Music Downloads & Lyrics
In a quiet city just north of Los
Angeles, three teenagers were
unknowingly laying the groundwork for a
band that would leave a lasting mark on
the postgrunge rock scene in the early
2000s. Because you guys requested it,
let's talk about the history of the
group Smile Empty Soul from their humble
beginnings, screwed up childhood, and
misunderstood songs.
Before we get started, be sure to hit
the bell notification icon and put all
notifications on. I hear from a lot of
my subscribers that they don't even get
notifications when I post my videos. I
would greatly appreciate if you guys did
that. In addition to, of course,
watching my videos and sharing my
content. Let me know in the comments
section what other topics you like to
see me cover. The story of Smell Empty
Soul begins with Shawn Danielson, who
was born in 1982 in California. Raised
in a family that valued artistic
expression, his father owned Busy Signal
Studios in Santa Clarita, California.
Shawn's childhood was steeped in music.
His parents even played together in a
band in high school, but they split when
he was just a year old, and he spent his
early years living with his mother who
was deeply religious. She ended up
remarrying when he was six to a man from
Maine, and that's where they resettled.
But his mother and stepfather struggled
to find work in Maine. So at the age of
seven, his mom relocated the family to
an abandoned summer camp that belonged
to his stepfather's uncle on a lake in
Searsport. For 3 years, he largely had
no access to running water, heat, or
even a bathroom. And he was
homeschooled. Of course, he had no
access to pop culture staples that we
all take for granted like TV, radio, and
magazines. These set of circumstances
obviously had a huge impact on Danielson
who told Artist Direct, "It was strange
because we were basically alone for 3
years. I didn't see any other children
or really anybody else in all that time.
We were living in the middle of the
forest and in the winter we had snow
blowing inside and no indoor
ventilation. Of course, now I'm against
the whole idea of organized religion.
We'll talk about his songs regarding
religion on their debut record later on.
When he was 10, his family moved to
Brewer to live in low-income housing,
and he continued to be homeschooled
until he was in the eighth grade. It was
at the age of 11. He started learning
piano while his mother took guitar
lessons from a woman they knew at a
local church. He cited alternative
rockers from Seattle as a big influence.
But he also went further back, citing
Bob Dylan and John Lennon, calling
Imagine one of the greatest songs ever
written in one interview.
I'm a dreamer.
By age 11, Danielson was already playing
piano and guitar, and he was already
performing in his first rock band, and
they mostly did Nirvana and Beatles
covers. It was at age 15 he moved back
to California to live with his dad in
Santa Clarita. It was here that he met
two other teens, drummer Derek Gletill
and basist Ryan Martin, who went to
neighboring schools. They bonded over
their love of music, including bands
like Nirvana, Sound Garden, and Allison
Chains.
They initially called themselves
Heckler's Veto before landing on the
moniker Smile Empty Soul. Danielson told
IGN the origin of the band's name.
Basically, it's just a reflection of
society. You know, a lot of empty people
walking around with fake smiles on their
faces. The band early in their career
were accused of being really cynical and
serious for their age, which Danielson
told IGN, "I don't know, man. I guess
I've always been about just being myself
and being real, you know? I mean, what
else could you be? I think there's so
many fake people out there just trying
to be something that they're not. And
it's just always bugged me for some
reason. I can't really explain why, you
know. While the band were largely
branded a Santa Clarita band, the
members considered themselves to be more
of an LA band since they played a lot of
the clubs on the Sunset Strip. They were
opening for acts who were up and coming
at the time like System of a Down,
Static Axe, and Snot. They soon got a
demo to John Parker of the Los Angeles
indie label Throwback Records. Parker
also lived in Santa Clarita. Parker had
co-written the Chicago song Hard Habit
to Break. He had worked on movie
soundtracks and even worked with a
variety of accomplished guitarists,
including blues and roots musician Kev
Mo. The timing seemed perfect as Parker
had just started his own label and Smile
Empty Soul was the first band he signed.
He had signed them to a production deal
that saw him produce a highquality demo
to shop to the major labels. Together
they recorded some demos in the
producers garage around 2001 2002.
Parker then got in touch with Atlantic
Records subsidiary Lava Records by the
end of 2002. Smile Empty Soul's time on
the Sunset Strip also kept them out of
trouble with Glad Hill telling the
Oklahoma. Yeah, it definitely helped
keep me out of mischief because it's so
timeconuming. When I was down in
Hollywood like four or five nights a
week passing out flyers for our shows,
everybody else was going to parties, you
know. So, how did the band stand out in
LA? Well, Danielson recalled, "We pulled
out of the scene and focused on
tightening up and songwriting. That's
what got us noticed." The band entered
the studio with producer John Parker to
record their self-titled debut record,
which was released on May 27th, 2003.
Their debut record captured the raw
emotion and angst that define their
music. They cover topics such as
religion, war, and the disillusioned
youth that they saw around them. Ryan
Martin told The Signal, "All of our
songs are original. They're about
everyday things people go through. If
you look at what people our age are
going through these days in terms of
relationships, politics, and religious
issues, you can really relate to our
music. The record featured deeply
personal tracks like Bottom of a Bottle,
which explored themes of addiction and
self-destruction.
The song's lyrics raised some eyebrows
with the line, "I do it for the drugs."
Danielson told the Central New Jersey
Home News, "It's not really for or
against drugs. If you do drugs, I don't
give a blank. That's your thing. The
song is whatever makes you happy.
Whatever drives you to get through your
life. It could be anything. Religion,
drugs, alcohol, relationships. For me,
it's music. Danielson added that he does
like to drink, but he doesn't do drugs.
The band for a short period of time even
got labeled as a drug band, something
that irritated Danielson. He added, "We
have this image from Bottom of a Bottle
where people think we're this crazy drug
band, and that's not what we're about at
all. I don't want people to listen to
Bottom of a Bottle and solely judge us
by that. I can see how someone would say
it's a gimmick song, but once people
hear the record, it's not the case.
The song Nowhere Kids was an anthem for
disillusioned youth. Danielson added,
"It's basically about us. It's about
kids whose parents go to work, leave
them at home, they just sit there
watching TV all day. They live like that
dayto-day and don't know what to do.
The song's video depicted an
all-American family that was plagued by
dark secrets. Danielson wrote Nowhere
Kids in 2002, building the track around
a single guitar riff. He added, "That
song came out right away, then it was
done. I didn't even really have to go
back to it. I usually work on a song to
the point where I think it's good, then
take it to a producer, and sometimes
he'll send me back to work on it some
more. But this one, the first draft, was
the last one.
According to one report, the video was
supposedly taken off MTV due to the
Catholic abuse scandals that were going
on around this time. The song was
referred to in one interview as a modern
successor to classic anthems like the
Who's My Generation, The Replacements
Bastards of Young, and Black Sabbath's
Children of the Grave.
I die before get
old. The sons of no one.
The album took issue with religion with
the tracks every Sunday, the other side
and silhouettes.
I don't want to live like
Danielson said of the song Silhouettes,
"Everyone in this world at one point has
said they don't want to turn out like
their parents. My mom lets religion rule
her life, and I feel religion is kind of
a safety blanket. If you're afraid you
cling on to religion, and I just don't
want to be like that. My dad works
really hard but doesn't have a passion
for anything. That's definitely not me.
Danielson added that despite all the
turmoil he underwent in his childhood,
he was still on good terms with both of
his parents. But as for the lyrical
content in some of his songs, he did
state about his mom, she was blown away
by how much the album attacks her
beliefs. She just couldn't understand it
at first. Danielson also blamed religion
for being responsible for most of the
wars in human history. Speaking of war,
Danielson was deeply anti-war on the
album. As you have to remember, the
second Iraq war was going on at this
time. In the press, he openly criticized
President Bush, even touring with the
words GW Bush sucks etched onto his
guitar. He added, "More young people
need to get up and vote because if
everyone went out and voted, we could
definitely do it." Referring to the
presidential election in 2004, he added,
"That's our most political song. There
are all these people who join the
military just because they thought it
was going to help them straighten out
their life or fund college or something
and then they end up fighting in this
crazy war. Despite the messages in their
song, Smiley Soul didn't see themselves
as being political like rage against the
machine. Danielson addressed other
issues than politics, including
abandonment and self-empowerment. While
the band's name was an attack on
complacency, they also took aim at
people's ignorance. Danielson
contemplated night after night being on
stage seeing fans singing along to their
music and he couldn't help but question
whether they truly connected with the
messages in his songs or whether they
were simply part of a society that
passively accepts whatever is given to
them rarely questioning or seeking
answers. Danielson told the Oklahoma, "I
watch the news constantly and try to
keep up with what's going on in the
world because I think there's a problem
with people my age. My friends, my
girlfriend, everyone. They don't really
care what's going on in the world. All
they care about is what's happening in
their own personal life. They don't
vote. They don't give a The problem is
that all the stuff that's going on
affects your life. People need to wake
up and do something or at least just pay
attention. The first single issued from
their self-titled debut record was
Bottom of a Bottle, which was also their
breakout hit. It peaked at number seven
on the alternative chart and number
eight on the mainstream rock tracks
chart.
The single Nowhere Kids peaked at number
27 on the alternative chart and number
28 on the mainstream rock tracks chart.
The third single Silhouettes peaked at
number 22 and 25 on the same charts.
ation. We are the people.
The album went on to be certified gold
by 2005, selling over half a million
copies. Uh they would tour alongside
groups like Fuel, Trapped, Sther, and
Puddle of Mud to promote the album. If
you guys are interested, I recently did
a whole video on Fuel's early part of
their career. The aftermath of the
album's success proved difficult for the
band members. Danielson admitted, "We
partied way too much. We drank and drank
and drank back to the point that I
actually had to quit back in 2007. I
gave up booze." He added, "Back in the
day when we were getting music video
play on MTV and our songs were all over
radio. We were playing soldout shows
every night and it just feels like
there's expectations on you to be a
certain way or a certain thing. It's an
interesting thing to cope with." I guess
my way of dealing with it was drinking.
The band for their second album had a
falling out with Lava Records who
refused to put out the album titled
Anxiety. The reason for not releasing
the album, well, there was this song
called Holes. Danielson told the Flint
Journal, "We turned in the album and the
label was really happy with it. Everyone
was really happy with it. We were
discussing the first single, you know,
and we decided to go with a song called
Holes, which has a line that says, "Take
your Bibles and go home." Take your
Bibles and go home.
Somehow Christian groups got word about
the song before its release and started
harassing Lava Records and their parent
company Atlantic by sending them 30,000
emails in one weekend. According to
Danielson, the label opted to delay the
single's release. Then they pushed back
the album's release and Lava Records
kept coming up with additional excuses.
Also complicating matters was that
Atlantic's parent company, Warner Music
Group, according to Danielson, was going
to go public with their stock. The band
tried to buy back their album from the
label at one point, but the price tag
was too high. So, the label ended up
dropping the band. The members soon hit
the road handing out free copies of the
album to their fans and encouraging
those who couldn't find it to download
it illegally. Danielson told the Flint
Journal, "We sat there on the bus
burning copies all day long with three
laptops. The album didn't get an
official release until 2008. The band
returned in 2006 with their third
record, Vultures, and the band did
entertain discussions with labels, but
Danielson wasn't a fan of what he heard
at the time. The labels were suggesting
different producers and even people that
the band could write with. Vulture's
title took aim at the record labels.
This was also the theme of their first
single released from the album, The Hit.
religion was once again on their minds
with the song Jesus is the manager of
Walmart.
The band also lost their original
drummer Derek Gladill who left the group
and they also expanded to a fourpiece
bringing in second guitarist ex- Cold
member Mike Booth. Danielson, for his
part, spent $40,000 of his own money on
making the album and had to call in
favors from a friend who let them record
in a studio for two weeks while they
tracked everything. The album ended up
debuting at the bottom of the Billboard
200 chart. They returned in 2009 with
Consciousness signing to major label
EMI, going back to the majors, largely
being enticed by their marketing push.
Danielson referred to consciousness as
having more of a progressive rock sound
and being centered around mood and
emotion while also calling the lyrics
more cryptic. One of Danielson's
favorite songs off the record was the
track LA River, a song that portrayed
the city as being full of failed dreams
using a polluted river as a backdrop,
adding people from all over move here
thinking they'll be successful and it
just doesn't happen. The LA River is a
symbol of that and it's not a pretty
sight. It's like two inches deep and
it's not really a river.
The songs compromise and stay alive
showed off the softer side of
relationships and the single Don't Ever
Leave was the only single that charted
peaking at number 39 on the mainstream
rock tracks chart. Will you
realize now
forever? Stay
alive. Don't ever leave me alone.
It was also their last album to chart in
the States. The band returned in 2012
with a new album called Threes with the
title reflecting the band's identity as
a three-piece group. Danielson noted
that they functioned best as a trio as
the band had previously added a fourth
member in the past, disrupting their
sound and creative dynamic. Danielson
also noted that Threes is a heavier and
more mature record than their previous
works.
Their follow-up titled Chemicals
released in 2013, marking their first
release on their own imprint. Danielson
explained that the title chemicals was
initially chosen because it began to
represent a broader theme. He noted that
we live in a chemical age surrounded by
chemicals in our food, air, and water,
and even in medications that people
take.
Danielson today is the only original
member of the lineup still around. The
band's most recent LP releases came in
2018 with Oblivion and 2021's
Blackpilled. They've also put out a
number of EPs over the year, and
Danielson's also pursued a solo career.
Earlier this year, the band dropped a
new EP called Swan Song.
That brings us to the end of today's
video, guys. Thanks for watching. Let me
know which future topics you'd like to
see me cover in the comments section
below, and we'll see you again. Rock and
Roll True Stories. Sticker.
Discover the latest Smile Empty Soul lyrics and enjoy high-quality mp3 download of this popular song. Get free music, audio, and video download options for the official track. Perfect for fans seeking the best song lyrics, official versions, remixes, and more. Enhance your music experience with our comprehensive lyrics and mp3 downloads, available for free. Download the song's audio and video easily and listen offline. Stay updated with the newest releases, official music videos, and remixes from Smile Empty Soul. Whether for personal enjoyment or collection, find the best quality free music and lyrics here. Your one-stop site for all Smile Empty Soul song lyrics, mp3 downloads, and official video content.