On an eerie Friday the 13th, an intimate crowd gathered in front of the legendary Whiskey a Go Go on Sunset Strip in West Hollywood for the last night of Smile Empty Soul’s tour. First opening its doors to the public on January 18, 1964, Whiskey a Go Go will soon celebrate its 50th Anniversary. It wasn’t long after that the venue started launching the careers of many great artists such as The Doors, The Who, and many others including the site Cliff Burton became a member of Metallica. This place is also known to host first headlining tours that include many local unsigned bands to show case their material.
First to take the stage was First Decree, a quartet alternative rock band from Cheyenne, Wyoming that has toured with Smile Empty Soul for the past two and a half months promoting their debut album Set in Stone. The band is made up of three brothers: Dane DeMar on lead guitar/background vocals, Falco on bass/background vocals, and Zach E. Lee on drums, with Maurice providing lead vocals and rhythm guitar. Most of the audience was unfamiliar with the band and unsure what to expect, but as soon as the guitar struck the first chord to the opening song intro of “Flesh n Bones,” the skeptical crowd moved closer towards the stage. Upon first listen you may think the band has a similar sound to Killswitch Engage, but as the set wore on you could tell the band draws strong influence from bands like Sevendust and Breaking Benjamin. Some of the highlights of their set were “Phoenix” and “Rain” where towards the end of the song Maurice stimulated the audience, chanting along with him with the chorus “Thanks for this moment, I’ll always remember”. With some flawless guitar riffs and some clean vocals in a 30 minute set First Decree put on a great performance and managed to win over some new fans.
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It was finally time for Smile Empty Soul to take the stage. This would close out an extensive 60 date tour across the United States promoting their new album Chemical. While the band was getting set-up the Whiskey a Go Go was slowly filling up and, what seemed like just a small crowd earlier, became an entire floor filled with people waiting to for Smile Empty Soul to rock out.
The set opened up with “Black and Blue”, going into the newest single “False Alarm” off Chemical. The band played an array of songs ranging from new to old such as the crowd favorite “Silhouettes” from their 2003 debut album. Everyone at the Whiskey a Go Go was singing along “I don’t want to live like my father” and “I don’t want to give up before I die”. Sean Danielsen’s voice had a lot of textured and you could hear the emotion when he sang along accompanied by his guitar. The long dreads swaying of Ryan Martin adding tempo on his bass while Jake Kilmer almost beat a hole into another dimension as he pounded away on the kicks, crashes, and fills. Some of the songs were also accompanied by low lights that set a perfect experience for people to close their eyes and sing along. The set closed out at the height of fans excitement with hit song “Bottom of a Bottle”.
Smile Empty Soul completed the last night of the Chemical tour in style. While exhausted and well-traveled, the 3 piece rock band gave the Whiskey a Go Go all they had. With a start, climax, and finish, Smile Empty Soul put on an amazing performance and finished the week off on a high note for their fans.
Written by Karina Diane Parker
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smile empty soul fucking rules.. can’t wait to see ya again.. for the 4th time… thanks for everything