As It Is, As It Was, As It Will Be: Benjamin Biss on Rebirth, Resilience, and the Self‑Titled Era

As It Is, As It Was, As It Will Be: Benjamin Biss on Rebirth, Resilience, and the Self‑Titled Era

Fourteen years into their career, As It Is stands at a moment of reinvention — not a reset, but a reclamation. After lineup changes, personal upheaval, and time spent apart, the band has returned with a self‑titled album that feels both defiant and hopeful, sharpened by experience yet energized by possibility.

I caught up with Benjamin Biss, newly returned to the fold, to talk about the making of the album, the urgency behind Live, Laugh, Love, Los Angeles, unexpected saxophone cameos, collaborating with Murray Macleod of The Xcerts, revisiting Never Happy Ever After a decade later, and what it means to come home to a band you helped build.

What follows is a candid, thoughtful conversation with an artist who has lived every chapter of As It Is — and is ready to write the next one.

The new As It Is album is self‑titled. What made this the moment to go that route?
Fundamentally, it’s a statement of identity. We’ve been through a lot of lineup changes, and this album felt like the moment to say, this is who the band is now.

Sound‑wise, it also feels like this is As It Is — at least right now. We’ve always changed things up from album to album, and our fans kind of expect that.

I always joke that unless you’re Weezer, you only get one chance at a self‑titled album. This felt like the right time.

Live, Laugh, Love, Los Angeles is an amazing song. Tell me about the inspiration behind it.
It went through a few versions. Patty originally wrote it about his cousin, who died from an opioid overdose, and about the general state of various crises in America.

When we got into the studio, it wasn’t even meant to be on the album — it was supposed to be a B‑side. But we were recording it in January, and our newsfeeds were horrendous. Patty’s from Minneapolis, and everything happening there with ICE was awful. And I swear I was seeing one mass shooting a day.

The song took on a new life. We rewrote a lot of the lyrics. The rest of the record is relatively apolitical, but this one felt urgent. As a mostly British band, we knew making a statement could risk our visas — we’ve seen that happen to friends’ bands.

But it felt important enough that we had to do it anyway. We’ve got one U.S. show booked, and whether we’ll get across the border is another question. But if that’s the risk we take, so be it.

It would be amazing if you got over here and played that song in the States.
Yeah, we’ve got one show in New Jersey, so hopefully we make it. Even though the song is about America, we’ve been playing it in Europe and people connect with it. Politically, people can still apply their own meaning to it.

I was surprised to hear saxophone on the album. Justin Klunk — who’s worked with Ariana Grande and Lindsey Stirling — plays on it. How did he get involved?
It’s a funny story. We originally planned to have a different sax player come in. We were tracking the solo on guitar, but something about it wasn’t hitting. We realized it needed sax.

The player we invited got really ill and couldn’t make it. So we hit up our manager like, “We need a sax player — fast.” Through a chain of messages, we got connected with Justin.

We’re huge fans of The Midnight, who he plays live for. So when our manager said Justin was interested, we were like, yes, lock him in.

He ended up playing on four songs. I’m So Alive, the opening track, he absolutely shreds on. It added something new and exciting. We’re always chasing whatever serves the song best, and sax made perfect sense here.

It would be interesting if Justin could tour with you in the States.
If we ever do a show or tour over there, we’d definitely look into it. He went above and beyond — he sent us ten different versions of each song. We collaborated with a lot of people on this record, and seeing how far everyone went was really special.

Murray from The Xcerts appears on “Ruin My Life.” How did that collaboration come about?
We’ve both lived in Brighton for a long time. I knew Murray from years ago — he worked part‑time at a bar I went to all the time. I’ve been an Xcerts fan for fifteen years.

Last year, Patty and I were doing a lot of co‑writing for other artists. Our manager suggested we get in a room with Murray. We didn’t know what it would be for — As It Is, The Xcerts, or something else entirely.

He sent us a demo the day before — a slower, more ballad‑like version of Ruin My Life. We loved it. We sped it up, added heavier guitars, and it came together quickly.

Murray said in an interview that once Patty sang on it, he knew it was an As It Is song. But to us, it still felt like an Xcerts song too. So it was important to ask him to be on it. It’s both of ours.

We love Murray. He’s genuinely one of the loveliest people.

It would be cool to see As It Is and The Xcerts tour together.
I’d love to make that happen. Their new record is incredible — one of my favorites of the year. We’re on the same label, so who knows.

The final song on the album is “What If It All Works Out.” Tell me about it.
It encapsulates the spirit of the whole record. Historically, we’ve been quite a pessimistic band. Even though there are dark songs on this album, everything has a glimmer of hope.

What If It All Works Out is the most overt version of that. It feels triumphant — the perfect way to end the record.

We were nervous about coming back to the band. You ask all the negative questions: What if it goes wrong again? But it’s harder to ask, What if everything goes right?

That’s the question we’re posing.

You weren’t on the previous album, I Went to Hell and Back. What do you think of it now?
I have heard it. And first and foremost, I’m a huge fan of Patty’s songwriting. He’s a genius — very underrated.

I almost view that album as a bit non‑canon. Most of the original band members had left by that point. Maybe it should’ve been a separate project. Maybe it was born more out of necessity than desire.

But it was important for him to make at that time, and it led us back to where we are now. It means a lot to people, and I can’t fault it for that.

How does it feel to be back in As It Is? What made you return?
First and foremost, it was us coming back together as friends. We’d spent so much time apart after spending basically every day together on tour. We all needed that space.

We started hanging out again before touching music, and that felt really good. The next step was, “Let’s get in a room and see what happens.” Maybe we’d write for us, maybe for a new project.

Eventually the timing felt right. There was never any bad blood — we just needed to live life outside the band for a bit. Now we have a much healthier work‑life balance.

Never Happy Ever After recently hit its ten‑year anniversary. What do you think of it now?
When you’re in it, you don’t look back much. But the anniversary gave us space to reflect.

In a non‑ego way, it’s a better record than I remembered. Seeing how much it still connects with people ten years later was really special.

Re‑doing the record with all the special guests let us explore, What if we wrote this album now? We changed quite a lot. I’m proud of that version too.

Warped Tour is returning to Long Beach. What advice would you give first‑time attendees?
Wear sunscreen and drink water — that’s my pale British advice.

Warped was a huge learning curve. We wouldn’t be the band we are without it.

For fans: take care of yourself, and go see a band you’ve never heard of. That’s the beauty of Warped — discovery.

Any message for longtime or new As It Is fans?
I hope people connect with the record. We’re so appreciative that people still care about this band fourteen years in.

If someone doesn’t like the new record, that’s okay too. You don’t have to love every album from your favorite band.

Mostly: thank you. We’re grateful we get to do this. Hopefully we’ll make it back for a full U.S. tour soon — visas pending.

In Conclusion

As It Is enters a new chapter with their self‑titled album — one shaped by reflection, reconnection, and a renewed sense of purpose. Benjamin Biss speaks with the clarity of someone who has lived the highs and lows of a band’s evolution and come out the other side with gratitude, perspective, and excitement for what’s next.

Whether you’ve been with As It Is since Never Happy Ever After or you’re discovering them now, this era feels like a band reclaiming its identity and opening the door to possibility. And if all goes well — visas included — fans across the world may soon get to experience that rebirth live.

(Interview by Ken Morton)

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