Willard (band)

Willard was a music group from Seattle, Washington. Formed around 1989, they are acknowledged to be part of the grunge movement of the 80's-90's. They never quite broke out of the underground scene. Bruce Pavitt of Sub Pop took guitarist Mark Spiders out to lunch and told him they were "looking for a touring machine". Willard passed on Sub Pop's advances to avoid the "Grunge Bandwagon".

Jeff Gilbert and Tad Doyle were instrumental in their first record deal which resulted in their one and only Jack Endino produced album, "Steel Mill" in 1992. They had previously released a self titled EP on [http://www.myspace.com/willardseattle] on Green Gel Records [http://www.greengelrecords.com] . [ Brenda Herrmann, "Willard: Steel Mill", Chicago Tribune, December 17, 1992, Sec. Tempo, Pg. 7. ] . After performing an outdoor show for the "Pain In The Grass" Festival at the Seattle Center, Willard was banned from further performances by the Seattle Police Department and the City of Seattle. Willard T shirts soon proudly said "Banned by the SPD"! [Patrick MacDonald, "Willard is Saying `Rats!' to Seattle's Grunge Profusion", The Seattle Times, July 31, 1992, Sec. Tempo, Pg. 6.] . Their music sounded similar to several other Seattle bands, namely TAD and the Melvins. Steve Wied was the original TAD drummer before joining Willard.

They disbanded after recording a second record, "Bone Grinder", which was never released. Only one song, "Larie" was released on a "Seattle Music Scene CD".

Mark, Johnny, and Otis, played in a side project called Ditch Witch with Tad Doyle of TAD, and Tyson Garcia who later played bass for Willard, Hog Molly, and The Ones. Ditch Witch never released any recordings, however there are bootleg videosFact|date=February 2007. The second version of Ditch Witch was named Cluster Fuck and featured Tad on drums and vocals, Garcia on bass, Spiders on guitar, and Martin Chandler (Panic, Hog Molly), (The Ones) on second guitarFact|date=February 2007.

Band Members

* Johnny Clint - vocals
* Mark Spiders - guitars
* Otis P. Otis - guitars
* Steve Wied - drums
* Darren Peters - bass
* Tyson Garcia - bass (replaced Peters)

Discography

*"Willard - EP" (Green Gel Records 1991) [http://www.greengelrecords.com]
*"Road Runner Records Promo PR063" - features "Sweet Cali" (Road Runner Records 1992)
*"Metal Detector CD Metal Monsters" Summer 1992 - features "Stain" (FMBQ 1992)
*"Steel Mill" (Road Runner Records, 1992)
* "Best Of Grunge Rock" features "Fifteen" (Priority Records 1993)
*"Bone Grinder" (un-released)
* "Seattle Music Scene Volume 2" features "Larie" from "Bone Grinder" (Insight Records 1994)
* "Texass" features Mark Spiders on Backup Vocals and Otis P. Otis on Guitar(IFA Records 1994)
* "Sunshine" Spread the Love EP (pre - Willard) 1989 [self release] features "Drag". Mark, Otis, and Darren play on EP with Faye West (vocals) and Patty Schemell (drums) who Later played with Courtney Love in "Hole".

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