These kids (and they really are kids) had already caught my attention when I was watching Coachella online this year. Of course they had caught everybody’s attention, because at 12 and 13, they play like metal veterans. According to the NY Daily News, 13-year-olds guitarist Malcolm Brickhouse and bassist Alec Atkins, and 12-year-old drummer Jarad Dawkins of the band Unlocking the Truth have signed with the major label Sony, which will produce their two first albums. They will received an advance of $60,000 for the first record and possibly as much as $350,000 for the second one. Plus, still according to the Daily News, the contract comes with an option for 4 more records and in this case the boys would get up to $1.7million… Imagine having so much money at this age…
According to Jarad’s mother, the boys started playing at Times Square just for fun and were discovered in Washington Square Park by Eric Clapton’s drummer, Steve Jordan, in 2012. Since then, they have been booked for gigs, have opened for Guns N’ Roses and are currently part of the Vans Warped Tour.
Sony flew them to Los Angeles where they gave a private performance before signing the contract. And you know what, they even have a book deal with Penguin plus a documentary in the making about their rapid rise to success…. Jeez, I just hope this sudden success isn’t going to change and spoil them.
However, this metal blog (Deafsparrow) has a great point. I know very little about Trash Metal, and I was impressed by these kids’ performance, but it is true that my awe was almost 100% due to their very young age:
‘After a few minor stage performances, these guys got the buzz, and it kept coming. Good for them, but why? Is it because they’re so God damned awesome you’ll never listen to another metal band again? No, it’s because they’re kids and everyone seems to think that’s frikken cute.’
People at Deafsparrow are not impressed by Unlocking the truth and think their music would not even been noticed if they were adults. I guess it’s true, what had gotten me excited was much more their age than their music. Still, precociousness is generally a proof of great talent, who knows what they will be able to do at 35? However, if I were their parents, I would be very careful before putting them in the hands of the big music industry.
