From childhood and religious trauma to one-take vocals recorded in a fury, a grandmother’s voicemail and an alien double borrowed from Annihilation, Showing Teeth’s Addison is turning her rage into a refuge on debut EP A Fate Worse Than Loneliness…
Words by Tanita Hingerty | Sep 09, 2026
For Addison, the one-woman force behind Showing Teeth, it all began with a laptop, a car and a feeling she couldn’t yet name. What started as a secret project, built alone with no plan and no expectations, has become one of the most striking new voices in the heavy underground: a snarling, lurching, wholly self-taught instrument capable of switching from a whisper to a scream inside a single breath.
Debut EP A Fate Worse Than Loneliness is the sound of her digging into everything that shaped her, from childhood and religious trauma to the misery of chasing the wrong relationships, and arriving somewhere close to self-possession. It’s raw, improvised and unflinching, threaded through with a voicemail from her grandmother in Appalachia and a visual world lifted straight from her favourite film.
Fresh off a sold-out support run, and still a little worn down by it, Addison caught up with us to talk about finding her voice by accident, the anger at the heart of the project, alien doubles, a dream Skrillex collaboration, and very nearly being killed by sheep in the Peak District…
I saw you at the Bring Me The Horizon Count Your Blessings anniversary shows and your performance was phenomenal. Your vocal fluctuations are insane. How did you create your own unique vocal style and sound?
Addison: Thank you so much. Honestly, it just happened pretty naturally. A lot of the vocalists I listened to don’t really sing exactly like me, so I spent a long time trying to sound like other people. Then, through just writing my music, I found that I do a lot of one-takes for the vocals in the songs. It’s a lot more natural to just do whatever’s the most comfortable, whatever feels the most fitting for the emotion I’m trying to convey. It definitely developed. I don’t want to say by accident, because there’s a lot of practice, but there was no intentional sound for my voice. Just angry.
You mentioned fitting the lyrics in one take. Are there any experiments you’ve done that have really paid off, or lyrics that just came to you?
Addison: “RIP” was a lot of improv, especially the beginning of the song through the first chorus. I knew what I was going to sing for the chorus, and I had some words written down that I was very passionate about, but I remember being super angry when I went to record it. I did a bunch of one-takes and we just yelled my head off until I got one where I was like, “Yeah, that’s fine.” That ended up being the full first verse. “Labyrinth” was a lot of the same, a lot of improv, just seeing what comes out when I’m recording. So a lot of experimentation.
The new EP, A Fate Worse Than Loneliness, came out on the fourth. Can you talk about the inspiration and meaning behind the songs?
Addison: It’s funny, A Fate Worse Than Loneliness was originally what I was calling the project as a whole. The concept was almost like a prequel. I wanted to write a bunch of songs about everything that’s upset me throughout my entire life so far, before I could even unpack what I was dealing with in the current moment. So it’s a lot of unpacking childhood emotional trauma, and religious emotional trauma.
Trying to chase relationships and trying to fit in so hard was what made my life so miserable before, so I really wanted to dive into that, and the constant pushback and back and forth of it. Even before all this started happening with the project, when it was literally just me, a laptop and absolutely nothing else in a car, that was the happiest I had ever been in my life so far. That was the spark. I understood that I do kind of have to pick myself, and pick the things that I love, and not chase meaningless relationships.
Is there a song you most resonate with, or that you most love performing live?
Addison: I love performing “Labyrinth” live, just because I can tell people are so excited about that one. But “Bad Exchanges” is my favourite, lyrically and honestly instrumentally as well. It captures the emotions perfectly of how I was feeling, and I still feel that way a lot. It’s a song about hating people. I’ve written lots of songs since then and it’s still one of my favourites.
You’re currently out on a sold-out support tour. How’s it going?
Addison: It’s freaking awesome. I can’t rave enough about how amazing it is to be in front of people at all. We definitely have different fanbases, so it’s a lot of me asking people to mosh, but I’m okay with that. Their fans are super nice. All I see when I look in the crowd is smiling, and I’ve played to a lot of frowning faces before, so seeing smiling is the best you can ask for. Lots of lovely friendship bracelets that I’ve been handed, too.
Do you have any plans for your own headline tour?
Addison: Maybe, not that I know of yet. I’m really hoping. Touring is expensive, and as a young lady trying to start a business, it’s funny, they don’t tell you about that part. You put out music and then it’s like, “Oh, also, you want to play all these shows? That costs money.” But it’s so worth it. It’s so fun. I’m on my way.
For anyone who hasn’t seen you live yet, how would you describe one of your performances, and what can people expect?
Addison: When we’re playing, it’s very high energy, pretty crazy. I definitely feel a bit like a goblin up there. But in between songs I just kind of talk pretty traditionally, which doesn’t feel natural for me. A song ends and I’m just like, “How about airplane food, am I right, guys?” I can tell it brings the vibe down, but I don’t know what else to do up there. I need time to breathe, because I torture myself with the songs I write. I write the worst songs to perform, so I do need a good 30 seconds to be like, “How do you guys feel about the taxis here?” No one’s laughing. But it’s fun. People have fun.
Is there anything you do to prep yourself before a show?
Addison: I try to take very good care of my voice. It’s been a little harder with the touring situation, because I have a chronic illness. It’s usually pretty chill, but the more hectic travelling has caused some flare-ups. I have gastroparesis, so I throw up a lot, and that can wreck my vocal chords a bit. Other than that, it’s hydrating a lot, trying not to throw up, and warming up pretty normally. I can’t eat too much, but that’s about it. Thankfully my live band guys are so lovely, we all hang out together, so it’s been chill.
Has there been a favourite performance so far, or a dream place you’d love to play?
Addison: Honestly, the Manchester shows, especially the second day. That was like out of a dream, my favourite performance ever. But everything has been awesome, there hasn’t been a bad show. I’m really excited to play in Seattle, and to go to the Pacific Northwest in general. I’ve never been up there, and literally my whole YouTube recommendations page is just videos of the national parks up there. I’m foaming at the mouth to be in the woods. I feel like my people are up there. Well, we’ll see. Maybe they’ll hate me.
You’ve said you don’t really sound like anyone else, but who are your musical influences, and who would be your dream collaboration?
Addison: It’s tough, because the music I listen to is all over the place. Predominantly a lot of progressive metal and deathcore, but I also love Ethel Cain. If you’ve ever been on my social media, that’s all I post about. She’s probably going to block me any day now. Clean-vocal wise, my biggest inspirations are Ethel Cain and then Spencer from Periphery. Screaming-wise, definitely Phil Bozeman from Whitechapel, and I love Knocked Loose just for the feral sound of it. I really like Enterprise Earth‘s vocals a lot too.
But who I’d want to work with, more than anyone, is Skrillex. That’s the dream collaboration. I don’t know what we’d do together, but I really would like to do that. A lot of my demos start out very electronically, because that’s usually how I get a lot of my melodic inspiration, and even some of the screaming inspiration comes from my little bleep-bloops. I’m probably more melodically inspired by electronic music than I am by metal.
Are there any touring essentials you won’t leave without?
Addison: My vocal steamer, my little steamer. And I have a stuffed rabbit with me. It just felt right, because if I’m the only girl on this tour, I’ve got to have a little piece with me, my little guy. Other than that, that’s really it. I kind of dress like I shop at Walmart anyway.
You’ve got some really cool music videos. Can you talk about the concepts behind “Bad Exchanges” and “Make It Out”?
Addison: I’m super obsessed with the movie Annihilation. I have so many Annihilation-themed tattoos, and that was a big inspiration for the “Make It Out” video, having the alien double of yourself. The song is very self-loathing. There are almost two voices, one voice of reason, and then I’m just singing super sad the whole time. It’s that storyline of there being another version of yourself that sucks.
“Bad Exchanges” was very much Appalachian home backrooms vibes, a mind-mess of feeling lost. There are parts where you can see the little second creepy Addison in the house. It’s kind of the birth of the worst Addison, so it was more just spooky and setting up for “Make It Out”.
There’s a voiceover on the EP. Can you talk a bit about that?
Addison: That’s my grandma, from eastern Kentucky in Appalachia. It’s funny, I saw a criticism saying it sounds like she’s reading a script, and she absolutely is, because I’m not going to share a personal voicemail from my grandma. But I wanted to simulate it to give people the feeling that I feel. It’s something she would say. It still makes me teary-eyed, like one of her real voicemails. I love that she’s a part of it now.
If Showing Teeth stood for one thing, what would it be?
Addison: That it’s very scary to be a woman, and that anger is warranted. Just being an angry lady.
What was it like bridging the gap from this being a dream you loved to it becoming your job?
Addison: It was amazing when I realised it could be more than just a laptop bedroom band, but there was a moment where it was really hard for me to wrap my head around, and I did a lot of self-sabotaging. Because I love it so much, and it’s my safe place, it becoming the main thing was kind of horrifying. It almost feels out of control. It’s no longer my little secret now. This was supposed to be my little safe baby that I’m taking care of, and now it’s a lot of people’s baby. It’s every musician’s dream, so I can’t complain too much, but it was really scary.
What have been the highlights for you so far?
Addison: Hearing what people think about the EP has been crazy to me, because I’ve been sitting on these songs for years at this point. Especially hearing people’s reaction to “Paradigm”, because that was a very emotionally raw song. Every time, I read way too many comments, which I shouldn’t, because then I read all the bad ones too and I get sad. But the good ones make it so worth it. It’s a feeling I can’t even describe.
What does the future hold for Showing Teeth?
Addison: There is so much more music. I write so much music all the time. I’m not sure I’m supposed to say this, but I’m going to say it anyway because it’s fun: A Fate Worse Than Loneliness definitely has a twin sibling, and I’m very excited about it. I’ve already been playing some unreleased songs on tour, so if anyone wants to stalk the setlist, you can get a little preview. But yeah, lots and lots of music to come.
You told me earlier the UK is your favourite place. Whereabouts have you loved?
Addison: The UK definitely holds a special place in my heart, I’m trying to go back. I really loved Manchester a lot. London was cool, and I’ve been to Leeds before, I liked it there too. I did a little bit of hiking in the Peak District as well, it was really nice.
I heard there was a run-in with some sheep…
Addison: The sheep did scare me! I’ve never been around sheep before, and this thing was way bigger than I expected. I was like, “I’m going to die by sheep, and I don’t know how I’m going to tell my manager.” They were all with babies too, so I was like, “They definitely mean business, they’re going to beat my ass.” But it was fun.
Anything else you’d like to add?
Addison: Just come to shows if you can. Hopefully I’ll see people there. That’s about it. Thank you so much.
‘A Fate Worse Than Loneliness’ is out now.
Leave a Reply