In a world where millions tune in to their TV screens to watch wannabe celebrities compete over who’s hot and who’s not on Love Island, while simultaneously tweeting their woes of not sizing up the same as the silhouettes, you can’t help but wonder about this dangerous game of obsession and subsequently depression.
Spending some time in the confines of their ice-cold air-conditioned bus, As It Is frontman Patty Walters’ unfolds their grand vision for their taboo-breaking rulebook-ripping concept album ‘The Great Depression’ ahead of their first date on the last ever Warped Tour.
“You see it when you’re scrolling through social media, you see it when you turn on your television and watch certain shows, you see it at every moment on every screen,” states Patty. He’s embroiled in our generation’s love affair with depression, the central theme to their pop punk-departing third record that ups the ante in the way of harsh vocals, heavier riffs, and a heartbreaking expose of the problems at hand.
“It was very important to combat the idea, if not for anyone else then for myself, that we were not part of the problem. The majority of bands in this scene are a comfort for people who suffer from depression or anxiety or anything under that umbrella, and I think there are bands and media outlets that contribute to glamorising, to romanticising, to even fetishising mental illness which is not something I want to be a part of in any way.”
Split into four of the five stages of grief – denial, anger, bargaining, and acceptance – with the fifth, depression, taking centre stage, As It Is take the listener on an explorative narrative of depression in the modern age, tackling subjects as varied as toxic masculinity, the idolisation of death, and the acceptance of needing help.
