TEOA (The End of America), 16 July 2022

The End of America is an American folk-rock trio based in Philadelphia, PA.

The trio's album “Steep Bay” was recorded live in a cabin on Schroon Lake, located in the heart of the Adirondack Mountains of upstate New York. The album is named after the cove on which the cabin was built: a beautiful bay surrounded by rock cliffs and towering pine trees, beyond the reach of power lines, accessible only by boat.

In the past James Downes (Call it Arson), Brendon Thomas (Foreverinmotion and Blind Luck Music), and Trevor Leonard (Triangle Shirt Factory) discussed recording music in remote locations where they could separate themselves from the buzz of computers and modern life. From these discussions came the concept of The End of America: to travel to the ends of the continent in search of musical inspiration and to write and record their songs there.

They made the drive up to a family cabin on Schroon Lake one mid-July afternoon and paddled across at dusk. The old canoe that carried them could barely hold their weight let alone the gear, but they made it over safely just as the sun was setting. Their first recording was by the campfire that night, guitars on the beach under a sky full of stars. They used a battery-powered recorder the size of a hardcover book with 2 mic inputs. They set up everywhere - in the cabin, on the porch, out on the water in the canoe.

In the course of a week they wrote and recorded their album live, unedited, 9 tracks in all. The takes they kept are from the performances that felt best and most honest, regardless of minor mistakes. It’s as much a documentary as it is a record; three friends living off the grid, trying to reconcile and understand life the only way they know how, through music. The album was released in October 2010.