3Teeth

Lore & Background

3Teeth emerged from the Los Angeles underground with a self-titled debut in 2014, quickly establishing a niche for their blend of mechanized industrial noise and metal brutality. Their 2017 album <shutdown.exe> expanded their reach, featuring collaborations with members of Ministry and a cover of 'Pumped Up Kicks' that became a viral hit. The band’s live performances are noted for their intensity, incorporating elaborate lighting and video projections that mirror their themes of technological decay and societal collapse.

Reader's Guide

3Teeth gained prominence after being hand-selected by Tool to open their 2016 North American tour, and later opened for Rammstein on multiple U.S. dates. Their second album, shutdown.exe, reached No. 23 on Billboard, and their third album, Metawar, became their most commercially successful, debuting at No. 23 on Billboard and No. 3 on Billboard's Heatseekers Albums chart. The band signed to Century Media Records in April 2018. Their music has been described as industrial, industrial metal, industrial rock, nu metal, electro-industrial, and alternative. The band is known for menacing visuals during live performances and for incorporating multimedia elements. Their cover of 'Pumped Up Kicks' by Foster the People was released as a single in 2019, and they recorded covers for the film Guns Akimbo.

Did You Know?

• 3Teeth was hand-selected by Tool to open select dates on their 2019 North American tour.
• The band’s cover of 'Pumped Up Kicks' was originally released as a single in 2015 and later included on the <shutdown.exe> album.
• Vocalist Alexis Mincolla also works as a visual artist and designer, creating much of the band’s album artwork and stage visuals.
• Their 2023 album EndEx was produced by the band themselves and mixed by Nick Launay, known for his work with Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds and Killing Joke.

Origins & Formation (2013–2014)

The band began as a casual creative endeavor between two Los Angeles neighbors. Alexis Mincolla, who had no formal musical training but brought experience in visual arts and promotion, hosted a weekly gathering called Lil Death. It was there he crossed paths with Xavier Swafford, and the two started brainstorming a project that blended visual media with sound. Their search for a third member led them to Andrew Means, whose online video so impressed Mincolla that he compared it to a computer virus. Guitar duties were initially outsourced, but the slow turnaround frustrated the group. Means, who had grown up with Chase Brawner, recommended they audition him. Brawner passed, and the lineup was set. The name 3Teeth drew from Odontomancy—an ancient divination practice involving reading teeth like runes—and the Latin root of trident (three teeth), which Mincolla linked to the mythological weapon Marduk used to slay Tiamat.

Debut Era & Breaking Through (2014–2017)

The self-titled 2014 album was a six-month labor in which half the written material was ultimately discarded, and the band admitted uncertainty about how listeners would respond. Singles like Pearls 2 Swine, Master of Decay, and Nihil helped the record land at number eight on the iTunes Electronic Music Chart and number two on industrial charts. A follow-up remix EP in October 2014 brought in contributions from industrial artists KANGA and Aesthetic Perfection. The group's profile shifted dramatically when they were hand-picked to open Tool's 2016 North American tour alongside Primus, a slot that delayed work on their second record. When shutdown.exe finally arrived in May 2017, it was self-produced and mixed by Sean Beavan, the engineer behind Nine Inch Nails and Marilyn Manson records. The album climbed to number 23 on Billboard, and the band followed with collaboration tracks with Ho99o9, a co-headlining North American run, and multiple dates supporting Rammstein's limited U.S. shows.

Metawar & Political Statement (2018–2019)

For their third record, the band shifted from self-production to working with Sean Beavan as full producer. Announced in April 2019 alongside the single American Landfill, Metawar carried a thematic core Mincolla described as exploring world versus world—the idea that if humanity fails to build its own reality, it gets crushed by someone else's. The album's singles pushed into increasingly confrontatory territory. President X featured Mincolla as a neo-fascist lizard-man president and was called the band's most explicitly political track to date. A cover of Foster the People's Pumped Up Kicks came with a video depicting a SWAT raid and firearms footage. The album also spawned a Wasteland Weekend performance video for Altær. Metawar went on to become the group's most commercially successful release. The band also recorded two film covers for Guns Akimbo, including Dead or Alive's You Spin Me Round and The Sweet's The Ballroom Blitz.

Industry Ties & Label Milestones

3Teeth's trajectory was shaped by a series of strategic industry connections. After their early online traction, the band signed with Century Media Records in April 2018, a move that coincided with Justin Hanson being confirmed as the official fifth member following two earlier drummers. The partnership with Sean Beavan—already known for his work with Nine Inch Nails and Marilyn Manson—began with mixing shutdown.exe and deepened into full production on Metawar, lending the group's sound a polished, heavyweight industrial character. Touring partnerships also elevated their visibility: opening for Tool in 2016, sharing bills with Rammstein in 2018, and co-headlining with Ho99o9 across North America. The Guns Akimbo soundtrack placements in 2019 introduced their covers to a broader film audience. By the time EndEx was announced for 2023, the band had established itself as a fixture in the industrial metal landscape, supported by a stable lineup that included Nick Rossi, who joined in 2020 after the mutual parting with Hanson.