3TEETH has practically become a household name in the industrial scene. Whereas their self-titled debut album skyrocketed them to fame with the classic rivethead looking for sounds a la Ministry, KMFDM, and other legends, 3TEETH's was soon touring arenas featured next to big bands such as TOOL and Primus. It's been nearly a year since the industrial quartet has begun teasing us with their next release shutdown.exe, but now with a solid release date behind the record for May 19th, I got a chat with frontman of the group Alexis Mincolla discussing the new album and more. Check it out!

Hey there Alexis and welcome back to Brutal Resonance! It's been quite some time since we last spoke with you with our last interview occurring in June of 2014. Since then 3TEETH has gained notoriety and has done some amazing things. That being said, how are things going on for you right now?

Mincolla: Things have been great, I’ve just been insanely busy. Thanks for having me back for a chat.

You're releasing shutdown.exe via your own independent label OMF Records as well as Cleopatra Records. Why release it on two different labels at the same time? Also, will OMF Records strictly be for 3TEETH releases or is it looking to expand its roster?

Mincolla: OMF is our label that I started and Cleopatra is the distribution partner that we did a deal with for this record. As for right now OMF is devoting all its bandwidth to this release but once we’ve got it out and some systems in place, we’d love to open things up to an expanded roster.

3TEETH is not a band that shies away from the current political turmoil the world is going through and I have a strong feeling that shutdown.exe takes on all those thoughts. Let's start off with the title of the album; does it just sit there to decorate the album, or does the title hold definition as to what will be about?

Mincolla: shutdown.exe is largely centered around shutting down or dissolving consensus reality tunnels. A sort of executable program for hacking your own consciousness and reformatting your own hard drive. You know like that hit of LSD that you take every once in a while to purposely crash your operating system so you can wake up fresh the next day and reinstall a new one. There is a saying that the only clear view is from a mountain of your dead selves.

You had three singles, 'SlaveGod', 'Degrade' and 'Atrophy', lead up to the release of shutdown.exe. Did you choose these to singles to represent the album for any one reason over the rest of the songs?

Mincolla: We did chose those singles with intention as every struggle is one of three. Man vs Man, Man Vs the World or Man vs himself and the three song each illustrate these triptych narrative.

'Atrophy' was accompanied by a music video featuring the idea of dominator and submissive suited to a political spectrum. In the video was also riot clashes and violence. With 'Atrophy' you're trying to invoke some thought in listeners/viewers. What events led to you creating the song? What are you trying to say to audiences with the song?

Mincolla: The narrative of this video is actually more of an allegory than it is something to be taking at face value. The battle that's occurring is one of the psychic oppression that we put ourselves through by trying to fill voids with external means.

A lot of people who pay attention to 3TEETH understand a lot of what comes out from the band is meant to move and sway them to take action against corruption and greed. Do you ever feel as if that message is lost on some listeners?

Mincolla: Our aim is really nothing more than to catalyze critical thinking and our weapon is cognitive dissonance. So the confusion is actually the goal and If you're not contradicting yourself, you're not thinking hard enough. So if people miss the message that's fine, as long as they're at least trying to think about some sort of message at all. Art should be polysemic and humans are innately subjective creatures. So if you want objectivity, maybe you should consult and object.

To myself and many others shutdown.exe sounds much, much better than your self-titled debut album. Since the time of releasing your debut up to the release of , what have you learned musically? Has anyone helped 3TEETH along the way to further master your arts?

Mincolla: Yeah we’ve all really honed in on respective crafts over the past three years as we’ve toured a lot and shared stages with some legendary bands which in turn brings up confidence levels. Touring with TOOL & Primus in particular was a real eye opening experience and having someone like Adam Jones as mentor has been a blessing in my life. We were also very fortunate to work with Sean Beavan to mix the record and Howie Weinberg to master the record, so sonically the album is so dialed in.

How do you personally feel about shutdown.exe? Are you the biggest critic of your own work, or do you feel confident that the new album is everything you wanted it to be?

Mincolla: I’m personally very happy with this record as it feels like a direct reflection of our collective headspace while we were writing it. It’s the type of thing ill be able to look back in twenty years and be proud of.

This is a tougher question that I like to throw out at bands occasionally, but do you have a favorite song on shutdown.exe? If so, which one is it and why?

Mincolla: It’s really hard to say but there’s something really special and personal about 'Away From Me'. It’s such an honest song about how I feel that it’s almost vulnerable which is really different for me.

You have toured with Tool and I would imagine that being on the same bill as them helped 3TEETH get noticed. How did the crowd react to 3TEETH when you were on tour with Tool? Was the response positive and overwhelming?

Mincolla: It’s funny because I'll never forget that moment we took the stage of the first show with them. It was the sold out Bill Graham in San Francisco and Adam Jones told me a story about how their fans boo’ed Mike Patton when he opened for them which needless to say didn’t sit well with me as I walked up there. I remember the lights going out and walking up the stage ramp that belonged to Metallica as their logo that was sprayed on it was the last thing I saw as I think I performed the first song entirely with my eyes closed behind my glasses. When we finished that song, the crowd applauded and I opened them up and smiled and had so much fucking fun. After that show, its like i was bitten by a bug and all i want to be doing is playing arenas.

And now that I've gotten on the topic of touring, you're also going to be playing with Rammstein on June 25th. Some people can only dream of playing with Rammstein, but you're actually doing it. How did this get set up and are you stoked to perform with them?

Mincolla: Somewhere between us proving that we can play arenas as well us having the same US booking agency.

What else does 3TEETH have in store for the future? Any other shows, tours, or gigs lined up?

Mincolla: Yeah after this album drops on May 19th we’ve got huge plans for the rest of the year. Stay tuned.

I've heard that you enjoy attending wrestling events, and I have even seen a photo where you met the beast that is Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson. Will there ever be a time when fans get to see Alexis Mincolla in the ring?

Mincolla: That's pretty funny because the Rock asked me if i was wrestler and told him nah, "I’m in a band," and he laughed and said "What waste with all that size." So as of now, no plans to get in the ring but we’ll see what the future has in store.

I always like to ask this to bands to expand my own horizons, but also to turn readers onto new acts. What have you been listening to lately? Any new bands that you think deserve some more attention or classics that have been stuck in your head?

Mincolla: I’ve been loving the new Power Trip album Nightmare Logic which is new but sounds like everything that I loved about 90’s metal. I saw them a few weeks ago and it was one of the most fun shows I’d ever been to.

Lastly, I'd like to thank you for your time and wish you the best of luck. I can't wait for the launch of shutdown.exe and I'm sure it's going to blow everyone away. Cheers!

Mincolla: Right on! thanks for having me. Till next time.

shutdown.exe is available for pre-order HERE and will release May 19th via OMF Records and Cleopatra Records.

3TEETH

Apr 2017

Industrial, Industrial Metal