They may not be old enough to see an R-rated movie without a parent, but that doesn’t mean they can’t rock out.
With gigs at this year’s Coachella Festival in California and opening for metal heavyweights Guns N’ Roses, three black eighth-graders—guitarist Malcolm Brickhouse and bassist Alec Atkins, both 13, and drummer Jarad Dawkins, 12—who make up Unlocking the Truth, have just signed a record deal with Sony that could bring the Brooklyn, N.Y., trio as much as $1.7 million, according to the New York Daily News.
According to the News, the deal guarantees the trio two albums with a “$60,000 advance on their first recording.”
“The second record could net them an advance as much as $350,000,” the News reports.
If the venture proves to be a success, Sony can pick up the group’s options, bringing in as much as $1.7 million for as many as six albums.
Not bad, considering the boys were simply jamming in Washington Square Park in 2012 when Eric Clapton’s drummer discovered them. Welcome Back, Kotter co-creator Alan Sacks manages the group, and the News notes that the trio has a documentary in the works and a book due out around Christmas.
Also on The Root: “Why Can’t Black Kids Play Heavy Metal?”
Read more at the New York Daily News.