by sierra romano
photo by ian coulson
“Life inspires my lyrics, my struggles, my mental health, my attitude… music has always been sort of a product of necessity,” says As It Is’ singer Patty Walters. In this interview he dives into the depths of the band’s new album I WENT TO HELL AND BACK, which was released back in February 2022. You can stream the album now on all platforms, and you might even be able to catch As It Is on the road later this year!
Congratulations on the album — I’m a huge fan! How would you say this record differs from your previous releases?
Patty: “I would say it differs in a few ways. Firstly, it is a product of the pandemic. I know a lot of people are reluctant to call projects a ‘pandemic album’ or a ‘pandemic project,’ but truly this record wouldn’t exist without the pandemic. We had every expectation of recording an EP in April of 2020, which is what we started doing over Zoom and Dropbox respectively with our producer Zach Jones. We recorded five, maybe six, songs and when the pandemic persisted we continued to work and continued to write, halfway out of how promising the sessions had been and halfway out of necessity. I mean, there were so many emotions and fears and struggles to channel into art and lyrics, and without a project to work on something productive in a healthy way to express myself and navigate those emotions it would’ve been an even more challenging time, which is hard to imagine.
This is a record that is raw and upfront, and when I say honest I don’t mean to imply that our previous albums haven’t been honest. This is just a very transparent record. The lyrics don’t hide behind many metaphors. it’s just feelings at their most raw and most true. And I would say those are probably the two biggest differences that I can attribute to this record.”
What was the writing process like for this album?
Patty: “It began the same [as previous albums] that in late 2019 Ronnie and I were doing some writing sessions with songwriters, producers out in LA. We wrote a few of the songs that are on the record. We wrote ‘IDGAF,’ we wrote ‘I’M GONE,’ and we wrote ‘I CAN’T FEEL A THING’ – and we wrote a blueprint for what became ‘I LIE TO ME.’ That was called ‘Rearview’ and sounded halfway similar. And then when the pandemic rolled around it was very different and that we were writing songs over Zoom and over Dropbox, and nobody was in one room at any one time. The only songs that were written in person were ‘I HATE ME TOO,’ ‘I MISS 2003,’ and ‘IN THREES,’ and we wrote those in August of last year. But apart from that, everything was written and worked on remotely. It was a challenge but it was worth doing. Very proud of this record and creating what we did out of the process that we sort of had to endure.”
Aside from all of the legendary artists you have referenced in “I MISS 2003,” what else inspires your music?
Patty: “I would say just life. Just life inspires my lyrics, my struggles, my mental health, my attitude. That’s it, this music has always been sort of a product of necessity. It really serves as catharsis and my therapy for the most part. But musically, I think this record is probably our most diverse and eclectic in terms of instrumentation, how the music all sounds. And for that we’re just channeling a bunch of influences, things as different as pop and hip-hop, and even heavier bands on some of the heavier tracks too. It’s a combination of all of those things, I would say.”
You guys have a couple of collaborations on this album, namely Set It Off and JordyPurp. What was it like working with them for “IN THREES?”
Patty: “It was so much fun, truly. We had Cody in the studio for one day, and I think we all sort of expected and intended to write a much more upbeat and major sounding song, but what sort of materialized was this very somber and ominous sort of alt-pop track. And it just sort of felt like we were in the backseat and the song was writing itself. It was sort of guiding us. I don’t often believe in or feel those sort of feelings, but there was some sort of force in the room and that’s the song that sort of wrote itself that day.
When we penned the lyric ‘tragedy comes in threes,’ we did sort of all realize it wouldn’t be complete without a third artist featured on the track. We reached out to our good friend JordyPurp, he had already been in two of our music videos and he’s been a longtime friend and somebody that we thought was making just some really cool art, and we thought he would sound great on the bridge. In less than a week the song was finished.”
There’s a clear connection between tracks 3 and 4 on the album, and the singles were even released together. Are any of the other songs on the album also paired together?
Patty: “That’s a really interesting question in that ‘ILY, HOW ARE YOU?’ is also sort of paired with ‘I’D RATHER DIE’ because they were written on the same day. I wrote ‘I’D RATHER DIE’ when I was having a very bad time with my head and I didn’t press attend on the Zoom session that day. I chose to just write on my own because the presence in front of others was too difficult, so the guys worked on ‘ILY, HOW ARE YOU?’ in my absence and I worked on ‘I’D RATHER DIE’ in their absence, and the very next day we just sort of exchanged these songs and they were being written at the exact same time and finished at the same time as well. So those two for me are very much paired. Apart from that there’s not too many others that I can think of, and I know that ‘I WENT TO HELL AND BACK,’ the track, was one that we were working on at the same time as another, but it escapes me whatever it was. So I would say those two are also linked together.”
Was it nerve wracking to be so blunt and honest with your lyrics on this record?
Patty: “Yes and no, because I think sometimes it’s easier to share those feelings with a song before you share them with a person. Not only because it’s easier to just sort of really confront those emotions head on when you’re trying to write lyrics, but equally you start to sort of like really process those emotions and you can better articulate exactly how you’re feeling. Sometimes when I say how I’m feeling to my partner, my friends, and my family it takes somewhere between ten and twenty minutes for me to put my finger on exactly what’s wrong and exactly what my issue is, exactly how I’m feeling and what needs to change. When you sort of divulge those feelings and emotions to a song first, you have that moment alone to process and to really just asses what is the matter. So yeah, and it’s one of these things you show these songs to your closest friends, and then you show it to your family and then some more friends and some of the industry, and then you eventually roll it out to the world. Little by little you just start telling more and more people. It doesn’t feel like you’re ever telling the whole world all at once because that’s not really how it is in actuality. It’s not always comfortable, but divulging those feelings never is. It’s just part of the process.”
One thing I also want to mention is the album art. Can you tell us the story behind the cover?
Patty: “It came fairly late in terms of the deadline. There had been ideas submitted and nobody was truly in love with any of the artwork concepts. But [we] spent an evening really hoping to achieve a strong and simple and striking image to brand on the physical artwork and on streaming platforms, and the concept of somebody is in a doorway, and the doorway is on the floor beneath them in the shape of a casket, and their silhouette beneath them is a shadow of a skeleton. I thought it was a really effective way of portraying so much of what this record is about at its core. And it’s about just having a sort of inner struggle that you’re not always broadcasting, that there’s more going on beneath the surface. We gave that idea and a very, very rough sketch to our friend Flo at Fearless Records and he put together something just truly wonderful. I love how it came out, I really do. I think it’s one of my favorite artworks we’ve done, and I think it really serves the title of the album and all of the songs really tie them up in a bow.”
What is one thing you hope that your fans will take away from listening to this album?
Patty: “Anything at all. The thing that I love most about art is that it’s a suggestive medium, and it’s a different listening experience for every individual. I don’t want it to be the same for every person. I want everybody to have a unique experience with this record and with these songs. Every single one of these songs might mean something else to somebody else. Like it might not be how I intended the song to sound or to mean, but I just hope that people enjoy it. That’s my only hope in the world. Whether you enjoy it from front to back and you only listen to it as one record Side A to Side B, or you just skip and bounce from song to song – as long as you’re enjoying it and spending time with us and our music, that’s more than I ever truly could’ve wished for.”
You recently wrapped up the “Welcome to Elsewhere” Tour, how was that experience for you guys, and how has touring changed since the pandemic?
Patty: “I missed touring with my whole heart and it felt really surreal and really wonderful to be back on the road with friends, new and old friends. It was one of my favorite tours we’ve ever done, but it was certainly not without challenges in terms of weather, in terms of Covid health and safety. I ended up testing positive in the middle of the tour and had to remove myself for just over five days and missed one of the shows. There were a number of things about this tour that were particularly difficult. It was strange and sad not to be face to face with our fans at the end of every show – something I do truly miss and don’t know when that’ll come back. But even just any semblance of what touring used to look like is something I will take. I missed performing, I missed the day to day operation of being with my closest friends and doing something that makes me feel extremely proud and fulfilled everyday. It’s been really wonderful, bittersweet that it’s coming to a close. But it’s been a really wonderful tour. Set It Off took very good care of us, they always look out for us. They’re some of our closest friends in the scene and outside of the scene. They’re just great people. It was a great one.”
Can you leave us with a little hint for any upcoming projects?
Patty: “Yeah, absolutely. The priority is touring. We’re going to try to be as many places this year as we can get to. We just miss our fans so much. We missed performing so much, and we want to be playing more songs off this album throughout the year and early next year as well. We have some plans being booked and finalized, and we can’t wait to share them with the world. More videos to come, more versions of songs to come – stripped down, and maybe even souped up. We’re not slowing down anytime soon, so it’s only getting more and more exciting.”
