Alien Weaponry brings their immense sound from New Zealand to America and there is no looking back now. Brothers Henry and Lewis de Jong formed the band back in 2010 before they were even teenagers. The third member is Ethan Trembath. The trio bases a lot of their lyrics off of their Māori ancestry, which all three of them have. Most of their songs are also performed in the native language, te reo Māori. The band really took off last year and saw international success with the release of their debut album, ‘Tū’ via Napalm Records. The band received millions of streams within weeks and had their songs added to several popular playlists on Spotify. Soon, Sirius XM Liquid Metal turned their attention to them and their song “Kai Tangata” eventually made its way up to number on their weekly top song countdown, “The Devil’s Dozen”. You can check out the epic music video for it below along with another song below it. I’ve always enjoyed listening to bands that sing in other languages and these guys are no exception. I loved the comparison that Revolver made in their article about the band comparing them to Sepultura. It is honestly the best comparison I’ve seen for the band so far. This won’t be the first time that the band has been over here as they have appeared on Liquid Metal before with Jose Mangin hosting them. Following that, they went on a tour throughout North America with Ministry and Carpenter Brut. I heard from many people that the trio absolutely blew them away.
We had the opportunity to speak with vocalist Lewis de Jong at Epicenter Festival in Rockingham, North Carolina. We talked about the band singing in their native language Māori and what it means to them to keep the language alive. We also talk about the violence that took place in Christ Church, New Zealand and how it has affected them. Lewis also spoke about the bands time on tour with Ministry and getting to spend time at Al Jourgensen’s home. They also speak about their recent single on the Adult Swim Compilation and how they used that song to help advocate against changes that happened in New Zealand against Māori. To end the conversation he talks about the bands plan to release another single and video soon and working on the next Alien Weaponry album. You can watch the entire interview below.
