Remember the Heene family, who famously hoaxed the world three years ago in the now-infamous “Balloon Boy” incident? The latest chapter in this saga involves the “Heene Boyz,” a heavy metal band fronted by none-other than 9-year-old Falcon Heene.
In 2009, then-6-year-old Falcon Heene was at the center of an elaborate hoax staged by his fame-hungry parents, Mayumi Iizuka and Richard Heene. In a bid to get a reality show (or something), the Heenes claimed that a strange weather balloon of Richard’s invention had been loosed from its tether with his young son inside. Police, national news, everyone got involved, and it was later revealed that little Falcon was hiding at home, much to the Heene patriarch’s relief.
The story seemed off for a few reasons, culminating in Falcon outing his dad’s intentions on national television, saying that the incident was “for a show.”
Just three years later, the Heenes are seemingly back to exploiting their children again. The now-9-year-old Falcon fronts a heavy metal band called the “Heene Boyz,” (read: least metal-sounding band name ever) accompanied by his 12-year-old brother Ryo on drums and his 13-year-old brother Bradford on guitar. Sporting dramatically longer hair and black t-shirts, the “Heene Boyz” sing about the pressing concerns of 9-year-old children in America, including “playing in the park” and “World of Warcraft,” except that it’s totally metal.
“What do we do? Hang out in the park/Joey‘s out playing in the dark/Oh my God — bored out of my mind/Adults don‘t treat kids so effin’ kind.”
Adorable.
The “Heene Boyz” have their own website, where patriarch Richard’s influence is readily apparent. The bio brags of Falcon Heene, who was “born with an unusually high pitch voice that is unique and adds to the metal sound of the band,” and the band’s “many appearances on television that include two times on Wife Swap.” It calls them “the world’s youngest metal band,” and makes mysterious mention of being “in the news for their storm chase adventures.”
You can download their album, book them for a performance, sign up for a mailing list, and even buy t-shirts.
Spend some time in the photo gallery, too. There are several strange shots of Falcon in a folder called “Candy Cane photo shoot” in which the 9-year-old applies sunblock to a young woman in a sexy bikini, with captions like “I’m your sugar cane, come walk with me!”
No words. Here’s the “World of Warcraft” single from the “Heene Boyz”:
BONUS: Apparently, the Heene bros. rap ambitions didn’t work out in 2009, hence the genre shift: