Los Angeles-based industrial band 3Teeth was set to work on its second album, <shutdown.exe>, starting at the end of 2015 when it made an unexpected detour -- literally.

Thanks to frontman Alexis Mincolla striking up a friendship with Tool guitarist Adam Jones in 2014 when they were in a mutual acquaintance’s wedding party, Tool invited 3Teeth to join its first tour in almost two years in January. (Alternative group Primus also acted as support.) Mincolla calls the trek "pretty much a dream come true, as well as a massive learning experience."

Let Mitski Teach You to Be a Public Figure on Your Own Terms: Alt In Our Stars Podcast

"As you can imagine, it can be a little heavy to go from playing clubs to playing sold-out NBA arenas with your idols, but those guys really took us under their wings," he says. "The second to-the-last night of tour, some of the guys from Tool dressed up in furry outfits and rocked out onstage with us, and I feel like that kind of sums up the whole tour."

Watch members of Tool shake their tail feathers with 3Teeth at Pensacola Bay Center below:

Can't stop laughing at this--#toolband pranking the new guys @3teeth on second to last night of tour . #securitybreach #tourlife #hijinx #justinchancellor @adamjones_tv A video posted by Claypool Cellars (@claypoolcellars) on Jan 31, 2016 at 12:39pm PST

The video was taken Jan. 30 in Florida, where two Orlando venues were rocked by gun violence the weekend of June 11: first by the shooting death of The Voice alumna Christina Grimmie at the Plaza Live, followed by the attack on Pulse nightclub that left more than 50 injured and at least 49 dead.

The Pulse rampage sparked a Facebook posting from Mincolla that read: "F--- the homophobia of Wahhabism and the American far right which feed off each other, and always have. F--- the [sic] all pieces of shit who will politicize this tragedy to push their fascist agendas. F--- the infinite divisions that the media will conjure up just to create click-through to better sell ad space, and f--- all the idiots who will be indoctrinated by those divisions. Our deepest condolences to the families and loved ones of the [sic] all the victims, you will not be forgotten."

Voodoo Festival 2016 Lineup Revealed: Arcade Fire, Tool, The Weeknd & More

"This was sort of a knee-jerk response to being fed up with the commoditization of tragedy in this country as of lately," says Mincolla. "Probably not the most prolific or even well-thought-out response to what happened, but it was how I felt at the time. I'm just really sick of seeing people try and cash in on tragedy, the way that brands cash in on them for relevancy, the way politicians use them to push their agendas, the way the media use them to sell ad space, etc. And yet nothing changes."

The lyrical themes of <shutdown.exe> (arriving on OMF Records in the fall), directly relate to such issues. Mincolla says the project centers on "shutting down consensus reality tunnels," which are "a way to describe the generally agreed-upon perspectives of what is considered real."

"It's something we typically learn our way into when we get older. Children are considered to be inexperienced with these reality tunnels and as a result are typically more creative and less prejudiced than your average adult who’s trapped in a consensus reality tunnel," he explains. "I personally think it would be advantageous to shut them down, or temporary dismantle them at least, largely because I think we all tend to get too caught up in our own shit and lose sight of the bigger picture … maybe what I’m saying is that it would probably do us all some good to uninstall, re-evaluate, update and reinstall fresh operating systems on a more consistent basis."

3Teeth is introducing <shutdown.exe> with the single "Degrade." Listen to it below:

Mincolla notes "Degrade" is about "power dynamics and mankind's seemingly infinite capacity to degrade each other."

"There are an infinite amount socially constructed dogmas that people latch on to out of fear, that in turn create an infinite amount of divides between mankind," he says when asked why he thinks people engage in such behavior. "Now mix that up with a world of depleting resources and you get what’s called a tragedy of the commons, and self-interest reigns supreme and greed, degradation and bottom-line thinking become not only acceptable, but in some places encouraged."

3Teeth will return to the road in late August. After a few more dates with Tool in October, it plans on doing a world tour in support of <shutdown.exe>.

3Teeth tour dates:

Aug. 27 - London, Electrowerkz

Aug. 28 - Bradford, the United Kingdom, Infest

Sept. 2 - Los Angeles, The Viper Room

Sept. 3 - Phoenix, Club Red Rocks

Sept. 4 - Denver, Colo., Riotfest

Sept. 15 - Kansas City, Mo., The Riot Room

Sept. 16 - Chicago, Riotfest

Sept. 17 - Toronto, Velvet Underground

Oct. 24 - Salt Lake City, Maverik Center (with Tool)

Oct. 28 - Little Rock, Ark., Verizon Arena (with Tool)