Middle School Metal: Unlocking the Truth

What has six arms, dense distortion, double-bass drumming, and a combined age of 41? The metal bandUnlocking the Truth, who made their radio debut on Studio 360. The Brooklyn trio comprises guitarists Malcolm Brickhouse, bassist Alec Atkins, and drummer Jarad Dawkins, all of whom are barely in their teens. They are the youngest guests Kurt Andersen has interviewed on the program — and the slayingest.

Brickhouse and Dawkins have been playing music together since kindergarten. Although hip-hop is the dominant music at school and in the neighborhood, they come to metal honestly. “My dad used to take us to watch wrestling shows and we used to watch animated music videos,” Brickhouse tells Kurt. “The background music was heavy metal. I was surrounded by heavy metal.” Their original songs have lyrics (about “drugs, and relationships, and stuff — and being free”), but no one in the band will sing them yet.

As young as they are, the members see a long future in rock. Brickhouse says he’ll be banging out vicious licks “until I die”, while Dawkins is more pragmatic; “I’ll retire at about 70 years old.” For now, a documentary about the trio, Breaking a Monster, recently premiered at BAMcinemaFest. It describes the band’s rapid rise and $1.8 million record deal with Sony — and the complications and artistic compromises that followed.

(Originally aired: July 26, 2013)

Video: “Escape” live in Studio 360