“Rock and roll is – and should be – a kid’s place.” ~ Ben Folds
December 2013
You are dared to define this…these young bloods of anarchy, good manners and one with a nifty bow tie.
Brooklyn, New York. Sons of Flatbush, Malcolm Brickhouse (guitar), Jarad Dawkins (bass) and Alec Atkins (drums) are, Unlocking The Truth: literally and figuratively and you have to assume that they’re aware of the shrewd wordplay. Who are they? They’re grade schoolers (7th grade) seemingly in possession of a fundamental sense: sense of self and certainly of how to throw some Dio devil horns with the determination already made that they want to be one of the best heavy metal bands in the world. Ambitious, much? Carry on. That metallic taste in your mouth isn’t blood because these boys aren’t here to shed any; it’s the tasty sound of a certain freedom that comes from embracing music – in this case, the rock of heavy metal with the likes of Disturbed, Metallica and Slipknot as the creative impetus.
How charmingly forward-thinking, the fact that they’ve practically routed themselves out a tour of their own imagining- taking the notion of “thoughts become things” to baller-level.
But there’s more to consider than simply three youngsters and their desire to play instruments – although that’s as worthy and badass a pursuit as any. The bigger and more soul-serving picture is the clear ambition to express and express outside of the standard confines of what may be expected. Expected, in general, and expected specifically of them. That’s the stuff that dynamic thinkers and a generation of precious pacesetters are made of and we need more of them to replace the obsolescent stifling our growth and poisoning the well. It’s bohemian and that’s some of the juiciest meat on the bone to sink one’s teeth into.
Whether or not Malcolm, Jarad and Alec go on to realize musical greatness akin to a Metallica, there is no denying the personal greatness that they have already achieved. People are talking, ears are listening, attitudes are shifting and their collective credo of being true to self and fuck those who object is a righteous statement to epitomize and make.
UPDATE:
So the above is what I wrote last year. Here we are in September of 2014 and the trio have added a few notches of accomplishment to their tiny belts. First and most importantly, they’ve advanced to the 8th grade: kudos. Outside of school property they’ve stacked their metal cred having played the Vans Warped Tour, Coachella and opened for rock heavies Queens of the Stone Age, Motorhead and Guns N’ Roses. And then there’s the January signing of a two-record deal with Sony only to be topped by this week’s sit down and chat with Stephen Colbert on The Colbert Report. A quick age-check by Colbert (Brickhouse and Dawkins, 13; Atkins, 12) verified that Unlocking The Truth were, indeed, the youngest guests ever on his show. And the ‘truth’ according to Brickhouse is simple: “Kids think that they can’t do anything ’cause that’s what other people tell you to do. But if you look past that and just believe in yourself, you can accomplish anything you wanna do.” Then they commenced to bringing noise with a performance of the song “Monster” from their upcoming Free As You Wanna Be EP.
The truth is out there and in 2015 a full length album will be, as well.