When Patty Walters declared music was no longer at the forefront of his life and put As It Is on the shelf for safekeeping in January 2024 - just as You Me At Six were announcing their farewell tour - it felt like the end of an era. For co-vocalist Patty Walters, he'd finally swapped the red pill for the blue one he'd needed for half a decade.

"We were all in really similar places in 2019 when Ben stepped away; we just hadn't accepted it at quite the same time," Patty says assuredly. "We took that break that we finally wanted and had needed, and planted deeper roots in the places that we live and the people in our lives."

Less than a year later, the band's classic lineup - Patty, co-vocalist and guitarist Ben Biss, drummer Patrick Foley, and bassist Ali Testo - announced they were getting the band back together. It's been six years since this lineup shared a stage, so why was now the right time?

"Last year, we found ourselves in really similar places again, where we were just missing it tremendously. We were talking most days about what made sense, whether it was As It Is or something else," Patty reflects, not afraid to admit that having the boys back in town didn't always mean they'd be donning their As It Is costumes.

"In the inactive years, we talked and attempted to organise a farewell tour for the band to say goodbye, to celebrate everything the band had achieved. We would get closure, but just as importantly, the fans of the band would get closure."

Instead of closing the door, they opened the one to the rehearsal room instead. Unlike the As It Is of 2015, they took a beat before committing to the bit.

"Before we even thought about booking any shows or recording anything, it was like, let's get in a room and just try and play songs and see what happens," Ben explains, narrating their recent timeline with a smile. "Those weekends getting back together and reconnecting with our songs, those were such fun times, and it took us a bit of missing it to really wanna do it again.

"Everything seemed really cosmic in the way it all fell into place, whereas before, maybe someone wasn't ready or something wasn't quite the right time, but this time it was," he says, and Patty agrees. "It's kind of like no time has passed apart from the fact we've grown up a lot and taken care of ourselves for once. We've figured out how to make the band work without having to give up things that were really important to us and good for us, bringing us joy and stability and stuff."

However, with their ex-manager Leander Gloversmith back in business and their debut album, 'Never Happy, Ever After', turning 10, they couldn't resist turning the tables on themselves. It was time to dive headfirst into the deep end again.

Rather than doing the usual - a couple of anniversary shows here, a classic merch capsule there - they went full board and feasted on the all-you-can-eat buffet: they re-recorded 'Never Happy, Ever After' in its entirety, with different guest vocalists on every track.

"In one of the first texts I got about the idea, Patty called it 'As It Is and Friends', where it's just this celebration with a bunch of our mates," Ben explains, his eidetic memory forever filling in Patty's blanks. "Originally, the idea was like, 'Maybe we'll just do 'Dial Tones',' and in typical As It Is fashion, it quickly snowballed."

Rather than stop at tie-dying 'Dial Tones' in a lovely shade of emo, thanks to Holding Absence's Lucas Woodland, As It Is opened up the 2010s yellow pages and called up a few pals for all their other songs. From flying back home to the States to rope in Patty's sister Rachel and breaking ROAM out of the retirement home to sharing the mic with super-fan NOAHFINNCE and getting starstruck over Hidden In Plain View's vocals, it was the perfect chance to do 'Never Happy' justice.

"When we went into the studio the first time and did 'Never Happy', we were young and naive and stubborn, and probably a bit brattish," Ben says, seeing through the youthful exuberance of their early recordings. "We all love that record, but we've learned a lot over 10 years; we're all better musicians, and better writers, and hopefully better singers."

For 'Never Happy, Ever After X', As It Is took its source material, soaked it in creatine, and shoved it in the gym. These beefed-up versions not only have guests; they add synths, strings, and screams. Ten years ago, they'd have ducked out and hid in the toilets from anything 'experimental'.

"We were equal parts stubborn and scared about taking creative and musical risks," Patty sighs through his ever-present, effervescent smile. "I don't know if there's a single synth on 'Never Happy, Ever After'; there's piano, and that's the closest it gets."

This time around, you're in for more twists and turns than riding 'The Smiler'. The Tobi Duncan from Trash Boat-featuring 'Concrete' takes a jackhammer to its pop-punk roots. For Patty, this is a marker of the band's development.

"Making 'Concrete' as heavy as that sounds, with Tobi doing these post-hardcore shouts and screams and yells all over it with the guitars tuned down to Drop C or B or whatever immediately after 'My Oceans Were Lakes', shows we're not scared of that like we used to be," he grins. "It's the joy of being in a band and having a creative outlet: you're not boxed in, and you don't shy away from the limitations, you don't take them too seriously. You can always take it too far and change your mind later; you don't have to rehearse it."

Tobi's appearance comes from one of three buckets As It Is threw balls into for guest options: bands they came up with, bands that influenced them, and bands now inspired by them. For the latter, they've teamed up with the likes of Rae Brazil of ARTIO for 'Turn Back To Me', Joe Cabrera of Beauty School for 'Drowning Deep in Doubt', and NOAHFINNCE for 'Can't Save Myself'.

'Can't Save Myself X', the third single from 'Never Happy, Ever After X', rows its pop-punk boat across a synth-pop river. NOAHFINNCE's melodies playfully dance with Patty's, bringing a much-needed new lease of life to the song, according to Ben.

"When I think about that song, I still think about getting people to sit down in the bridge in Cockpit and just those really early tours," Ben remembers fondly. "I think that's why I really love this version, with Noah bringing this really youthful vibe the song kinda needs and deserves that two dudes in their 30s can't bring to it anymore."

NOAHFINNCE is no stranger to the band, having attended countless shows over the years and covered their songs. While 'Can't Save Myself' was his choice - begging them after just five minutes of being asked - Patty and Ben feel it's the perfect one. It feels fitting that a breaking artist features on the song that helped break As It Is, in their view.

Despite Ben watching back early videos of 'Can't Save Myself' live and thinking, "We were awful, why did anyone like this?" for Patty, it's their butterfly effect.

"That is the song that got the band signed, that is the song that attracted management and record labels and booking agents and promoters and PR, and without that song, I don't know if we'd be on this Zoom call. I don't know if we would be having any debut record to re-record 10 years later at all."

'Never Happy, Ever After X' isn't the end of the celebrations either. Before jetting off to the States for the return of Warped Tour, As It Is will play two homecoming shows at this year's Slam Dunk. If anything, that's the real full-circle moment of this reunion.

And what exactly are As It Is planning to do after a summer of anniversary shows? If you're looking for details, you won't find any here. But like Patty says, "There will be more shows. We're having fun, we like each other, we like hanging out." Or, as Ben puts it, "We'll fuck around and find out. We haven't put in this much work on all of this to immediately break up again."