As It Is

As It Is came together in Brighton in 2012 after American-born vocalist Patty Walters advertised for musicians through the online site Join My Band. Guitarist Andrew Westhead and drummer Patrick Foley answered, and Benjamin Biss, a university friend of Walters, joined soon after; bassist Alistair Testo completed the line-up in 2014. Walters had already built an audience posting song covers on his own YouTube channel before turning his attention fully to the band.

The band began with bright, melodic pop-punk, touring the UK and Europe before signing to Fearless Records in October 2014, becoming the first UK act on the label. Their debut album, Never Happy, Ever After, was recorded in Florida with producer James Paul Wisner and released in April 2015, followed by a second, okay., in January 2017.

Westhead left the band later in 2017 over what he described as building tensions, and the remaining members moved toward darker, more conceptual material. The Great Depression, recorded in Texas and released in August 2018, carried a stark black, white and red visual identity and a heavy debt to mid-2000s emo, with the band treating its drama earnestly rather than ironically and Walters's high, clearly enunciated vocals carrying most of the weight.

A fourth album, I Went to Hell and Back, pushed further into harder, theatrical territory on its release in February 2022. The band entered a hiatus later that year and announced its disbandment in January 2024, before reversing course seven months later with a reunion featuring Foley, Biss, Testo and Walters, resuming activity in 2025.