He began playing drums as a child, after being introduced by his older brother to bands such as The Beatles, Led Zeppelin, Elvis Costello and the Attractions, and Talking Heads.

[4] They recorded two studio albums, both released on the well-known independent label Sub Pop, that were greeted with positive critical reviews and brought about newfound popularity for the emo genre before they disbanded in 1995.

During one of Sunny Day Real Estate's last concerts, former Nirvana member Dave Grohl left the band a note.

Goldsmith stated that while he enjoyed the smaller venues, "pretty much everything after that blew," saying that as the band got bigger "it turned into a world-domination thing that became really creatively stifling" and he grew tired of reproducing songs he had no input composing.

[5] After touring through the spring of 1996, the full lineup entered a Seattle studio with producer Gil Norton to record the band's second album.

The band regrouped in Los Angeles in February 1997 and practically re-recorded the album—this time with Grohl on drums—without informing Goldsmith about the overdub session.

Around the same time, Goldsmith joined guitarist Billy Dolan, who had played on the Fire Theft album and tour, for a project called Varicocele.

[11] In December 2018, Goldsmith claimed on his Facebook page that the unfinished fifth Sunny Day Real Estate album remained "silenced, abandoned and buried within the murkiest depths of David Grohl's sock drawer."

He would later clarify that he was referring to the Grohl-owned Studio 606 where the album sessions took place and were abandoned due to Jeremy Enigk not receiving "the moral support as well as engineering that he deserved.

[13][14][15] During the bulk of his time with Sunny Day Real Estate and Foo Fighters, William played an Ayotte drum kit with Zildjian cymbals.

Sunny Day Real Estate Jeremy Enigk Foo Fighters Mary Lou Lord Replikants The Fire Theft Assertion