Tween metal band Unlocking the Truth made headlines when they landed a record deal with Sony worth $1.7 million, and then made headlines again, when they announced that they were walking away from the deal and self-releasing their music. The deal was put together by their manager Alan Sacks, pictured above with the band, who in addition to being a co-creator on popular 70s sitcom Welcome Back Kotter, was also responsible for helping launch the careers of massive pop acts like Demi Lovato and the Jonas Brothers.
But, when Unlocking the Truth walked away from their record deal, they also walked away from Alan Sacks. Sacks spoke to our favorite young metal interviewer, Elliot from Little Punk People and revealed he was none too happy with how the relationship fell apart:
"I'm not [working with Unlocking the Truth]. It was a great experience, I had a great time with them. I did an awful lot. We went to Bonaroo, I got them on Bonaroo, Coachella. I got them on tour with Marilyn Manson, I got them on the Warped Tour. I got them a record deal, a book deal, a merchandise deal. What else did I get them? I got them a movie"
"And, in fact, the movie is going to up in Manhattan, here on June 24th and you could see my relationship with them. I love them, and I felt that we were family. They came here all the time, and we talked about their planning. I got them a deal with Beats, I got them a deal with… I don't even remember anymore. I got them on Jimmy Fallon, Stephen Colbert, all this press, it was ridiculous. This was without any music. I got them Johnny K. from Disturbed to produce them.
"But, for some reason, I don't even know… the parents didn't think I was doing a good enough job. They didn't want me on the team anymore. No one ever sought to call me. The boys didn't call me, they were like my grandkids. They would come to my house in LA and sleep over. They never called me to say they're sorry this was happening. Their parents never called me, the attorney never called me. Nobody on the team ever told me that they didn't want me anymore. It was heartbreaking."
Sacks later added "I didn't like the way it ended. I didn't like their values. I didn't like that the idea that nobody even thought to call me to say 'we're sorry this happened.' But you know, I learned and moved on. I'm okay, I'm fine."
It's odd that the band nor their parents never contacted Sacks to sever ties, at least according to him. The folks at Little Punk People noted to us that Sacks found out he was fired when the album producer called him and asked why he wasn't sitting in on studio sessions anymore and Sacks didn't even know the sessions were booked. Here is the full interview. The bit about Unlocking the Truth comes in around 4:18
[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9kdK65FlPCQ[/youtube]
The documentary Sacks talks about is called Breaking a Monster and early reviews show that it is quite the look into the world of the band for the last year. Here's a clip:
[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_y_uFoSuCio[/youtube]
