RŪ ANA TE WHENUA:
ALIEN WEAPONRY SHAKE EUROPE

When New Zealand band Alien Weaponry found out they’d be playing the world’s biggest metal music festival, the three teenagers “lost their shit”.

Flash forward nine months and brothers Henry and Lewis de Jong and friend Ethan Trembath are onstage at Germany’s Wacken Open Air festival, with thousands of metal fans shouting their Māori lyrics and screaming for more.

RNZ Music followed Alien Weaponry's journey as they made their way across Europe, playing small gigs and giant festivals to legions of loyal fans.

The band on episode 1:

Before the band left for Europe, they had no idea how they'd be received. "I think the most eye-opening thing up until we left New Zealand, was our album launch party," says bassist Ethan.

There were 400 people there; a drop in the ocean compared to the thousands they'd be performing for at Wacken.

Although the band are young – Henry (drums) is 18, Lewis (guitar, vocals) and Ethan are both 16 – they didn’t find success overnight.

Alien Weaponry began in 2010, when 10-year-old Henry and his 8-year-old brother, Lewis, decided to form a band. “We were just in the lounge pretty much jamming for the first couple of years,” says Henry.

After swapping around instruments for a while, Henry eventually ended up playing drums and Lewis guitar and vocals. A couple of years later they recruited their friend Ethan to play bass. He was 12.

Alien Weaponry’s first gig as a trio was at Henry’s high school, Bream Bay College, in the small Northland town of Ruakaka.

“That was kind of terrifying for me,” Ethan says, “I had all these parts I had to sing and stuff that I just didn't. I just froze there and I barely played, because it was so scary. I guess we’ve come quite a way.”

The band on episode 2:

Throughout the tour, Alien Weaponry were blown away by the passion of their European fans.

“It's kinda funny,” Henry says, “When you see someone in the crowd singing all the Māori lyrics and all the English lyrics, then you speak to them afterwards, and they barely speak any English. It's like ... wow man.

“You've got people who are on the opposite side of the world, who have taken the time to learn all these lyrics, and actually not only learn them, but understand what they mean,” he says.

It’s a point of pride for the band that they’re playing a part in promoting te reo Māori: “It's amazing to be part of that kind of movement, where people are making this effort to not only keep te reo alive, but keep it current as well. Not have it as this old language, which has no relevance today.”

The band on episode 3:

Sleep was a challenge for the band as they got used to life on the road.

Ethan got “way more sleep” than the de Jong boys, who were more inclined to go out partying. The bassist would get up to 11 hours a night “sleeping like a baby”, whereas Henry and Lewis, who are self-described insomniacs, would sometimes stumble back to their tent “no kidding, at six in the morning”.

Although nights out were fun, “When it was work time, it was work time. And it was like, head in the game,” Henry says.

Being filmed was challenging too: “Sometimes I'm having a shitty day, and I feel like I don't come across well,” Lewis says.

“You just feel like you're really gross, and sweaty and you're just like, ‘I don't really wanna appear on camera like this,’” Henry adds.

Luckily the band all got along well with director and cameraman Kent Belcher: “Kent was really cool to work with, he's really easy to get along with. He can take a joke … He's got some really messed up jokes, actually,” Henry says, laughing.

The band on episode 4:

“Metal festivals have the most open people, and the most calm and quiet,” according to a Metal Days’ festival worker, “We had a hippy festival before this, and metal people are much better than hippies.”

The band agrees: “Everyone's there to have a good time, no one's coming in with gang shit. No crap like that,” Lewis says.

Metal fans are also super passionate.“They’re really committed. They're fully metalheads … it means a lot to them,” Ethan says.

One fan became overwhelmed after seeing the band play in the UK: “I gave her a guitar pick,” Lewis says, “Because she was singing all the songs, word for word. I was like, ‘What a f***ing legend.’ So I jumped down and gave her a guitar pick and she starts crying.

“It's super humbling, but it's also super like ‘What the f***?’ You know?”

“It’s really cool to see someone that passionate about our music,” adds Henry, “Because not even we think our music is worth crying about!”

The band on episode 5:

Alien Weaponry’s Metal Days slot was a massive hit with the crowd, who formed a huge circle pit in front of the stage.

What’s a circle pit? “A form of violent, aggressive dancing or "slamming" during punk shows that stays within the confines of an open, circular area in the middle of the floor,” according to Urban Dictionary.

“Europeans really seem to know what they're doing when they're in the pit,” Ethan says.

Alien Weaponry will sometimes encourage a circle pit, but “they normally start themselves”.

“There's circle pits, and then there's wall of deaths,” Ethan says, “Which are usually things we start up … it doesn’t really occur naturally.”

“You split the crowd down the middle, at the centre of the stage,” Henry says, “And you get them to charge at each other, basically.”

It might sound dangerous but Ethan says mosh pits “seem to be a safe place in a lot of concerts”.

“I mean it's all fun, someone falls down, you always pull them up,” Henry says, “There's kind of this unspoken rule where everyone, in Europe especially, understands that.

“You're not gonna get stabbed at a metal show,” he says.

The band on episode 6:

After playing a “kick ass” show at Metal Days, the band felt confident ahead of their Wacken slot.

They’d always dreamed of playing at the long-running festival: “Since the boys were about 10 years old they’ve wanted to play at Wacken Open Air,” Henry and Lewis’ dad Niel de Jong says, “Amongst heavy metal fans it’s a pretty big deal.”

The festival takes place in the German village of Wacken, north-west of Hamburg. It runs for four days and close to 200 bands perform across nine stages. Around 85,000 people attend and the festival has sold out for 15 years in a row, usually before the bands are even announced.

“It’s pretty crazy. It’s basically a city,” Ethan says.

The band played on the ‘Wasteland’ stage, in an area billed as “the Middle Ages meet end times” alongside bands with names like Bloodsucking Zombies from Outer Space, Dirt A-Go-Go, Evil Invaders and Toxic Holocaust.

'Wasteland' is a post-apocalyptic-themed area devoted to ‘a possible future’ ruled by the festival’s ‘Wasteland Warriors’ – costumed characters reminiscent of the cast of Mad Max.

In nearby Wackinger Village, mead is served, knights, in full armour, go into battle, and artists from medieval rock, pagan metal and folk genres play.

The band on episode 7:

The band played Wacken at 10pm on Saturday, August 4, to a crowd of about 16 or 17 thousand.

“The stage manager said it was the largest crowd he’d ever seen on that stage. And he'd been running that stage for three years,” Henry says.

But the band were calm: “We don't get nervous anymore. We used to get nervous … It gives you more of a rush, before you go on stage,” Lewis says.

Although, Henry says, playing bigger shows does get the adrenaline going, and at Wacken he was “buzzing so hard, before [he] jumped on stage”.

In contrast, Ethan always “chills out” just before they go on stage: “I'm usually just sitting there, cross legged, while Lewis comes up to me trying to hype me up.”

The vibe of the crowd, as opposed to its size, is what affects how the guys feel before a show: “If the crowd’s like, ‘Woo! Let’s go!’ then we know it’s gonna be good. If they're lacklustre, if the crowd’s half-arsing it, it's not going to be a great performance,” Henry says.

Ethan is happy as long as one or two people are into it: “If there's a guy down the front, singing along, or he knows all of our words, that's always really cool to see. They’re always the ones you're giving the set list to at the end of the show”.

The band on episode 8:

Having been on the road together for three months, the group had their fair share of arguments. “I mean me and Henry are brothers, after all,” Lewis says.

“Yeah, I mean that's kind of inevitable, you know. You're trapped in a small space and sometimes everyone's really tired, you haven't had sleep for a long time. It's really hard to sleep in a van as well. So there were ... I guess just kind of pointless little arguments,” Henry says.

But for the most part it was good: “I think we did pretty damn well,” Henry says.

Seth, the band’s lighting technician “got angry” once at Wacken. “He's like, ‘Bro, I'm gonna punch you in the face if you don't shut up,’ and then that was it,” Ethan says, “That was all of his anger for the whole tour, all out at once … he doesn't get angry very often.”

The group say they can never remember what their arguments are about. “It's like, ‘Oh you're being a dick!’, ‘No you're a bigger dick!’” jokes Henry.

“You're the biggest, fattest dick in the world!” adds Ethan laughing.

The band on episode 9:

Bloodstock is a metal festival held in Derbyshire in England’s East Midlands. It’s been running since 2005 and has seen performances from bands including Slayer, Motorhead, Megadeth and Alice Cooper.

The four-day festival sees 120 bands perform across five stages to over 18,000 fans.

This year the bill included metal heavyweights Judas Priest, Suicidal Tendencies and Cannibal Corpse.

Was there anything different about playing in the UK? “It instantly started drizzling,” jokes Henry, “It seriously did though. Within half an hour of us being there, it was just grey skies and drizzle.”

There were some benefits to arriving in the UK though: “It was kind of refreshing to have a New Zealand big breakfast style thing at the hotel,” Ethan says.

And they got to eat fish and chips for the first time in ages.

“We still didn't find any good coffee there though,” Henry says.

The band on episode 10:

In addition to winning Best Rock Act, the band was also nominated for Album of the Year, Best Group and Best Māori Artist at the 2018 NZ Music Awards.

“Just getting those nominations was in itself really, really awesome,” Henry says, “And hearing people screaming in the audience was really fun. Even though we didn't get anything else, it was still super humbling to know people out there were so passionate about it,” Henry says.

They enjoyed the experience of playing at the awards too.

“It was pretty cool,” say Lewis, “It was definitely different, and lots of fun.”

The band put together a new (shorter) arrangement of their song ‘Kai Tangata’ especially for the awards, and were joined on the night by kapa haka group Ngā Puna o Waiorea.

“Having to arrange the song so that this kapa haka group could choreograph their thing with it was new. We went through a lot of practices,” Henry says.

The band was especially stoked that many of the Ngā Puna o Waiorea members were teenagers: “It was cool having those young kids … they were all in our age bracket. It was kinda like the young peoples’ performance, I guess,” Henry says.

North America: Alien Weaponry support Ministry

Just a couple of short months after returning from their life-changing journey through Europe, Alien Weaponry embarked on their first North American tour, supporting industrial metal veterans Ministry.

Henry, Lewis and Ethan ended up making friends with the band. “It was awesome,” Henry says.

He met Ministry founder Al Jourgensen, backstage “and he was like, ‘I f***ing love you guys, man.’”

“I remember standing behind them just watching them sound check,” adds Ethan, “And Al looks at me and he gives me this huge smile, and he comes up to me and gives me a handshake … introduced himself and it was fantastic.”

“He's actually looking pretty good for 60, considering the kind of life he’s had,” Lewis says, laughing, “He's one of those guys who looks scary and intimidating, but he's a really genuine guy.”

“Al's really good, not only with his composition,” Henry says, “But also with his stage presence. He just has an ability to get the crowd going.”

Looking forward to 2019

Alien Weaponry are touring Australia and New Zealand throughout March. Then it’s off abroad again for another summer of touring.

In May they head to the US to play a bunch of headline shows and festivals, then in June they return to Europe for another three-month stint.

“It's gonna be about six months of solid touring,” Henry says, excitement in his voice.

Alien Weaponry Tūmatauenga Tour: NZ dates

Thursday, March 21: Tauranga | Totara St

Friday, March 22: Hamilton | Altitude

Saturday, March 23: Auckland | Studio

Thursday, March 28: Dunedin | 50 Gorillas

Friday, March 29: Empire | Christchurch

Saturday, March 30: Wellington | CubaDupa

Rū Ana Te Whenua: Alien Weaponry shake Europe was produced by The Down Low Concept with funding from NZ On Air.

Documentaries:

Director of Photography/Director: Kent Belcher

Sound Engineers: Jeremy Ansell and Rangi Powick

Post Production Director/Editor: Mike Ogle

Articles:

Words: Alice Murray

Editing: Veronica Schmidt

Interviewer: Tony Stamp

Design: Scott Austin

Art direction: Dave Wright

Development: Van Veñegas