Smile Empty Soul
Back in 2005 was the first time I had heard Smile Empty Soul and their song “Bottom Of The Bottle”. This was a
three-piece band that had the makings of a great rock band. Over the years, success has always seemed to elude
them. They come out with brilliant music with every release and they seem to get ignored (However, this writer
named 2012’s “3’s” one of the best releases of that year).
At the time of this interview, we catch up with guitarist/vocalist Sean Danielsen as he prepares for a show in Trenton NJ. Their latest release “Chemicals” is another hard rock classic from this trio and we discuss the new record,
their constant touring and about putting out a CD on their own.
JS – Sean, my first question for you is to tell me about the differences between the new record “Chemicals” and
2012’s “3’s” as they are two solid releases that are a little more than a year apart.
SD – One of the things we did differently was the recording process. We wanted to give it more of a live feel. More
raw. A more human feel to it. So we recorded the drums, bass and guitar all at the same time. We did very minimal editing to that. We threw some vocals over the top and very little editing.
JS – I totally get the raw feel with this record. Is there more of an angrier tone with this record?
SD – I don’t know. Those are the kind of things we don’t plan out. But I can see what you mean. As I progress as
a vocalist, I have learned to control little things. I may of gotten better in parts and started pushing.
JS – This actual release is something your putting out on your own. You have been a band that for one reason or
another have bounced around from different labels. Tell us a little about branching out and doing your own thing?
SD – We bounced around a lot in our career. It’s hard to function without stability. It’s hard because not only to
you have to create music but you have to go out and find a home. With so much work, it’s hard to release music as
much as we want to. After the last one (3’s), we were pretty discouraged. We thought we were going to have the
big label push like we did with our first record and it didn’t really pan out like that. Then an opportunity arose while
touring for that record. An old friend of ours partnered up with us and we formed a label. Then some other friends
of our partnered up with us on distribution. Before you knew it, we had our own situation. Our own freedom to run
the campaign the way we wanted to and have our people in place.
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