Three Brooklyn heavy metal rockers who are still going to middle school got permission from a Manhattan judge Tuesday to sign a multi-year recording contract with Sony.
The court approval frees the group, Unlocking the Truth, to record their first single on Wednesday for The Cherry Group, a division of Sony.
Guitarist Malcolm Brickhouse, 13, bassist Alec Atkins, 13, and drummer Jarad Dawkins, 12, wrote the music and lyrics.
But the boys were reluctant to discuss details about their first single, “Monster.”
When pressed by reporters, Alec finally said it was about Malcolm’s girlfriend.
Malcolm, slightly embarrassed, put his head down and then, for a split second, he put it on Jarad’s shoulder.
Who’s the monster?
“In this song, I am,” Malcolm admitted.
“‘I’m a monster. That’s what you told me, baby,'” his father, Tracey Brickhouse, blurted out, laughing as he disclosed some of the lyrics.
Alan Sacks, the boys’ manager, said a red vinyl version of their new song hasn’t even been pressed yet but it’s “selling off the hook” on their website.
The boys and their parents were in Manhattan Supreme Court Tuesday to get court permission to sign their Sony contract. A judge’s approval is necessary because they are minors.
After questioning the parents to make sure that they understood the contract and had set up trust accounts to lock up the boys’ earnings, Supreme Court Justice Carol Edmead approved the deal and urged the boys to spend their money wisely.
“No Porsches!” she told them.
Then she posed for pictures with them on the bench — Malcolm in the middle, in the judge’s chair, hamming it up by wielding the gavel and grinning broadly.
After court, the families were heading up to Sony headquarters for an afternoon lesson on how to use social media.
Under the contract approved in court, Sony has committed to producing at least two albums with Unlocking the Truth — and it has an option for four more records.
The group — which has played at gigs all over the country, including appearances at Coachella festival in California and opening for Guns N’ Roses — is promised an advance of $60,000 for the first recording.
The second record could net them an advance as much as $350,000.
If Sony sticks with them for all six albums, the kids could be raking in as much as $1.7 million.
After recording their first single, the boys will be preparing for an Aug. 9 appearance at the Heavy Montreal Festival where headliners include Metallica and Slayer.
In the fall, the boys are all entering the eighth grade at different middle schools in Brooklyn and supplementing those studies with tutors when they are on tour.
In addition, they have a book coming out around Christmas on how they got started and they’re participating in a documentary about their experiences.
The upcoming book to be issued by G.P. Putnam Sons Books for Young Readers will be written with Charisse Jones, who co-wrote the memoir from American Ballet Theatre soloist Misty Copeland called “Life in Motion.”
