AS IT IS DROP LATEST SINGLE
The transatlantic pop-rock quartet As It Is has officially unveiled their latest single, ‘Do You Remember?’, marking a poignant new chapter ahead of their upcoming self-titled album scheduled for release on July 17th. This reflective anthem is already being hailed as a future staple of their live performances, capturing a sense of nostalgia that defines the band's enduring legacy.
Frontman Patty Walters offered deep insight into the track's origins, explaining that “‘Do You Remember?’ is about the countless nights we’ve spent retelling all our favourite stories from the road, the studio, and everywhere else that music has taken us over the years. When we were on top of the world and when we hit rock bottom, we went through every moment of it together, and the memories and the friendships are something we cherish every day. We wrote the song with Max Helyer (You Me At Six), someone who knew exactly what we wanted to say and capture in a song, both in its lyrics and its heart, and ‘Do You Remember?’ wouldn’t be half the song it is without him.”
Max Helyer shared his own enthusiasm regarding the collaborative process, stating that “Working with the lads was a real pleasure. I remember when Patty and myself spoke about doing something at a Marshall writer camp in early 2025, a couple of months later we were in his studio together writing this song. We shared stories of being on tour with your brothers and what As It Is have been through as a band, and I thought, hey, why don’t you write about that side of it? We wanted it to be a triumphant celebration of where they have been and what they’ve gone through together, but most importantly coming back and doing it for the right reasons."
The single is accompanied by a music video that leans heavily into the band's roots, which Walters describes as a full-circle moment for the group. He noted that “it was a blast filming the music video in a living room in Brighton, surrounded by partners, friends, and so many of the fans who have supported this band since the very beginning. We love this song so much, and it’s always special getting to share something unreleased with a handful of people before it officially drops. Once the video was wrapped, we played a headline set for everyone who came down, and it was a show I’ll absolutely remember forever. The band’s first-ever show was in a similar living room, no more than a ten-minute walk away from where we shot the video, and it felt so special to, nearly 14 years later, reconnect with the band’s most humble of beginnings, and to know that the video itself was becoming one of those same stories that inspired us to write this song in the first place."
To create art for art’s sake is as pure an intention as a band can have. Writing a song that may never even see the light of day, but speaks to the very reason that you want to create in the first place, is a profound act. Putting joy, connection, and fulfillment above anything else, and reaping the rewards that come from pushing such human endeavors, is a noble and selfless position to place yourself in. It is a mindset that sits at the very root of why we all fall in love with music in the first place.
For As It Is, adopting this philosophy was an absolute necessity.
It was the only way they could even attempt to recapture what once brought them together 13 years ago. This record represents a moment in time where Patty Walters, Ben Biss, Ali Testo, and Patrick Foley could reconvene for the first time in a long time, look back on the highest highs and lowest lows they have experienced together, and draw hope and inspiration from them once again.
From that shared space, they have created As It Is, the first body of work made as a quartet in eight years. It is a record that finds them at the most comfortably bold they have ever been, delivered via the most beautiful brand of collective catharsis. However, to even consider reaching this sort of solace, a different kind of work needed to be done first.
For Patty, that journey meant finding a purpose outside of the band. For so long, he had felt like he had no choice but to be in As It Is, that, without it, there was nothing else. To listen to 2022’s I WENT TO HELL AND BACK, the band’s fourth full-length album and only piece of work to not feature Ben or Foley following their respective departures in 2019 and 2020, is to hear Patty in fight-or-flight mode, unfurling dark thoughts and making music that was bleak because it felt like all he had left.
But in stepping away from not just the band but music altogether around the start of 2024 to seek professional help, to exorcise demons, muddle through trauma, and realize there is a life beyond the industry, he was able to realize that he can be everything he wants to be. He just needed to relocate who he was within those roles, not who he thought he had to be.
“I realised the most important thing for me to do was find happiness, fulfilment and a sense of identity outside of all of this,” he explains. “So, I found stability. Found help. Found that happiness. Then I slowly started to realise that the possibility of returning to music wasn’t a regression but an opportunity to introduce more purpose into my life and use it as an outlet for self-expression. That’s always been the best way that I’ve communicated with the world, through songs and performance, and I had been denying myself that for so long.”
It feels serendipitous that around the same time, Ben had contacted and reconvened with Patty, not as a bandmate but as a best friend offering support through the emotional turmoil that unloading such heavy burdens can produce. The band never even entered the equation at this point; instead, this was an opportunity for the two of them to just be, a support network without any add-ons or other intentions. Joined then by Ali and Foley for meetups and heart-to-hearts at The Eagle in Brighton, these were four friends loving each other as friends, and nothing else, for the first time in a very long time.
“I think that Ali is the only one of us with an actual brother,” Patty laughs. “But I now have brothers because of As It Is. Because of how much they loved me and showed up for me when I needed them. I feel like we are going to be brothers first always and till the end because of that.”
Before all of this, Patty and Ben had attempted to write music as a pair, not for a project, but simply because it’s what they had always done. After Patty realized he wasn’t ready and took the necessary steps to properly heal through actual therapy rather than through isolated lyric writing, only then did the conversation turn to the possibility of As It Is becoming their focus once more. But things could never be the same as they once were—nor would they want them to be. If they were going to do this, it was going to be entirely on their terms.
Because of this new boundary, the first fruit of their labors, the raw and rallying ‘Lose Your Way & Find Yourself’, took almost a year from those initial conversations to be mixed, mastered, and ready. That year was defined by love, care, consideration, and patience, a reminder that this was a choice rather than a necessity, and that truly making sense of heavy emotions takes time. What followed were three additional trips to the studio with producer Kel Pinchin at the Ranch Production House in Southampton, allowing the band to space out their writing rather than forcing it. For the first time in their career, they were making an album while not spending 200 days a year on the road. When you are spinning so many plates just to make it to the next venue, you don't have the time to face demons or make sense of trauma, let alone let anyone else know what you are going through.
“We weren’t previously able to heal and grow when we were in the thick of it,” Patty admits. “We just had to cope and do our best, and within that, not always share that with each other. We could only share it with ourselves. When we were writing our second and third records, we were thinking about the bigger rooms we wanted to play and the bands we wanted to tour with as a result. This one was about as long as we are bringing out who we are and ourselves into the writer’s room. It’s not about what happens after we write, record and release. This is just who we are."
This space to process their journey resulted in some of the most emotionally stark and healing songs the band has ever recorded. Musically, rather than trying to fit into a specific scene, the quartet embraced the sounds they actually adore. There are flickers of The Starting Line and The Early November alongside influences like Counting Crows, big, bold rock songs characterized by earnestness and euphoria. Forging this sound in a space where every instrument was ready for spontaneous use, rather than the regimented practice of tracking block by block, allowed creativity to take precedence and more layered songs to bloom.
Lyrically, the album is as "warts and all" as they have ever been, which is a significant statement for a band that has worn its heart on its sleeve for 14 years. Looking back on who they have been with open eyes, the result is both nostalgic and earnest. From the raw storytelling of ‘Ruin My Life’ to the hope-filled ‘What If It All Works Out’, the reflection of ‘Do You Remember?’ to the understanding of ‘Marilyn’, every song holds a unique sentiment. It is the sound of healing in real time, featuring a band that is more awake and alive than they have been since their inception.
“This is an amalgamation of the last 12 years as well as a new level of honesty and transparency,” Ben explains. “This is the core and crux of who we are. We’re never going to change from now on. It really is more about our relationship with each other and how, through everything, the four of us still have this bond, both as friends and musically. That has been tested a lot through the years, and these songs are now a real testament to our overarching brotherhood and love for each other.”
It is because of this unity that the quartet knew this had to be their self-titled record. For any band, such a statement signals either a moment of reinvention or a doubling down on what defines them. For Patty and Ben, the latter is what this experience is truly about. By remembering why they started the band, and applying the wisdom and drive they now possess, they have come full circle. By nurturing their friendships first, they have produced a piece of art that will inspire and live long in the hearts of those who hear it.
It is everything that As It Is was, is, and will be, and it means the absolute world to them.
“You can never manufacture genuine connection with people,” Ben remarks. “Just find what is honest to you and honest to your journey, and that’s all any artist has to offer to the world. This is our reality, and reality is looking a bit more positive these days. We’re a band known for four quite depressing albums. But days fluctuate, and things change. That’s mental health. But to be able to look at everything with a different and more positive outlook on the future is all that we wanted to say.”
“This is the spirit and intention of the joy that formed As It Is in the first place,” Patty adds. “It is reconnecting with the kids that we were when we started to write songs. And now, we’re showing up with life in our eyes. We can listen to and support each other. This is the most in control and confident the band has been in a long time, but also the most proud. In the past, I had no choice but to be in As It Is. This new era of the band is my choice. Our choice. A choice. But in having it back, it means having maybe the biggest piece of myself back, too.”
