Doc About Beloved 1990s Alt-Rock Band Failure, ‘Every Time You Lose Your Mind,’ To Premiere on Hulu

For a minute in the 1990s, Failure seemed destined for world domination. But the L.A. alt-rock band whose excesses superseded their successes and led to a crash out after less than a decade together will be re-born (again) in the upcoming documentary, Every Time You Lose Your Mind. The first trailer for the film that will premiere on Hulu/Disney+ on June 27 features testimonials from avowed superfan Paramore singer Hayley Williams, as well as Tool’s Maynard James Keenan and late producer/engineer Steve Albini.

“Like a falling satellite blazing across the musical landscape, Failure flamed-out in the late ‘90s – their promising rise derailed by drug addiction and record company inertia,” reads a description of the doc, which was directed by singer/guitarist Ken Andrews. “But the pioneering trio left a profound imprint that transcended their affiliation with the LA alt-rock scene. Every Time You Lose Your Mind documents the origins, downfall and rebirth of a band that’s beloved by their peers and multiple generations of fans.”

The shoegaze-y band formed in 1990 in L.A. by Andrews, bassist/keyboardist Greg Edwards and drummer Robert Gauss (who was replaced in 1993 by Kellii Scott) released their Albini-helmed debut album, Comfort, in 1992 and embarked on what would be the first of a series of tours opening up for Tool. Determined to find the sound they were looking for, Andrews and Edwards took over as producers for the trio’s second LP, 1994’s Magnified, which, like its predecessor, earned praise from peers, but failed to move the needle on radio or at MTV.

Tool’s Keenan recalls in the trailer that much of the music in Los Angeles during that early 1990s era was “formulaic, and Failure seemed to cut right up through the middle. They were just kind of their own unique presence.” Garbage drummer and Nirvana producer Butch Vig adds that Failure embraced “that darkness [and] dissonance,” while Paramore’s Williams notes that she’d “never really heard anything like that… it changed how I thought about music and it kind of just made me more than ever want to be in a band.”

The trio’s original run ended with 1996’s beloved album Fantastic Planet, which launched a modest Weezer-ish alt radio hit in “Stuck On You,” but again mostly fizzled on the charts. After a run on the final touring version of Lollapalooza — during which they did double duty when they got bumped from the second stage to main stage after Korn was forced to drop out, giving them both afternoon and evening slots — the band broke up in late 1997.

In the recent Lollapalooza: The Uncensored Story of Alternative Rock’s Wildest Festival oral history, Andrews talked about Tool getting the band on the tour and being nervous that so many other bands would come over to watch their sets. “Especially if you’re the low band on the totem pole and you haven’t really proven yourself with a lot of success or notoriety,” he said. Edwards admitted to being strung out at the time, saying, “I was flying through that period. I was heavily self-medicated, and Lollapalooza was the beginning of a steep slope to the bottom.”

“Our fans have connected with the themes of depression and addiction in our music,” Andrews said in a statement about the film. “The film crystallizes those connections and, ultimately, communicates hope. We’re a band that faced a specific set of challenges and somehow managed to survive and thrive. It’s a story about resilience, finding ways to cope, and not giving up.”

Andrews and Edwards went on to form a series of bands in the ensuing years and reunited in 2013 with Scott, once again hitting the road to open for Tool and release the 2014 album The Heart Is a Monster. They followed up in 2018 with the first in a series of EPs and the album In the Future Your Body Will Be the Furthest Thing From Your Mind and 2021’s Wild Type Droid.

In the trailer, Edwards describes being on a “steady routine of uppers and downers, spinning around this spine of the heroin addiction” in a nod to the drug issues that sped the demise of the group. The preview also features snippets of interviews with actress/comedian Margaret Cho, former drummer and A Perfect Circle member Troy Van Leeuwen and actor/musician Jason Schwartzman.

Failure will celebrate the movie’s release on June 26 at the Harmony Gold Theater in L.A. with an acoustic set before the screening. The band is also booked to play at the Louder Than Life festival in Louisville, KY on Sept. 20 and the Aftershock Festival in Sacramento on Oct. 3.

Watch the trailer for Every Time You Lose Your Mind below.