We started Alien Weaponry when we were 10 and 12 years old. We had no idea where it would end up – we were just kids who liked jamming and playing thrash metal. We (Henry and Lewis) attended a Kura Kaupapa Maori (total immersion Maori language school) when we were younger, and that gave us the inspiration to incorporate Te Reo Maori (the native language of New Zealand) into our songs.
Five years later, we're amazed at how things have gone – we won (NZ High School original music competitions) Smokefreerockquest and Smokefree Pacifica Beats in 2016, and we got to record some of our songs and make videos of them. The video for Rū Ana Te Whenua has had over a million views on Facebook and nearly 150,000 hits on YouTube.
In 2017, we won the APRA Maioha Award for our song Raupatu, and were also finalists in the New Zealand Music Awards. We signed a management contract with Das Maschine in Germany, and in 2018 we’ll be playing at some very cool European festivals including Wacken Open Air and MetalDays. Recently, we scored a deal with NAPALM Records, who will be distributing our album internationally – release date is set for 1 June 2018.
This campaign officially ended on 14 March. From 15 March, you can pre-order CD’s, vinyl, digital and T-shirts through Napalm.
EVERYONE who PRE-ORDERs the album will get exclusive access to two singles - HOLDING MY BREATH (released 15 March), and KAI TANGATA (out 11 May) via Napalm. All pre-sales will help the album to chart when it’s released, so make sure you SHARE THE NEWS with all your friends, whanau and fellow metalheads.
Let’s show the world that 3 teenagers from a tiny town in a tiny country at the end of the world, singing in their native language can have a top selling album that reaches out to people throughout the globe.
To everyone who has contributed to the campaign, nga mihi mo to tautoko rawe (thanks for your awesome support) – and keep your eye out here and on Facebook for news and updates.