As It Is have been steadily making waves in the scene since signing to Fearless Records in 2014. Whilst on their headline tour in the U.S. vocalist Patty Walters and guitarist/vocalist Ben Biss sat down to talk about their second album, dealing with hate and learning how to survive on the road.

The band formed in Brighton, England in 2012. This is their first headlining tour stateside. The pop-punk five-some are playing shows on the back of their sophomore album, ‘okay.’ which was released in January 2017. As Walters explains, the so-called curse of the second album wasn’t really an issue. “But we were preparing ourselves for it,” he admits. “We were crippled with doubt and indecision and fear.”

“There’s no expectation with the first album,” adds Biss. “And then people all of a sudden have expectations, including ourselves. I think it was important for us to block out outsider’s expectations.”

Now, with it being out in the open, Walters “feels great… It’s nice to see how much this record and this message has resonated with people. It seems to be having a much deeper connection with people that have heard it. Which is obviously what you [set out to] achieve when you write a record.”

 ‘okay.’ delves into some pretty sensitive topics, from family relations to mental health, something that the band were very aware of this time “Not that ‘Never Happy, Ever After’ wasn’t an honest record,” says Biss, but “it was a bit self-involved in terms of ourselves and this is what we were experiencing on a bigger scale relating to our families and stuff like that. Rather than just what was going on in our minds. I think there was a lot of urgency to write these songs. A lot of them felt like we immediately needed to write. It’s cool to see people relating to it – that always feels weird to say because it’s dark so for people to relate to it it’s like, “oh that’s really cool, but actually…”

“That’s so cool,” says Walters, “and I’m so sorry.”

Speaking of writing about such sensitive topics, the two talk about how it wasn’t so much a worry about releasing it to the public. Rather the nerve-wracking things was “opening ourselves to each other and having to explain everything,” says Biss. “Not that we didn’t know each other but there are certain things that like we don’t openly talk about in normal conversation.”

Such sensitive topics include their own family dynamics. Walters explains how “the three of us – Andy, Ben and I – wrote the lyrics to Curtains Closed, and we spent about an hour and a half just talking about our parents’ dynamics and what it was like growing up experiencing divorce. We shared things that we’ve never told each other. I think that’s what every song kind of felt like, dealing with different topics and conversations but it was about sharing a lot of ourselves. Not just for the sake of the songs but for each other.”

Sometimes it’s also hard for As It Is to see these songs resonating with fans, because it means they’re going through some difficult times.

Of all the tracks on ‘okay’ Soap is a perfect song to show the growth of the band, taking a slightly nostalgic feel with some hard-hitting lyrical content. Walters explains, “Soap is a kind of bop-your-head tempo, not a jump-around-tempo.” Something which can make him think that people are bored, Biss explains. “Patty has this thing in his head where if people aren’t jumping he assumes they’re not having a good time with that song.”

“I take it very personally” laughs Walters.

Not only is the subject-matter of the songs darker, but some of the tracks themselves challenge the previous sound of As It Is. “This time we just wrote what we wanted to,” says Biss. “And didn’t put a label on what As It Is was. It’s like, we wrote it and once you put both our voices on it then it’s As It Is song.”

Walters adds that it also came down to wanting to push themselves, and not just do the exact same thing as before. “We didn’t necessarily have a mould for every song – we didn’t know if they were going to go darker or pop-ier. But we knew that we didn’t want to just write a second ‘Never Happy’. No matter what, if it sounded like Destiny’s Child, we were going to do that before we wrote a second ‘Never Happy’. We knew that much.”

With the new album, and near-constant touring, As It Is have an ever-growing fan base. However, with that comes a larger amount of hate, something which the band have managed to see the positive in. “There’s this weird complex that I have,” says Walters. “Where if I don’t see hate comments on YouTube or hate Tweets directed at us, that I think we’re not reaching enough people. So the second I stop seeing them I get really panicky, like what are we doing wrong – why are no new people finding As It Is?”

Walters laughs, adding that it is “sadistically comforting.”

“I think both of us have a thing where we like reading hate comments,” says Biss. “A lot of people get really down on it but I just find them so funny. I think if you’re not pissing some people off then you’re doing something wrong.”

Over the years, As It Is have done their fair share of touring, now they have learned the balance between tour-life and home-life. More recently, they have been managing to get a little time at home in between tours. “I think we look forward to it more now,” Biss explains. “By the time you’ve been home for a week or two weeks, you’re looking forward to getting back out. When you’re on tour and you’re getting back two days later, it can be a bit daunting.”

To which Walters replies: “what fucked me up the most and the thing that I’ve kind of grown past, when you’re on tour that much and when you’re home for so little time, you’re not grounded to one thing. So now I’ve learned how to look after myself when I’m on tour and look after myself when I’m at home, and recognize the pros and cons and I can definitely deal with it a lot better. 2015 is just a really foggy blur to me. I don’t remember a whole lot of it because I was looking forward to being at home when I was on tour [and vice versa]. And it was just so difficult for me, I think we’re all more experienced with it now.”

If recent reaction is anything to go by, this is just the first of many tours in the U.S. for these guys. ‘okay.’ was a complete triumph, showing incredible talent and maturity. As well as this, their live shows bring pop-punk back to what it should be. After a brief break at home, As It Is are set to get back out on the road. It’s an exciting time for the band.