ALIEN WEAPONRY: REVIVING A WARRIOR CULTURE THROUGH METAL MUSIC.
Brothers Lewis ( vocalist and guitarist ) and Henry de Jong ( drummer ) and Ethan Trembath ( bassist ) are sharing their Måori heritage and culture by interweaving their native language and historical stories into insane thrash metal songs through their band Alien Weaponry.
Alien Weaponry was founded in 2010 by the de Jong brothers who were 8 and 10 years old at the time. Their father and now manager Niel de Jong nurtured both their musical talent and interest in Måori culture. The boys were often told stories about significant pieces of land while on road trips all while playing trivia games about bands like Metallica, Rage Against the Machine, Lamb of God, and Pantera.
The boys were enrolled in a Māori immersion primary school — known as a Kura Kaupapa — where they learned to speak fluent Te Reo Māori, the language of the country’s indigenous people.
Since the European colonization in the 19th century, the Måori people have been battling a deep sense of cultural shame known as “Whakamå”. The term refers to an intense feeling of shame, inferiority, and disconnection. It’s has gotten so bad that the native language is being forgotten. In the 1980’s New Zeland saw an uptick in Måori culture that helped revitalize the language, but by 2013 there has been a decline that shows only about 21 percent of Måori people speak their native language. The boys are doing their part by inspiring young people to learn about Mãori culture and thus keeping “Te Reo” alive through savage breakdowns and mind-melting chants.
Since their debut album, “Tū” released back in 2018 which was named one of the top albums of the year these guys have been busy touring the globe with some of the largest names in metal. I was lucky enough to catch one of their shows with Black Label Society here in South Florida. To be honest I wasn’t sure how the American metal fans were going to react to them but I must say I was surprised!
The boys were tasked with starting the night off, and I can’t begin to imagine the pressure of not only being the greenhorns on the tour but being 8k miles from home and opening for metal veterans like Black Label Society but these boys owned the night. Older brother Henry de Jong tapped into his warrior heritage and hit the stage performing the haka a ceremonial war dance in Mãori culture before climbing behind his drums. At first, the crowd had no idea what was going on but quickly got sucked into the rhythmically shouting and stomping and now the stage and crowd were set for a wild ride.
By the end of their set, the crowd was amped for The Black Dahlia Murder and Black Label Society. Alien Weaponry is a band that will be making waves in the metal scene across the globe for a long time mark my words, and if you have a chance to see them live, do it!
Full Photo Set Below
