Sean Julian Danielsen (born February 14, 1982) is an American musician and artistic painter, best known as the guitarist and lead vocalist of American rock bands

Smile Empty Soul 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). Following the departure of Gled ...

and World Fire Brigade. In addition to creating one studio album and three independent

extended play An extended play record, usually referred to as an EP, is a musical recording that contains more tracks than a single but fewer than an album or LP record.

albums, Danielsen has also collaborated on Noise Refinery ( West One Music) compilation album ''Anger Management ''with former He Is Legend rhythm guitarist Mitchell Ray Marlow.

History

Early years

As the son of Jerry Danielsen, recording artist and owner of Busy Signal Studios, Danielsen was born in

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...

. In the three years leading up to his tenth birthday, Danielsen lived in the midst of a desolate

summer camp A summer camp or sleepaway camp is a supervised program for children conducted during the summer months in some countries. Children and adolescents who attend summer camp are known as ''campers''. Summer school is usually a part of the academ ...

Maine Maine () is a state in the New England and Northeastern regions of the United States. It borders New Hampshire to the west, the Gulf of Maine to the southeast, and the Canadian provinces of New Brunswick and Quebec to the northeast and nor ...

. After performing in his first rock band at age 11, Danielsen moved to California midway through his teens to live with his father.

Music career

Smile Empty Soul

Shortly after moving across the country, Danielsen met

percussionist A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a beater including attached or enclosed beaters or rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or struck against another similar instrument. Exc ...

Derek Gledhill and bassist Ryan Martin while attending neighboring high schools in

Santa Clarita, California Santa Clarita (; Spanish for "Little St. Clare") is a city in northwestern Los Angeles County in the U.S. state of California. With a 2020 census population of 228,673, it is the third-largest city by population in Los Angeles County, the 17 ...

. It was through this partnership in 1998 that alternative rock band

was formed. Shortly after releasing their gold certified eponymous album in early 2003, Danielsen performed on and helped compose "My Father's Daughter", which was released as a track on American rock vocalist Nina Storey's fifth studio album ''24 Off the Board''.

World Fire Brigade

In 2009, Danielsen formed rock band World Fire Brigade with Brett Scallions of American rock band

Fuel A fuel is any material that can be made to react with other substances so that it releases energy as thermal energy or to be used for work. The concept was originally applied solely to those materials capable of releasing chemical energy b ...

. After working with former

Shinedown Shinedown is an American rock band from Jacksonville, Florida, formed by singer Brent Smith in 2001 after the dissolution of Dreve, his previous band. Smith, still under contract with record label Atlantic Records, recruited the band's original ...

bassist Brad Stewart, the band recruited

music producer A record producer is a recording project's creative and technical leader, commanding studio time and coaching artists, and in popular genres typically creates the song's very sound and structure.Virgil Moorefield"Introduction" ''The Producer as ...

Eddie Wohl Eddie Wohl is an American composer, music producer, and mixing engineer. As an artist, he was signed to Epic, Elektra and Mercury/Island, and had a production deal with Roadrunner Records. Growing up on the East Coast, Wohl was in his first b ...

to play keyboard for the band. On August 28, 2012, debut album ''

Spreading My Wings '' Spreading My Wings ''is the debut studio album from American rock band World Fire Brigade. The album, starring percussionist Ken Schalk of Candiria, in addition to Andy Andersson, Mike McCready and Rob Caggiano on guitar The guitar is a fr ...

'', featuring Candiria percussionist Ken Schalk, in addition to guitarists

Mike McCready Michael David McCready (born April 5, 1966) is an American musician who serves as the lead guitarist for the rock band Pearl Jam. Along with Jeff Ament, Stone Gossard, and Eddie Vedder, he is one of the founding members of the band. McCready ...

and

Rob Caggiano Robert Caggiano (born November 7, 1976) is an American guitarist and record producer. Since 2013, Caggiano has been the lead guitarist of the rock band Volbeat. He had formerly been guitarist of thrash metal band Anthrax and nu metal band Boile ...

was released via FrostByte Media.

Solo career

='' Enjoy the Process ''

= On 16 April 2013, Danielsen released his first solo album, ''

Enjoy the Process ''Enjoy the Process'' is the debut EP from American recording artist Sean Danielsen, the lead vocalist and lead guitarist of American hard rock band Smile Empty Soul. Published on 16 April 2013, the album was produced by Eddie Wohl. Backgroun ...

''. The EP, produced by Eddie Wohl, featured six acoustic tracks. The songs used on the album were described by the singer as delicate, low key songs that are best accompanied by light guitar and diverge from tunes typically performed by his first major label band. After publishing the EP, PureGrainAudio.com released a free copy of "The Breaks", the first song on the album.

='' Anger Management ''

= Between the publishing of his first two albums, he worked with former He Is Legend guitarist Mitchell Ray Marlow on "Away" and "Best in You", two songs featured on'' Anger Management'', a

compilation album A compilation album comprises tracks, which may be previously released or unreleased, usually from several separate recordings by either one or several performers. If by one artist, then generally the tracks were not originally intended for rel ...

released on February 27, 2014 by West One Music.

='' Food Chain ''(EP)

= Danielsen's second solo album, entitled ''

Food Chain A food chain is a linear network of links in a food web starting from producer organisms (such as grass or algae which produce their own food via photosynthesis) and ending at an apex predator species (like grizzly bears or killer whales), de ...

'', featured a full band and was recorded in Babylon Studios in

Van Nuys Van Nuys () is a neighborhood in the central San Fernando Valley region of Los Angeles, California. Home to Van Nuys Airport and the Valley Municipal Building, it is the most populous neighborhood in the San Fernando Valley. History In 1909, ...

, California. Released in November 2014, the album gave Danielsen more flexibility in the music he was able to play. During late 2014 and early 2015, the vocalist toured the United States in support of his second EP. In September 2015, Danielsen stated that he plans to publish his next solo EP in late 2016.

='' Product of Isolation ''

= In October 2016, Danielsen posted on his

Facebook Facebook is an online social media and social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. Founded in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with fellow Harvard College students and roommates Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dust ...

page, that in January 2017, he planned to release '' Product of Isolation'', his first full-length solo

studio album An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early 20th century as individual 78 rpm records c ...

. Early the following month, the singer announced that 13 January 2017 is the planned release date for that work.

='' Mind Control to Steal the Soul ''

= In March 2017, the guitarist announced that he plans to release '' Mind Control to Steal the Soul'', his third solo EP, some time in July of that year. The following month, Danielsen announced the release date as well as potential song titles.

='' The Best of Sean Danielsen Solo ''

= In February 2019, the singer released a compilation album entitled'' The Best of Sean Danielsen Solo'', with'' The Best of Sean Danielsen Solo Material, Vol. 2'' arriving two months later.

Discography

Solo career

* ''

'' (2013) * ''

'' (2014) * '' Product of Isolation'' (2017) * '' Mind Control to Steal the Soul'' (2017) *'' The Best of Sean Danielsen Solo Material ''(2019) *'' The Best of Sean Danielsen Solo Material, Vol. 2 ''(2019)

World Fire Brigade

* ''

'' (2012)

Contributions

* "My Father's Daughter",'' 24 Off the Board'', Nina Storey (Nina Storey Music, 2003) * "Looking",'' Deaf Ears'', Jerry Danielsen featuring Jake Kilmer (Busy Signal Studios, 2009) * "Best in You",'' Anger Management ''( West One Music, 2014) * "Away",'' Anger Management ''(West One Music, 2014) * "You Must Like Suffering",'' The Darkest of Angels'',

Dead by Wednesday Dead by Wednesday is an American heavy metal band from New Haven, Connecticut, formed in 2006.

( EMP Label Group, 2016)

Smile Empty Soul

Albums

* ''

'' (2003) * ''

Anxiety Anxiety is an emotion which is characterized by an unpleasant state of inner turmoil and includes feelings of dread over anticipated events. Anxiety is different than fear in that the former is defined as the anticipation of a future threat wh ...

'' (2005) * ''

Vultures A vulture is a bird of prey that scavenges on carrion. There are 23 extant species of vulture (including Condors). Old World vultures include 16 living species native to Europe, Africa, and Asia; New World vultures are restricted to North and ...

'' (2006) * ''

Consciousness Consciousness, at its simplest, is sentience and awareness of internal and external existence. However, the lack of definitions has led to millennia of analyses, explanations and debates by philosophers, theologians, linguisticians, and scien ...

'' (2009) * '' 3's'' (2012) * ''

Chemicals A chemical substance is a form of matter having constant chemical composition and characteristic properties. Some references add that chemical substance cannot be separated into its constituent elements by physical separation methods, i.e., wit ...

'' (2013) * '' Rarities'' (2017) * '' Oblivion'' (2018) *'' Black Pilled ''(2021)

Extended play albums

* '' Hecklers Veto'' (1999) * ''

B-Sides The A-side and B-side are the two sides of phonograph records and cassettes; these terms have often been printed on the labels of two-sided music recordings. The A-side usually features a recording that its artist, producer, or record company ...

'' (2008) * ''

Shapeshifter In mythology, folklore and speculative fiction, shape-shifting is the ability to physically transform oneself through an inherently superhuman ability, divine intervention, demonic manipulation, sorcery, spells or having inherited the ...

'' (2016) * ''

Sheep Sheep or domestic sheep (''Ovis aries'') are domesticated, ruminant mammals typically kept as livestock. Although the term ''sheep'' can apply to other species in the genus '' Ovis'', in everyday usage it almost always refers to domesticate ...

''(2019) *2020 (2020)

Contributions

* "Finding Myself" – Featured on '' The Punisher: The Album'' (2004) * "Who I Am" – Featured on ''

Music from and Inspired by Spider-Man 2 ''Music from and Inspired by Spider-Man 2'' is the soundtrack album for the 2004 film '' Spider-Man 2''. As a whole, the album reached the top 10 of the U.S. album charts and the top 40 of the Australian album charts. " Vindicated" by Dashboa ...

'' (2004)

Personal life

In July 2013, he began selling his own paintings via

. In June 2016, he married his long time partner, that he had been in a relationship with since 2005. For his entire music career, he has used Schecter electric and acoustic guitars. He also cited

Jerry Cantrell Jerry Fulton Cantrell Jr. (born March 18, 1966) is an American guitarist, singer and songwriter. He is best known as the founder, lead guitarist, co-lead vocalist, and main songwriter of the rock band Alice in Chains. The band rose to internation ...

and

Kim Thayil Kim Anand Thayil (born September 4, 1960) is an American musician best known as the lead guitarist of the Seattle-based rock band Soundgarden, which he co-founded with singer Chris Cornell and bassist Hiro Yamamoto in 1984. Cornell and Thayil ...

as his favorite guitarists. Sean recently has switched from Schecter to Dean and no longer uses Schecter. Sean is an official artist of Dean as per Dean's official website.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Danielsen, Sean American rock guitarists American male guitarists American male singer-songwriters American rock singers American rock songwriters Alternative metal singers Nu metal singers Singers from Los Angeles 1982 births Living people Guitarists from Los Angeles 21st-century American singers 21st-century American guitarists 21st-century American male singers Singer-songwriters from California