It’s been less than two years since Canadian pop-punk act Hawk Nelson released its debut full-length, Letters to the President, but the band’s list of accomplishments read like the quartet’s been at this sort of thing for more like a decade. In that time span, Hawk Nelson has landed a television appearance playing The Who, performing “My Generation” on the NBC television series “American Dreams,” a big-screen performance in the remake of the 1968 film Yours, Mine & Ours (starring Dennis Quaid and Rene Russo), music placement on “Smallville,” “Summerland” and the Summer 2004 Olympics commercials, well over 100,000 in album sales — and the list goes on. Rather impressive for band whose members were, just a few years ago, collecting money from tollbooths, serving coffee and washing cars to earn their keep. Yet Hawk Nelson has hardly given itself a chance for rest. With all the appearances, touring and activity surrounding the unit, the group found time to head to Seattle in December 2005 to work with producer Aaron Sprinkle on its sophomore effort, Smile, It’s The End Of The World.But don’t let the album title fool you — talk to Hawk Nelson and you’ll discover that the band isn’t necessarily taking a pessimistic viewpoint on the demise of the Earth. In fact, the title track is about finding optimism and solace in music when times are hard. “Music is a big part of all of our lives,” says vocalist/keyboardist Jason Dunn. “We wanted to express through this new project the realities and truths that we deal with in our lives and give some positive solutions to our peers and the people we make our music for.” Co-written by the band and Thousand Foot Krutch’s Trevor McNevan, who had spent time touring with Hawk Nelson last year, Smile, It’s The End Of The World is a more diverse, mature collection of material than the Hawk Nelson debut. Though it’s crammed full of pop-punk punch, the band has broadened its sound with additional keyboard input from Dunn, guest vocals from Emery’s Josh Head and … a barbershop quartet?