My first encounter with The End of the World was at SXSW in 2006. Our friends were their friends and it seemed inevitable that we would meet up at some point. Amidst the chaos of St. Patrick’s Day festivities at the festival (when in Texas go big), we were caught in a flurry of text messages, sending coordinates for a meeting that never seemed to materialize. Stefan, lead singer and drummer, was on the trail of a pretty little thing that had caught his eye. We never had that beer together at SXSW. But we stayed in touch through periodic phone calls and progress reports from our friends. I loved Stefan’s paradoxically simple and complex nature; and his voice was of 20 grit smoothness, despite claiming to have never smoked cigarettes. Throw in some uber-textural guitar playing by his college mat... read more >