By: Saber Chadili
Establishing themselves over the years with their strenuous touring and release schedules, As It Is have quickly grown from being just another small band from the UK to headlining tours around the world. With their latest release The Great Depression via Fearless Records in August 2018, As It Is have transformed themselves into an act alternative music has yet to see, presenting a new cultivate sound and brand new identity to go along with it. Catching up with Patty Walters and Benjamin Langford-Biss before their show in North Carolina, they opened up about how their The Great Depression era has shaped the way in which they view their fanbase, their past music and above all, themselves.
How was it touring on the final cross country Warped Tour this past summer?
Patty: It was very bittersweet. It was very emotional, very surreal.
Ben: I always say we are like so grateful and glad we got to do it. Simultaneously, Warped Tour is so tough that I’m not that sad we won’t have to do another one. I’m sure maybe, I will be, but in a few summers time. I’m just excited to see what happens next in that gap that Warped has left for summer touring over here [United States].
I’ve seen some of the most beautiful fan art from your fans. How does it feel to see stuff like that?
Patty: Still strange. Really humbling, really flattering, but it’s still very strange. Fan art and fan tattoos are something you always dream about, but never expect. We put so much thought, time and imagination into The Great Depression that to see it reinterpreted in so many different ways is beautiful.
Do you guys have any established rules while on the road?
Ben: Not really, we are pretty easy going. I’m pretty sure Ron would like to enforce more rules about cleanliness on the bus, but we have yet to have that conversation.
Patty: We’re pretty boring, so we kind of just relax on the bus. The rules make themselves. Never poop on the bus, though.
Ben: That is the number one rule.
Patty: That is the number one rule. No number two.
Do you guys still see fans from around the earlier days? How does it make you feel to see the dedication your fans have?
Patty: Yeah, it’s really cool. Writing a record like The Great Depression was such a drastic departure from who we musically and lyrically used to be. The fact that there are still people from years ago, our first tours in the UK, Europe and the US that are still here is really special. It means a lot to us. I’m glad we are still making them proud while also making ourselves proud. I was saying this the other day when we did our most recent and largest headline show in London. When you play in front of over a thousand people, I used to think it would just blur into a sea of numerous faces. It’s really strange when you do recognize so many people by face and name and by place as well. It’s very strange to look out into the crowd and know so many people. You traveled to be here from Europe or from the US or from Asia and Australia.
Ben: It’s one of those things as well for you as an artist, you’re watching over the past five years or [so], fans grow as they’re watching you grow. And, you’re watching them grow up as well. There is like this two-way element. Because you know, there are fans that come to every show on a UK or Europe tour and when that happens you do get to know them.
Do you have some earlier memories of the first time in a studio?
Patty: The first time in a studio we were in Kissimmee, Florida.
Ben: We did not know what we were doing.
Patty: Six to eight weeks. It was beautiful. It was Florida in October so it was some of the best weather you ever think of.
Ben: The only time you would want to go to Florida. Yeah, we didn’t even have a clue. I think we were also quite stubborn back then. We like, wrote a record and we went into the studio and were like, “nothing is changing, we are not letting any influences in from producers or whatever.” We learned very quickly after that to not be so stubborn. I mean, we have a lot of stories from recording. Most of those tend to be around going to the pub after.
Patty: Yeah, our bassist and our drummer getting very drunk.
Mace from Asbury Park asked: What would you say are the greatest musical differences between okay. and The Great Depression? Any subtle similarities?
Patty: That’s a great question. okay. was definitely an album of experimentation. Where we experimented with darker elements like the The Great Depression, but also poppier elements. As it does have some of our most poppiest songs like “Pretty Little Distance” and “Still Remembering” and “Until I Return.” But it also has songs that are even darker than The Great Depression, “No Way Out,” “Soap” and “Austen.” But with The Great Depression, it was a very intentional and kind of cohesive direction. Very calculated, very conscious. I say that’s the biggest difference in The Great Depression, we really had like a mission statement and a vision. And okay. was kind of like trying to find who we were. And I think we found that at the end of okay. and going into The Great Depression.
Tyler from Bethlehem, PA asked: How do you manage traveling to so many places around the world and make each show count?
Ben: I found touring the UK and Europe, in general, is the easiest to tour. Here [United States] is a lot harder out of pure length, and it’s a lot of ground to cover, but Europe comes with its own set of issues with different currencies every day.
Patty: Harder to eat vegan.
Ben: Harder to eat vegan. Having to pay for restrooms. You know, small things.
Patty: Men and women smoking in the venues while you’re trying to soundcheck and perform. That feels awful.
Ben: *Laughs* Our sound guy not being able to communicate with language barriers. Honestly, it’s just we love seeing so many different cultures and communities and stuff wherever we go. It’s amazing to be able to come to places like North Carolina and have as many people come out as if we were in Osaka, Japan and just have that core fanbase.
Josette from New York City asked: If given the chance to are there any of the old songs that you wish you could rewrite and re-release?
Patty: *Laughs*
Ben: I would rewrite them as a zero second song.
Patty: Rewriting them entirely so that they don’t resemble the way they used to be at all. I think a couple of songs before the first record could do with being obliterated from the world entirely. We wouldn’t miss them.
Ben: *About fans missing them* They say they might.
Larissa from St. Louis asked: What was the hardest thing you had to learn to work with when you started writing your own songs?
Patty: Probably a lack of self-confidence. I think you really can be your own worst enemy a lot of the times. A lot of the time you shy away from ideas that are overly ambitious or that are kind of like stigmatized as selling out. We learned quickly enough to be true to ourselves. It was with okay. that we learned how fortunate we are that we have fans that are so very forgiving and welcoming of when we do attempt to experiment as a band that we can get away with sounding how we used to, but also we can get away with sounding completely different. As long as it stays true to us, the fans still seem to come along with. We’ve just kind of learned to trust our instincts and to make ourselves proud first and foremost. It took a lot of time, and a lot of practice, but also a lot of battling with yourself.
Cal from California asked: What is one word you’d use to describe your fans?
Patty: Family. We’ve really like, not only like have we bonded with our fans in a really big and personal way. I think so many people have met because of this band, and through social media because of this band that we really do feel really closely connected like a family.
