‘We either fight for the language to be revived or it’s gonna die’ … Alien Weaponry (L-R): Tūranga Morgan-Edmonds, Lewis de Jong, Henry de Jong. Photograph: Piotr Kwasnik
Author: Matt Mills article, please click here.
New Zealand was a war zone in the mid-1800s. On one side were the British and the colonial government, craving a stranglehold on more of the country’s land. On the other were the indigenous Māori people, fighting to preserve tino rangatiratanga: their sovereignty and self-determination.
On 29 April 1864, the British invaded Pukehinahina, also known as Gate Pā. Despite being grossly outnumbered, the Māori fended off the attackers using concealed trenches and guerrilla tactics. It was a fleeting victory in a war that, ultimately, led to the confiscation of 3m acres of Māori land.
Niel de Jong used to take his young sons, Henry and Lewis, on road trips past Pukehinahina. Half Dutch and half Māori, he told them how their great-great-great-grandfather fought and died there to protect indigenous freedoms. On other outings he showed them Hatupatu’s Rock – where myth says a young boy was magically shielded from an attacking bird-woman – and Lake Rotoiti, home of their Māori ancestors.
Today, Henry and Lewis are, respectively, the 21-year-old drummer and 19-year-old singer/guitarist of Alien Weaponry, a groove metal trio completed by bassist Tūranga Morgan-Edmonds (who amicably replaced longtime member Ethan Trembath in 2020). Their tracks are sung in the Māori language, and fold the De Jongs’ musical schooling and heritage into a soundscape that’s folkloric yet vicious. On new album Tangaroa, Īhenga honours the explorer of the same name, who discovered and named Lake Rotoiti, while Ahi Kā recalls Auckland’s council burning a Māori village to the ground to “beautify” the city for Elizabeth II’s visit in 1952. As Lewis says, celebrating and preserving the Māori culture will always be inherent to the band: “Māori aren’t treated the same as others in New Zealand and, until that changes, we’re not finished.”
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