Sonic youth Hard times in Maine helped to shape singer Danielsen of SMile Empty Soul

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If you believe the popular notion that the problem with today’s youth is they just aren’t aware enough of their culture’s political, social and educational issues, you haven’t had the opportunity to talk to Sean Danielsen.

The guitarist and lead singer of Smile Empty Soul not only tries to keep abreast of those issues, he also has plenty of opinions about them and is more than willing to share.

“I draw upon personal experiences and [stuff] I see around me,” Danielsen said about his social awareness. “The things that are most frustrating are the politics that go into radio with DJs or whatever that just don’t like your band and they won’t play your song. If your song goes top 10, then they’ll start playing your song. There’s so much politics that I didn’t realize.”

Even the name of his group is part social commentary.

“It’s just the whole idea there are a whole lot of empty people walking around out there with smiles on their faces trying to pretend they’re happy,” he said simply.

Smile Empty Soul’s debut album has played well on radio stations across the country and performed well on the charts with hits like “Bottom of a Bottle,” “Nowhere Kids” and “Silhouettes.” This summer, the fledgling trio of Danielsen, drummer Derek Gledhill and bassist Ryan Martin drew large crowds while opening for popular rockers like Puddle of Mudd, Fuel and Trapt nationwide.

More recently, the band has toured as a headliner all over the country, including cities such as Portland (at the State Theater).

“The current tour is going great. It’s our first headlining tour. I’m pretty stoked about it,” Danielsen said in late August.

The blunt and acerbic (some would say potty-mouthed) Danielsen, who has played venues in Maine at least three times in the last two years, has a special connection to the Pine Tree State.

“I lived in Maine after moving there when I was 7 and I stayed until I was 15,” said the 22-year-old California resident. “When we moved, it was kind of sudden and my mom and stepfather didn’t have jobs when we got there.

“We ended up staying in my stepdad’s uncle’s [abandoned] summer camp on a lake in Searsport for three years. There was no running water, heating, insulation or bathroom and I was home-schooled in the middle of the woods.”

If you’re familiar with Smile Empty Soul’s songs and lyrics at all, things are beginning to make sense (“Bottom of a Bottle,” etc.).

Danielsen’s family then moved to Brewer to live in a low-income housing project when he was 10. He continued to be home-schooled until he entered public middle school in eighth grade. Danielsen’s musical background began to take root at age 11 when he began taking piano lessons while his mom learned guitar from a woman at a local church. He would listen to her lessons and then go home and play things he remembered them talking about. The guitar clicked and he hasn’t put it down since.

“When I was a freshman in high school, the first band I was in – I don’t think we even had a band, actually,” he said with a chuckle as he retraced his musical development. “Actually, when I was 11, I had a band when I was going to church. We played Nirvana and Beatles covers mostly.”

Danielsen moved to Santa Clarita, Calif., to live with his father when he was a 15-year-old high school sophomore. He has been based in the Golden State ever since.

It was his move to California that jump-started Danielsen’s musical development, as he immediately jumped into the local music scene.

“I instantly met a group of kids who had a band and needed a guitar player,” he said. “That band evolved and eventually had all different members.

“We had a hard-core rock band when I was in school, and I think my sophomore year, I joined a band called No Comply and we had a couple places to play.”

Danielsen not only jumped right into the local music scene, he wasn’t afraid to jump into his new band’s internal politics.

“I’ve never been one to hold back on people just because they’re friends, and our drummer was horrible,” Danielsen said. “I felt bad, but I didn’t wait too long to tell them that. He was pretty bad and we got rid of him and then we got Derek, who’s kind of the same as me. Then we decided our singer wasn’t good either and we got rid of him. Then I just kind of did it with a D-flat key… I had already come up with some lyrics and melodies.”

After the bass player quit to attend art school at the University of California-Berkeley, the band that had become known as Heckers Veto changed names again and Smile Empty Soul was born.

Danielsen lives with his father – “There’s no sense in me having a house” – and says hindsight has told him the hard times he experienced in Maine, while tough, were not without its positive aspects.

“It was rough, but it’s like all the experiences you go through in life. They’re all valuable in some way,” he explained. “I think they made me stronger because not a lot of people have had to deal with [stuff] like that and maybe it made me grow up faster.”

The sometimes-caustic SES front man writes the majority of the band’s material and says he relies heavily on his background, experiences and moods.

“I can only write when I’m p–ed off or depressed. When I’m feeling great, I want to be outside and check out birds or something,” he said with a small chuckle.

And those polar-opposite feelings can turn as quickly as Danielsen changes chords on his Schecter electric guitar.

“I’m like a [freaking] mood swinger, from one extreme to the other … Big time,” Danielsen admitted. “You could see and have a totally great conversation and everything’s good, and then two hours later, I’ll be bored and unpleasant.”

Then again, that goes to reason when you consider Danielsen’s music tastes range from Nirvana, Alice in Chains, the Deftones and Pantera to The Beatles and even James Taylor.

Luckily, Danielsen’s family isn’t easily offended. Many of the lyrics in his songs have to do with his family. Much of the material is born of experiences most families would never want aired in public, let alone on the radio. Hit song “Bottom of a Bottle” features lyrics such as: I don’t want to live like my mother. I don’t want to let fear rule my life. I don’t want to live like my father. I don’t want to give up before I die.

“I had to warn my father. He and my mom both understand that it’s just the way that I vent,” he said. “In fact, they both can relate to that song because they don’t want to live like their parents either.”

Since he’s the first rock star in his family, it’s a good bet Sean Danielsen won’t be living anything like his parents or grandparents. Mission accomplished at the ripe old age of 22.

Andrew Neff can be reached at 990-8205 or at aneff@bangordailynews.net.