Smile Empty Soul is an American rock band, originally from Santa Clarita, California, United States.

It was started in 1998 by Sean Danielsen (vocals and guitar), Ryan Martin (bass), and Derek Gledhill (drums).

[2] Smile Empty Soul formed in 1998,[3] 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.

[6] In 2005, before the recording of their second album Anxiety was finished, drummer Derek Gledhill was replaced by Flickerstick percussionist Dominic Weir.

[11][12][13] At this point, drummer Dominic Weir had been replaced by Jake Kilmer,[14] and Mike Booth (ex-Cold) was added as a second guitarist.

[15] On October 24, 2006, the band released Vultures, the official follow-up to their 2003 debut Smile Empty Soul.

[29] In 2009, it was announced that Danielsen formed a new group called World Fire Brigade with Fuel vocalist Brett Scallions, which also consisted of bassist Brad Stewart (ex-Shinedown) and former Candiria drummer Ken Schalk.

The debut studio album, entitled Spreading My Wings, was released in August 2012 through FrostByte Media.

[41] In October 2016, the band stated via their Facebook page that in early 2017, they plan to release a compilation album consisting of 13 rare and unreleased tracks.

In September 2017, the ensemble announced via their Facebook page that Kilmer and Martin would be parting ways with Smile Empty Soul, leaving Danielsen as the only remaining original band member.