How Coady Willis Helped Elevate High on Fire’s New Album

Coady
Willis
has
toured
alongside

High
on
Fire
as
a
member
of
both
Big
Business
and
the

Melvins,
so
when
the
modern
metal
legends
needed
a
new
drummer
in
2021
they
knew
exactly
who
to
call.

This
month,
Willis
made
his
recorded
debut
with
High
on
Fire
on
their
impressive
new
album


Cometh
the
Storm.
We
spoke
to
him
about
the
recording
of
the
record,
his
recent
surprise
return
to
the
Melvins,
and
the
future
of
Big
Business.

You’ve
known
and
shared
stages
with
High
on
Fire
for
years
now,
but
were
you
still
nervous
about
joining
the
band?

Yeah,
I
knew
those
guys.
And
I’m
familiar
with
the
band,
and
as
a
fan
of
the
band
for
a
long
time
I
think
my
biggest
concern
was
just,
you
know,
paying
tribute
to
their
legacy,
moving
it
forward,
trying
to
do
my
own
thing
and
do
what
I
do
well
without
putting
my
big
greasy
fingerprints
all
over
everything.
I
wanted
it
to
sound
like
a
High
on
Fire
record,
and
I
wanted
the
songs
to
come
across
as
High
on
Fire
songs.
But
obviously,
I’m
not
like
[previous
drummer]
Des
Kensel,
he
has
a
very
distinctive
style.
And
he’s
a
very
good
drummer,
he
was
a
huge
part
of
building
that
band.
I
felt
like
trying
to
ape
his
style
and
trying
to
play
like
he
would
play
would
probably
just
shine
more
contrast
onto
our
differences.
I
would
still
end
up
sounding
like
me,
but
I
would
end
up
sounding
like
me
trying
to
be
somebody
else.
I
didn’t
want
to
do
that.
So
I
wanted
to
try
to
put
the
songs
across
in
the
spirit
of
High
on
Fire
as
I
knew
it,
and
use
the
tools
in
my
toolbox
to
do
that
without
trying
to
sound
like
he
would.

Watch
High
on
Fire
Perform ‘Burning
Down’

 

What
was
the
songwriting
process
like?

Well,
I
live
in
Los
Angeles,
those
guys
live
in
the
Portland
area.
So
it’s
either
them
coming
down
to
me
or
me
going
up
to
them.
So
more
often
than
not,
I’m
flying
up
to
Portland
to
practice
with
those
two
guys
[singer
/
guitarist
Matt
Pike
and
bassist
Jeff
Matz.]
They
had
a
bunch
of
riffs
they
had
recorded,
they
had
a
riff
vault,
this 
Google
drive
full
of
just
loose
riffs.
So
I
would
practice
those
in
my
studio
down
here,
record
some
ideas,
get
a
feel
for
it,
and
then
go
back
up
there.
Then
we
would
get
in
the
room
together
and
kind
of
hash
out
the
riffs,
hash
out
the
ideas
and
do
some
arranging.
We
did
a
bunch
of
different
writing
sessions
where
I
would
go
up
there,
we
did
a
couple
where
just
Matt
came
down
to
my
studio,
we
wrote
for
a
week, 
just
me
and
him.

Then
we
had
a
couple
of
sessions
where
it
was
just
Jeff
and
I
writing
and
recording.
Then
we
brought
everything
we
did
from
all
the
sessions
all
together
into
into
a
room
and
worked
it
out
that
way.
We
had
a
different
palette
of
songs,
they
weren’t
all
coming
from
one
person.
It
was
like,
one
guy
originated
some
of
these
riffs,
one
guy
originated
some
of
these
riffs.
And
then
we
got
some
different
flavors
on
the
record,
then
we
put
it
all
together.
You
don’t
want
everything
to
sound
like
one
thing
all
the
way
through.
We
tried
to
get
it
so
there’s
ebbs
and
flows
and
some
different
flavors
on
there,
so
it’s
not
homogeneous.

Are
there
any
songs
where
you’re
particularly
proud
of
your
contribution
to
the
process?

There’s
a
couple.
We
practiced
a
lot,
we
made
a
lot
of
strides
going
into
the
studio.
I
found
that
the
songs
that
give
you
trouble
once
you’re
in
the
studio
are
never
the
ones
that
you
think
are
going
to
give
you
trouble.
And
that’s
kind
of
what
happened
here.
There’s
a
couple
of
songs
that
seem
like
they’re
more
complicated,
and
we
laid
those
down
no
problem
and
they
came
out
great.
And
then
there’s
a
couple
more
that
I
thought
were
a
little
more
simple
and
straightforward,
and
those
ones
ended
up
being
harder
to
get
down
and
get
right.

And
so
there’s
a
couple
of
songs
that
kind
of
go
together, “The
Beating”
and “Tough
Guy.”
The
first
one,
the
first
couple
of
times
I
tried
to
get
it
down
it
was
like,
this
doesn’t
sound
quite
right.
It
was
toward
the
end
of
the
day,
and
I
was
having
a
hard
time
nailing
it,
and
then
finally
got
it
down.
And
I
kind
of
thought
of
it
like, “Oh,
this
is
good.
It’s
good
enough.
It’s
good
enough.
It’s
fine.
Leave
it,
leave
it.”
And
then “Tough
Guy,”
the
one
that
comes
after
that,
that
one
I
thought
I
had
nailed 
before
we
went
into
the
studio.
And
then
as
we
were
laying
it
down.
Kurt
[Ballou],
the
producer
was
like, “That
doesn’t
really
work
with
the
guitar
riff.”
And
I
realized,
fuck,
he’s
right.
And
so
I
had
to,
on
the
fly,
figure
out
a
variation
of
what
I
was
playing.
And
it
was
again
at
the
end
of
the
day,
and
I
was
tired
from
drumming
all
day,
and
just
frustrated
and
pissed
off.
I
wanted
it
to
work
so
bad,
and
it
just
didn’t.

So
I
slept
on
it
came
back
in
the
next
day.
And
of
course,
overnight
when
I
slept
on
it
and
woke
up,
I’m
like, “Oh,
I’ll
do

this,
I
got
it!”
And
I
came
in
fresh
and
laid
it
down,
and
it’s
one
of
my
favorite
ones
on
the
record.
It
came
out
better
than
what
we
had
practiced.
It
was
a
struggle
to
get
it
down
but
it
I
think
it
came
out
really
cool.

Hear
High
on
Fire
perform ‘The
Beating’
and ‘Tough
Guy’

 

I
also
really
like “Cometh
the
Storm,”
the
title
track,
I
think
that
came
out
great.
I
like
the
drum
part
that
opens
the
song
and
I
think
Jeff’s
bass
tone
on
the
chorus
is
just
insane.
And
that
is
real,
that’s
how
it
sounds
coming
out
of
his
amp,
it’s
not
some
weird
production
trick
or
something
like
that.
We
recorded
a
demo
of
that
song,
and
he
was
using
this
fretless
active
pickup
bass
through
an
SVT
and
another
amp.
For
some
reason
the
settings
he
added
on
it,
when
we
recorded
the
demo
I
was
like “Oh
my
God,
that
sounds
like
World
War
Three!
We
have
to
like
make
sure
that
chorus
hits
that
is
full
blast
in
there. “That’s
just
his
bass
sound.
I
think
it
came
out
great,
it
came
across
in
the
recording
just
huge.

Watch
High
on
Fire
Perform ‘Cometh
the
Storm’

 

Last
year
you
briefly
returned
to
the
Melvins
after
Dale
Crover
had
to
get
surgery
just
before
the
start
of
their
tour
with
Boris.
Was
it
daunting
to
fill
in
under
those
circumstances?

There
was
no
prep
time.
It
was
a
surprise.
And
it
was
very
last
minute.
I
was
in
the
band
for
eight
years
with
those
guys,
we
toured
with
two
drummers.
So
I
was
familiar
with
a
lot
of
the
songs
that
they’re
playing.
On
one
tour
we
did
two
nights
in
each
city
doing
four
of
their
classic
albums,
one
of
which
was

Bullhead.
So
I
had
played
all
those
songs
before.
Dale
ended
up
having
to
go
in
right
before
the
tour.
Boris
was
also
playing,
and
they
were
already
in
the
country
from
Japan.
But
Dale
found
out
that
he
had
to
go
in
for
this
emergency
spinal
surgery
where
he’s
having
four
vertebrae
fused
in
his
neck.
So
I
was
actually
in
Portland
playing
a
show
with
High
on
Fire.
And
[singer
/
guitarist]
Buzz
[Osboune]
gave
me
a
call.
And
he’s
like,
can
you
do
this?
It
was
a
seven
week
tour,
and
we
had
three
days
to
practice
before
the
tour.
So
we
did
three
days
of
nine
hour
practices.
And
I
had
to
fly
back
immediately
from
Portland.
There
ended
up
being
a
hurricane
in
L.A.
that
day.
So
my
flight
was
canceled.
It
was
like
this
whole
thing
but
we
ended
up
getting
the
practices
in
and
kinda
got
the
set
down.

The
first
show
was
in
L.A
in
for
I
think
it
was
like
1700
people
or
something.
It
was
a
pretty
good
show.
I
live
here
so
it
was
like
everybody
I
knew
was
there,
I
was
nervous
when
I
showed
up.
I
saw
Kevin
Rutmanis,
the
band’s
former
bass
player,
there.
I
haven’t
seen
him
in
years
and
years.
I’m
in
the
dressing
room
and
he
burst
into
the
backstage
and
he’s
like, “you
must
be
so
nervous!”

Oh,
that’s
gotta
be
helpful.

Yeah,
and
he
doesn’t
stop,
he’s
saying, “Are
you
going
to
be
shitting
your
pants
right
now?”
It
was
hilarious.
But
it
also
took
the
tension
out
of
it.
And
that
ended
up
being
a
really
fun
show,
then
it
was
a
great
tour.
Those
guys
are
super
fun
to
play
with,
everybody’s
a
pro.
So
it
was
just
smooth
sailing,
and
seven
weeks
never
went
by
so
fast.

Watch
Coady
Willis
Perform
with
Melvins
in
2023

 

The
last
thing
I
wanted
to
ask
about
was
Big
Business.
Obviously
you’re
going
to
be
busy
with
High
on
Fire,
and
[bassist
/
singer]
Jared
Warren
is
currently
on
tour
with
Unwound.
But
are
there
any
plans
for
new
music
or
any
tour
dates?

Yeah,
we’re
trying
to
find
time
to
write
some
new
music
this
year,
we’ll
see.
Hopefully,
in
the
later
half
of
this
year,
we’ll
find
time
to
get
together.
Jared
used
to
live
in
L.A.,
he
moved
back
up
to
the
Northwest.
He
lives
in
Washington
now.
And
he
has
two
kids,
and
he’s
playing
in
Unwound,
so
yeah,
it’s
a
little
bit
more
complicated
than
it
used
to
be
as
far
as
the
two
of
us
getting
together.
But
after
after
this
run
we’re
doing
with
High
on
Fire,
Big
Business
is
gonna
play
a
show
in
Texas.
So
we’re
still
fitting
in
Big
Business
shows
where
we
can
and
we’re
trying
to
find
time
to
write
some
new
songs.

Hear
Big
Business
Perform ‘People
Behave’