to speak (i.e. learn from him).

Then I heard the band, being Pig Snout, and was totally blown away. I found myself asking if I could join their band, backing them up as a second drummer. Unfortunately Dahlia vetoed my request stating that, “It’s a family band”. I of course respected this, however I ended up going over and jamming with Justin and Dahlia double-drummer style, and that was actually the first time I had sat down behind the kit and played in 9 years. I had essentially walked away from playing due to something I can really only describe as musical PTSD.

Assertion

After that, Justin and I started getting together and playing occasionally… just the two of us. Then, occasionally became frequently. I had also gone to see his other band called Old Foals with Bryan Gorder and was completely blown away by Bryan Gorder’s bass playing. I knew that I had to play with that guy someday (that actually happened before Justin and I started playing together). The Old Foals drummer, Josh Kilpatrick, left the band and they changed their name to Blind Guides – they asked if I wanted to possibly fill in for a while and I said no, but wanted to know if they would be up for starting a new band from scratch. So that’s what ended up happening, and Assertion began. Blind Guides is still together, with Bryan’s life-long friend Jay Clements now playing drums.

How would you describe the music in Assertion?

WG: I have no idea – kind of like how I don’t really know how to categorize Sunny Day Real Estate. I know that thus far, it’s heavy and driving, and the songs are deeply personal. The only comparisons I’ve heard made thus far have been to a band called Hum and another band called Queens of the Stone Age. I personally don’t see much of a similarity between us and either of those bands, but I don’t really have the most objective perspective.

You posted a video clip of a rehearsal that included Jeremy (Enigk, of Sunny Day Real Estate) sitting in. Do you see any of your SDRE folks periodically?

WG: I have only seen Jeremy, and that’s just been a few times. Granted that I basically dropped off the face of the earth, and did not talk to literally anyone for those 9 years I wasn’t playing. Well again, with the exception of Jeremy, which was still far and few between.

How complete was the music from those last Sunny Day sessions?

WG: All the basic tracks (being guitars, bass and drums) were tracked. The only song from that session that had vocals put down was”Lipton Witch”, which was actually released.

WG: I would say How it Feels to Be Something On and The Rising Tide. And The Fire Theft record.

Didn’t you used to keep your hi-hat stand chained to the kit, or something like that? I think I remember seeing that when I caught SDRE in San Francisco in ’98, at the Maritime Hall. That whole show is on YouTube now, by the way. Crazy.

WG: I had a cassette that had the rough mixes of the record with me on it, and I had given it to my sister. After everything went south, I removed myself from that project and didn’t want to even think about it. So I never asked for the tape back, and it was lost in the shuffle as a result. As to whether or not any of the reels still exist, I don’t know and never will. If they do, I guarantee you that they are under permanent lock and key, but I wouldn’t be surprised if they were just erased all together. I’ll never know.

WG: Originally, for me, the music always came first then martial arts second. Now the kids come first, and everything else has to settle for second and third place etc.

Will you be passing along the drum skills to your kids?

WG: Yes, if they have the desire to play.

Do you see yourself getting back out into the music scene full time at some point? Or are you content to let some of that rigorousness stay in the past?

WG: My plan is to eventually get back into touring, but reasonably so. How that is going to be balanced out is unexplored territory at the moment, but I’ll know when I move into that phase of playing again. It’s something I’m constantly trying to figure out on a subconscious level. It’s on the laboratory bench but, no where near a litmus test.

What do you hope to achieve (music or personally) in the next few years?