Back in 2024, Carpool Karaoke got spiked with a sprinkling of Nashville Hot. The culprit was none other than Tennessee native Showing Teeth, pulling off her own vocal sessions from the comfort of her own car and uploading them to TikTok.
Though, rather than chirping along to Top 40 hits, Addison had other plans… namely, she was hell-bent on performing rumbling, guttural deathcore.
However, a five-seater wasn’t enough to contain Addison forever – and we don’t just mean that because her car wasn’t fully soundproofed. As her audience grew, the clash of Addison’s warm, Southern drawl and contrastingly visceral vocals began to draw industry attention. Very soon, Showing Teeth became more than a hobby – and it was time to record some tracks.
While there aren’t many Showing Teeth tracks available right now, ‘Labyrinth’ and ‘Rip’ showcase exactly how versatile Addison’s vocal style can be. From grating screeches to floating, melodic crooning, Showing Teeth shifts between textures you’d find in alt rock to thick, prog-infused deathcore. And with Periphery’s Matt Halpern fully immersed in the project – writing and laying down drums in the studio – the excitement keeps on increasing.
And if her debut live show in London’s Barfly earlier this month was any indicator, Addison is ready to cause even more of a stir within the alt scene.
As they announce the details of their debut EP ‘A Fate Worse Than Loneliness’, set for release on September 04 via Republic Records/Spinefarm, Rock Sound sat down with Addison to dissect everything Showing Teeth.
Rock Sound: You were invited to open for Beartooth on tour earlier this year, and supported Bring Me The Horizon for their ‘Count Your Blessings’ anniversary shows after having only released two tracks. Soon, you’re also set to support President on their North American campaign in September. How has that instant acceptance and support felt?
Addison: It’s been insane… but the first Beartooth show was horrifying. I’d only played my first show as Showing Teeth last November with some other bands, and it was in a DIY Nashville venue called Dark Matter. The show was tiny, like a living room… then I was performing in front of 5,000 people in Indiana. I was so scared that I thought I had an allergic reaction right before it – I had to get a steroid shot because I got so ill with nerves. But Caleb Shomo was amazing. One night, he came up to me before the show to give me a pep talk because he could tell I was shitting myself. I’d gone fully non-verbal with panic. But it was the best pep talk I’ve ever received in my life!
RS: You say your first Showing Teeth show was in November. Had you ever performed live before that?
Addison: Not as a vocalist. I’ve played bass for a bunch of bands since I was in middle school. I actually played for a ‘Mega Church’ during COVID. It was a super easy gig, because we just played inside a Church with no people over video calls… But I always really liked writing music, and I always wanted to find a band that I had the right chemistry with.
RS: Presumably you have that chemistry with Periphery’s Matt Halpern, considering he’s been recording drums for you?
Showing Teeth: Of course! I honestly love Periphery so much, and it’s surreal that I get to work with Matt. I first connected with him because my producer, Dan Book, essentially used Periphery as bait to get a hold of me. Dan really wanted to work with me, so he reached out to me in my DM requests, which I never check… but as soon as he got me connected to Matt, I was fully paying attention. At first, Matt was offering me advice. But once he started hearing my songs, he wanted to play on one of them. Then he wanted to play on all of them and write together!
RS: What were your musical influences as a Baby Tooth?
Addision: I used to sing in choir at church, and I did some theatre in high school, but I was pretty anti-singing. I never enjoyed it, and it just didn’t feel right for me. But I still wanted to be involved with music, so in middle school that’s when I started to play bass.
RS: You seem to have been very involved with the church scene and church music. When did heavier music come in?
Addison: Well, my parents are super involved with the church, and I listened to what they listened to, which was pop music or Church music. But I also first got exposed to heavy music because of the church, at Church Camp. My friend, Cameron, showed me a bunch of post-hardcore bands, and then he also convinced me to buy a bass. After camp, I picked up a Warped Tour mixtape in Hot Topic, and I was hooked.
RS: Obviously, fans are keen to hear more music from you. What have you been cooking up? Any exciting new flavours?
Addison: I don’t just try to write the angriest or most pissed-off thing I can – I do whatever feels right. Lyrics are also the main focus; then the song will sonically live in the same world. As far as genre goes, I don’t limit myself; if a song is super synthy or has a lot of chill pianos, I don’t stop myself from throwing in a really heavy verse. I do whatever I want.
I’ve been working on a decent handful of new deathcore songs. But there’s also one really chill song that’s predominantly piano. I’m very interested to see how that one resonates! My favourites tend to be the more proggy deathcore songs.
RS: What’s your process?
Addison: At first, it was just me on my laptop, fartin’ around on FL Studio. Even now, I still do a lot of recording myself. A lot of songs I’m working on, 90% of the vocals were recorded in my car. Like, ‘Rip’ started as improv just sat in the car. Honestly, a lot of what I write is improv. I’ve also realised I love messaging Zach Munowitz [guitarist/songwriter] and asking him to record something without explaining where it might go in a song. Then I jigsaw pieces together. It’s very fun chaos.
RS: Did you ever think posting on TikTok would amount to something like this?
Addison: Not at all. The first video that got popular was actually a video I had recorded to send to my friend. It was me making a joke about horrible metal band names, and I made up a band called Secular Colostomy Bag. When I posted it on TikTok, I didn’t look at my phone all day – but when I got home, it had a million views. At first, I panicked; I was like, ‘Who are you people!?’ I’m a little less freaked out about it all now, though.
RS: How do your parents feel about you travelling the world playing deathcore?
Addison: It’s really funny because they hated the music I listened to growing up. I got a lot of pushback at first… lots of them telling me that it was all ‘sin’. It was pretty bad at first. But I think, now that they can see how happy this makes me, they’re more supportive. They still haven’t been to a show though.
RS: Maybe you can go back to your roots and perform some new tracks at their church…
Addison: Never! They wouldn’t let me in… I’d probably catch fire and start foaming at the mouth. But if I ever did perform at a Church, my dad would respond in one of two ways: he’d say “That feels sacrilegious”, or he’d be like “Well, I’m just glad you’re in Church… maybe you’ll meet a nice boy there.”
