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Troy Rawhiti-Connell talks to alien weapons about LIving and creating as Maori and the toxicity of social media.
It’s a Friday morning in Tāmaki Makauau, when Lewis de Jong and Tūranga Morgan-Edmonds of Northland’s metal band Alien Armanry join our zoom call. They are on the tour bus, elsewhere on Earth, at another time. “We are in Houston, Texas,” they announce as if they were on the Tourism Council. The voice of bassist Tūranga sounds high like a plane while vocalist Lewis Meerkats below with a quick “Yeehaw!”
Alien weapons are becoming much more serious than a Twangy greeting. They were those “reo maori metals” dating back well before Covid Times, enough time to challenge the statements of novelty or tokenism. They recorded three complete albums, were the subjects of an acclaimed and long -term documentaryand touched the largest and most demanding stages of the world festival. All this, and they are still young – andARLY-20S Young.
The band members are also light -skinned maori, all three. Lewis and his older brother Henry (drums) heard variations of “You don’t look like Maori”, at least from songs like ‘Urutaa ‘ first appeared on Youtube in 2016, two years before the launch of YouThe debut album.
New album Te rā It is the technically most complex and musical album of the Alien Weenery canon, with a Clara Whakapapa back to the most important band in Lewis’s life, American Groove Metallers Lamb of God. ‘Crown’ E ‘Bad moko ‘ Rumble through the speakers like the sun, Māui promised humble in ancient legends. Put these songs in a playlist with Peak Metallica, Sepultura and Trivium, and they would sound at home. Lamb of God, vocalist Randy Blythe invited in ‘Taniwha ‘lending his signature shouts and a narration to relax the blood: “Now you die under the shadow of the long white cloud.”
All over Te rāThe list of tracks, these so tāne open upon living and creating as a maori, and maintaining their mental health under control while social media creates and does not create reality as fast as fingers can cause cross -cross. These dynamic tensions between youth and maturity, te to the maori and te to pākehā, and the goodness and toxicity of social media, gave us a basis for Kōrero.
The Spinoff: So ‘Crown’The opening range of te rā. His first two albums started with another race pace. This, you decided to explode the speakers of all.
Tūranga: There was a time when we thought: “We want to start similarly to the others? “I think we he did. We had the music, a good opening track that did this kind of accumulation thing. Our producer Josh Wilbur has always lovedCrown ‘ – It was one of your favorites during the recording process, so we were like “ok, let’s just beat”. It is also one of two bilingual songs. It was an option to open the album in both languages you are an LP listener, side B also starts with the other bilingual track, which is’Taniwha ‘.
In being a bilingual band, Lewis, you sing about “Culture For Profit” in ‘Crown’. How artists and entrepreneurs Maori, how did you sail the sale of your art? Have you ever had any hōhā?
Lewis: I always try to be aware of doing things correctly through the right methods. We have everything checked twice and proof. It’s not as simple as just writing the lyrics and saying “Oh, yes, there’s a sweet song – there’s Maori.”
Tūranga: Like many Maori things, alien weaponry is an effort of the community. When the album is released, take a look at this thanks list. Some of them are practical, like the people who give us our guitars and other things, and then you have people like Rōpata Taylor, Shoutout, a Whanaunga of mine who took all the lyrics and gave the summary. No ‘Bad moko ‘ Music video, it was the first time we had a Maori director. We had a tōhunga of Tā Moko to make sure the look was well. There is a lot to ensure that Tikanga is in mind, first.
Lewis, ‘1000 Friends’ This is not the first time you have gone after the suspension of social media. What worries you about it?
Lewis: I understand it as a marketing tool, but I feel it is a recipe for people to feel like shit and compared to other people’s alleged lives. But obviously it is not what their lives are like. It’s just their portrait. I am not against social media as such. I am against some of the results and the mental health problems this can cause. When you click on the comments, they are people saying shit to each other that they would have never say to each other in real life.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r-2gkj25lqe
Tūranga, you are basically an influencer. How does this resonate with you?
Tūranga: I have a very solid foundation to be able to create freely without taking all the things Lewis is talking, and so many people not. People should be cool only with each other, but people are not. This is the sad reality, and if you can’t invade it is a dangerous place. Social media is an amazing way to share our culture with people who would never absorb it. My comments section is a rare breath of fresh air, because otherwise Lewis is right. I resonate totally with ‘1000 friends’.
This leads us to ‘Hanging for a topic ‘ E ‘I blame myself ‘. In their three albums, there are songs “Soft Sucks”. They are really raw. Lewis, how are you affected by these feelings while writing and recorded?
Lewis: Most of the time, I feel that people expect you to be “you should be so happy all the time you can do it, you must be nothing but happy.” Well, sometimes I’m unhappy and yes, I want to write songs about it. No problem being not positive and happy all the time. It is simply not realistic. But when you channel it in art, you are still creating something positive.
I always think that after writing songs like this, I have people going, “Oh my God, are you okay?” I’m fine, I wrote the song. I let out this thing. At the end of the day, I am still a Fulla young. I have tried some things, but I still have a lot of learning, shit to find out in my own head and my own life. Deepening in these places is better than just feeling a shit.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PyMDUZV4ZXY
Before he died, Kingi Tuheitia said, “Just be Maori all day, every day.” What is it like to be Maori in your daily life?
Tūranga: For someone like me, it’s all over my body. It’s a little less hidden than it was before. I spent all these years by presenting themselves as the usual light -skinned maori, people going, “Are you, is that?” So everything was boiled down to the way you loaded yourself, when you follow certain aspects of Tikanga. We realized this a lot on tour, outside the usual boundaries of te to Maori, the main things like Manaakitanga, Whanaungatanga. In America, you realize the lack of this [aside from] The Navajo culture. You would think it’s being good, good habits, ethics, I think.
Lewis: Having a sense of humility. There is a lot of ego in America, much “I’m better than you, I’m richer than you.” Shit no Slide when you return home. People said, “Listen to their elders, shut up, humble.” I am always thinking, “What would my whānau think about what I’m doing now? Would they be proud of me or disappointed?”
Alien Armament’s new album, Te Rā, is now out
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