Smile Empty Soul

Smile Empty Soul is an American post-grunge band from Santa Clarita, California. Smile Empty Soul formed in 1998, while its original members were attending different high schools in the Santa Clarita area. The band, originally a three-piece group, consisted of vocalist and guitarist Sean Danielsen, bassist Ryan Martin and drummer Derek Gledhill. After playing numerous hometown gigs, Smile Empty Soul ventured to the Castro District, and later passed a demo to John Parker of the West Hollywood indie label, ThroBack Records. That later led to a record deal with Jason Flom's Lava Records. On May 27, 2003, the band released their self-titled debut album Smile Empty Soul. The album was produced by John Lewis Parker, and three successful singles were released. In March 2005, the album was certified gold with sales in excess of 500,000+.