AS IT IS: Back From Hell and Taking It On The Road
Interview by Ken Morton Photos by Jack Lue As It Is has returned with an impassioned new album entitled I Went To Hell And Back, conceived during the downtime due to a worldwide pandemic. A followup to their stunning The Great Depression magnum opus, As It Is — Patty Walters, Ronald Ish, and Alistair Testo — are ready to share their brand new sonic journey of I Went To Hell And Back to the world. Just prior to the As It Is US tour, Highwire Daze interviewed vocalist Patty Walters to discuss their exciting new album, a return to touring, how the pandemic affected the band, and a whole lot more! All this, and the band also did a shoot with legendary photographer Jack Lue, some of the pictures which are included in this article. 18
We’re here with Patty of As It Is. Let’s talk about the new album. I Went to Hell and Back. Where did that title come from? So it comes from a song on the record. The last song on the record. And I think one of my favorite aspects about that quote, and that line, and that lyric is that it’s... it’s interrupted in the context of the song, so it won’t be until the record’s out that everybody really understands the full scope of the lyric. I couldn’t think of a better phrase to summarize my experience, our experience during the pandemic during the past two years of not being able to do the thing we love most. The thing we’re best at. The thing that gives us a sense of like, community and purpose. The past three and a half years, since we’ve released a record, it’s been extremely hard, but we went to hell and we came back from it. And I think that the last January/February 2022
HIGHWIRE DAZE
