Alien Weaponry bassist, Tūranga Morgan-Edmonds, is featured in a new interview with Finland’s Chaoszine discussing the band’s new album, Te Rā. Check it out below.
Edmonds on Alien Weaponry being regarded as ambassadors for New Zealand and Māori culture:
“We try not to think about ourselves as ambassadors too much because sometimes that comes with a lot of pressure. We are aware of the reach and the importance of what we can do with our music for our culture, for awareness and education. When we share it all over the world we can bring it home to our own people. For example, we were told growing up here (in New Zealand), ‘Nobody cares about your language, nobody cares about your people outside of your own people.’ Every time we go on tour, we have people singing our songs back at us in Māori; it proves them wrong. When we play the shows we get a lot of messages from Māori back here that say, ‘You made me sort of realize how important it is to maintain our language and our culture and our traditions.’ For us, that’s really a driving force with what we do.”
BraveWords spoke with Edmonds shortly after Alien Weaponry’s recent North American tour supporting Kerry King. We discussed the new band’s new album, Te Rā, but kicked off the conversation with a look back at touring with Slayer’s iconic guitarist.
“It was a great way to kick off the year,” Edmonds says of the tour itself. “I think that’s what we were most stoked about, getting the tour off the bat. Since COVID there’s been so much shit in the mix, so we’ve essentially been getting a six week tour once a year, which has been a shame. So starting the year off with a six week tour knowing that we’re going to have more this year was awesome. We’ve finally caught up to the backlog COVID had created. It was also very special for us because it was with Kerry King. Unlike some tours where it’s agents and management just organizing opening acts and whatever, Kerry had specifically asked for us. That meant a lot to us. Even in those moments where the crowd wasn’t interested at all in what we were doing, our minds were like ‘It doesn’t really matter because we were asked to be here by the man himself.'”
“Some of the shows were amazing; shout out to New York and Albuquerque because they were off the rails. Los Angeles, too. It was also awesome for us to learn. We’re a young band; I’m 25 and I’m the oldest. Kerry King has been touring longer than any of us have been alive, which is insane, and you see it on the road. You see his expertise and what he does. He’s the headline act and his soundcheck is 15 minutes. We’re the first band, we play for half-an-hour, and our soundcheck is longer than our set because we haven’t fine-tuned those things that someone like Kerry King has. He gets up there, plays one song, and he’s good.”
“A good example of this is the show we had in Seattle. We played in Spokane the night before and the bus froze because it was the dead of winter, so we were supposed to arrive in Seattle at 7:00am for load-in and we arrived at 3:30pm. That’s normally when Kerry gets on to do his soundcheck. We figured it was a No Soundcheck Day, but we’re used to that from playing festivals. Shockingly, at 5:30pm when we would normally have soundcheck, we got the call. It turns out Kerry said ‘I don’t need a soundcheck, give it to the other bands.’ It’s moments like that which are so special. They had the whole stage done and ready in two hours so that we could still get our stuff set up. That’s one of the things that’s really awesome about touring with someone like that. The humility, which is awesome to see from someone that has an aura, so to say, and is a significant individual in the world of heavy metal. Kerry King is a very gracious, very humble man.”
Watch for the complete BraveWords interview, coming soon.
On March 28, Alien Weaponry released their heaviest, most powerful and mature offering to date, Te Rā, via Napalm Records.
Alien Weaponry have solidified themselves as one of the greatest young metal bands of their generation with renewed musical tenacity and crucial messaging. Since releasing their acclaimed debut Tū (2018), the band have been lauded for their kinetic presence and sound, as well as their vital blend of culturally profound lyricism in both English and te reo Māori, the indigenous language of New Zealand.
With their third full-length album, Alien Weaponry expand on their hallmark messages of cultural, societal and environmental resilience while delivering their most massive-sounding, focused musical output ever. Te Rā is a bold, unwavering cry for a future in which we can all take part in the legacy of peoples like the Māori and others all around us – people who, if they aren’t seen, most certainly need to be heard! Taken as a whole, Te Rā grapples with what it’s like to be caught in the pull of divergent cultures – not just for the descendants of colonized people, but for all of us.
On Te Rā, listeners can hear the band doubling-down on the aggression in the verses before applying temperance, especially in the case of “Taniwha”, a death metal-leaning banger featuring the particularly raw aforementioned guest vocal from Randy Blythe. Lyrically, there’s a noticeable tilt towards despondency, hopelessness, and frustration on Te Rā. While bassist Tūranga Porowini Morgan-Edmonds’ lyrics in Māori on songs like “Tama-nui-te-rā” and “Ponaturi” draw from the themes of history, battle lore and mysticism that made the first two albums so rich, frontman/guitarist Lewis Raharuhi de Jong’s English-language lyrics illustrate the impact when culture collides with disenfranchisement day to day. “Crown” and “Hanging by a Thread” take us into the headspace where struggle pushes people to the brink of desperation, while on “Blackened Sky” and “1000 Friends”, Lewis addresses universal woes like the looming threat of World War III and the damaging effects of social media. On album closer “Te Kore”, Tūranga dives into primordial nothingness at the root of the Māori origin story, while on “Mau Moko”, he finds the middle ground between these perspectives. As the lyrics honor the traditional Māori practice of face tattooing, they also delve into the social costs of maintaining customs that are at-odds with dominant cultural norms.
Te Rā is available in the following formats:
– 1-LP Deluxe Gatefold Splatter Vinyl w/ 20” Booklet, Patch, Slipmat – Napalm mail order only, limited to 300
– 1-LP Gatefold Marbled Vinyl – Napalm mail order only, limited to 300
– 1-LP Gatefold Black Vinyl
– 1-CD Digisleeve
– Digital Album
Order here.
Te Rā tracklisting:
“Crown”
“Mau Moko”
“1000 Friends”
“Hanging by a Thread”
“Tama-nui-te-rā”
“Myself to Blame”
“Taniwha” (feat. Randy Blythe)
“Blackened Sky”
“Te Riri o Tāwhirimātea”
“Ponaturi”
“Te Kore”
“Taniwha” (feat. Randy Blythe)
“1000 Friends” video:
“Mau Moko” video:
Alien Weaponry is:
Henry Te Reiwhati de Jong – Drums, Backing vocals
Lewis Raharuhi de Jong – Guitars, Lead vocals
Tūranga Porowini Morgan-Edmonds – Bass, Backing vocals
(Photo – Frances Carter)
BraveWords Records… home for Paul Di’Anno’s Warhorse, The Chris Slade Timeline, Rhett Forrester & Rob Robbins, Prophets of Addiction, Jack Starr, Crimson Glory, ASKA and Lillian Axe.
Make sure you are following the label on Facebook. >> https://www.facebook.com/bravewordsrecords
(Photo – Frances Carter)
The post ALIEN WEAPONRY On Sharing Their Māori Culture Through Music – “That’s Really A Driving Force With What We Do” (Video) appeared first on BraveWords - Where Music Lives.
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Edmonds on Alien Weaponry being regarded as ambassadors for New Zealand and Māori culture:
“We try not to think about ourselves as ambassadors too much because sometimes that comes with a lot of pressure. We are aware of the reach and the importance of what we can do with our music for our culture, for awareness and education. When we share it all over the world we can bring it home to our own people. For example, we were told growing up here (in New Zealand), ‘Nobody cares about your language, nobody cares about your people outside of your own people.’ Every time we go on tour, we have people singing our songs back at us in Māori; it proves them wrong. When we play the shows we get a lot of messages from Māori back here that say, ‘You made me sort of realize how important it is to maintain our language and our culture and our traditions.’ For us, that’s really a driving force with what we do.”
BraveWords spoke with Edmonds shortly after Alien Weaponry’s recent North American tour supporting Kerry King. We discussed the new band’s new album, Te Rā, but kicked off the conversation with a look back at touring with Slayer’s iconic guitarist.
“It was a great way to kick off the year,” Edmonds says of the tour itself. “I think that’s what we were most stoked about, getting the tour off the bat. Since COVID there’s been so much shit in the mix, so we’ve essentially been getting a six week tour once a year, which has been a shame. So starting the year off with a six week tour knowing that we’re going to have more this year was awesome. We’ve finally caught up to the backlog COVID had created. It was also very special for us because it was with Kerry King. Unlike some tours where it’s agents and management just organizing opening acts and whatever, Kerry had specifically asked for us. That meant a lot to us. Even in those moments where the crowd wasn’t interested at all in what we were doing, our minds were like ‘It doesn’t really matter because we were asked to be here by the man himself.'”
“Some of the shows were amazing; shout out to New York and Albuquerque because they were off the rails. Los Angeles, too. It was also awesome for us to learn. We’re a young band; I’m 25 and I’m the oldest. Kerry King has been touring longer than any of us have been alive, which is insane, and you see it on the road. You see his expertise and what he does. He’s the headline act and his soundcheck is 15 minutes. We’re the first band, we play for half-an-hour, and our soundcheck is longer than our set because we haven’t fine-tuned those things that someone like Kerry King has. He gets up there, plays one song, and he’s good.”
“A good example of this is the show we had in Seattle. We played in Spokane the night before and the bus froze because it was the dead of winter, so we were supposed to arrive in Seattle at 7:00am for load-in and we arrived at 3:30pm. That’s normally when Kerry gets on to do his soundcheck. We figured it was a No Soundcheck Day, but we’re used to that from playing festivals. Shockingly, at 5:30pm when we would normally have soundcheck, we got the call. It turns out Kerry said ‘I don’t need a soundcheck, give it to the other bands.’ It’s moments like that which are so special. They had the whole stage done and ready in two hours so that we could still get our stuff set up. That’s one of the things that’s really awesome about touring with someone like that. The humility, which is awesome to see from someone that has an aura, so to say, and is a significant individual in the world of heavy metal. Kerry King is a very gracious, very humble man.”
Watch for the complete BraveWords interview, coming soon.
On March 28, Alien Weaponry released their heaviest, most powerful and mature offering to date, Te Rā, via Napalm Records.
Alien Weaponry have solidified themselves as one of the greatest young metal bands of their generation with renewed musical tenacity and crucial messaging. Since releasing their acclaimed debut Tū (2018), the band have been lauded for their kinetic presence and sound, as well as their vital blend of culturally profound lyricism in both English and te reo Māori, the indigenous language of New Zealand.
With their third full-length album, Alien Weaponry expand on their hallmark messages of cultural, societal and environmental resilience while delivering their most massive-sounding, focused musical output ever. Te Rā is a bold, unwavering cry for a future in which we can all take part in the legacy of peoples like the Māori and others all around us – people who, if they aren’t seen, most certainly need to be heard! Taken as a whole, Te Rā grapples with what it’s like to be caught in the pull of divergent cultures – not just for the descendants of colonized people, but for all of us.
On Te Rā, listeners can hear the band doubling-down on the aggression in the verses before applying temperance, especially in the case of “Taniwha”, a death metal-leaning banger featuring the particularly raw aforementioned guest vocal from Randy Blythe. Lyrically, there’s a noticeable tilt towards despondency, hopelessness, and frustration on Te Rā. While bassist Tūranga Porowini Morgan-Edmonds’ lyrics in Māori on songs like “Tama-nui-te-rā” and “Ponaturi” draw from the themes of history, battle lore and mysticism that made the first two albums so rich, frontman/guitarist Lewis Raharuhi de Jong’s English-language lyrics illustrate the impact when culture collides with disenfranchisement day to day. “Crown” and “Hanging by a Thread” take us into the headspace where struggle pushes people to the brink of desperation, while on “Blackened Sky” and “1000 Friends”, Lewis addresses universal woes like the looming threat of World War III and the damaging effects of social media. On album closer “Te Kore”, Tūranga dives into primordial nothingness at the root of the Māori origin story, while on “Mau Moko”, he finds the middle ground between these perspectives. As the lyrics honor the traditional Māori practice of face tattooing, they also delve into the social costs of maintaining customs that are at-odds with dominant cultural norms.
Te Rā is available in the following formats:
– 1-LP Deluxe Gatefold Splatter Vinyl w/ 20” Booklet, Patch, Slipmat – Napalm mail order only, limited to 300
– 1-LP Gatefold Marbled Vinyl – Napalm mail order only, limited to 300
– 1-LP Gatefold Black Vinyl
– 1-CD Digisleeve
– Digital Album
Order here.
Te Rā tracklisting:
“Crown”
“Mau Moko”
“1000 Friends”
“Hanging by a Thread”
“Tama-nui-te-rā”
“Myself to Blame”
“Taniwha” (feat. Randy Blythe)
“Blackened Sky”
“Te Riri o Tāwhirimātea”
“Ponaturi”
“Te Kore”
“Taniwha” (feat. Randy Blythe)
“1000 Friends” video:
“Mau Moko” video:
Alien Weaponry is:
Henry Te Reiwhati de Jong – Drums, Backing vocals
Lewis Raharuhi de Jong – Guitars, Lead vocals
Tūranga Porowini Morgan-Edmonds – Bass, Backing vocals
(Photo – Frances Carter)
BraveWords Records… home for Paul Di’Anno’s Warhorse, The Chris Slade Timeline, Rhett Forrester & Rob Robbins, Prophets of Addiction, Jack Starr, Crimson Glory, ASKA and Lillian Axe.
Make sure you are following the label on Facebook. >> https://www.facebook.com/bravewordsrecords
(Photo – Frances Carter)
The post ALIEN WEAPONRY On Sharing Their Māori Culture Through Music – “That’s Really A Driving Force With What We Do” (Video) appeared first on BraveWords - Where Music Lives.
Continue reading...