Unlocking The Truth, from East Flatbush Brooklyn, are 11-year old Jared Dawkins, Alec Atkins, and Malcolm Brickhouse, 7th graders who refuse to be put in a box, musical or otherwise.
"I like being different from everybody else," said Malcolm. ('Do you ever get pushback?') "Yeah. ('What do you do with that?') "I don't care, I really don't care," he said.
"I can't imagine leaving the band, it would be pretty boring," said Alec.
Malcolm's dad Tracey tells me, it was clear from an early age why the kids gravitated towards heavy metal. It was all those wrestling matches he'd take them to.
"They would come home and imitate that theme music," said Tracey.
The trio has little formal training and rehearses in Malcolm's basement every weekend, keeping a detailed song list, right now five albums worth. Plus an imaginary list of concert venues, places their favorite bands (think Linkin Park, Three Days Grace) have already played. Webster Hall? They've crossed it off the list.
Close your eyes and you forget you're listening to preteens jam. The reason why many in the music world are now paying attention, which, they admit, takes time getting used to.
"I don't like when people just, boom, they come at you, that scares me," said Jared.
But make no mistake, they have no fear of taking the road less travelled.
"I think the sky is the limit with these kids, I think they're going to go far," said Tracey. "I'm like the proudest dad in the world. I sleep, eat and drink these kids."
As for the band's title, the boys tell me it has no special meaning. They simply voted on it, and it sounded the coolest. You can check them out thsi weekend. Unlocking The Truth will be performing Saturday afternoon at 2, at the Brooklyn Botanical Gardens.
