A promotional press photograph showing rock band The Early November. Captured in a medium outdoor shot under bright direct sunlight, the four band members pose together outdoors in front of a tall chain-link fence. All four members wear dark sunglasses. On the left, a member with curly dark hair and aviator sunglasses looks off-camera in profile wearing a black short-sleeved button-down shirt. In the center foreground, a member leans back wearing a dark graphic t-shirt, while another stands behind him in an olive shirt. On the right, a member stands prominently facing forward with hands clasped, wearing a blue short-sleeved button-down work shirt, illuminated by harsh daylight shadowing.
The Early November Credit: Jeff Kummer, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons

Emo reached new levels of sadness 23 years ago when The Early November dropped its Drive-Thru Records debut, The Room’s Too Cold.

Opening with the sulking genre masterpiece “Ever So Sweet,” frontman Ace Enders—together with drummer Jeff Kummer, guitarist Joseph Marro, and bassist Sergio Anello—gave fans a moody totem to melancholy that holds up as they navigate mortgages and daycare instead of trying to fit in with the frat boys.

The New Jersey band opens this gig headlined by Hawthorne Heights, the Ohio band on the road marking the 20th anniversary of its sophomore breakout LP, If Only You Were Lonely.

Tickets to see Hawthorne Heights, The Early November, I Set My Friends On Fire, and Creeper at Jannus Live in St. Petersburg on Thursday, Nov. 12 are still available and start at $41.50.

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This article appears in Oct. 29 – Nov. 04, 2026.

Read his 2016 intro letter and disclosures from 2022 and 2021. Ray Roa started freelancing for Creative Loafing Tampa in January 2011 and was hired as music editor in August 2016. He became Editor-In-Chief...