Alien Weaponry - The young, talented band comprising three rangatahi who are making their mark on the New Zealand music scene with their unique heavy metal music with a te reo Māori twist.
The Online News team was privileged to have Lewis De Jong (13), Henry De Jong (15) and Ethan Trembath (13) visit Māori Television to talk about their recent success, their passion for the Māori language and their aspirations for the near future.
Brothers Henry and Lewis, who are of Ngāti Pikiao and Ngāti Tuara descent, spent most of their younger days growing up in Auckland where they attended Te Kura Kaupapa Māori o Maungarongo. Ethan, on the other hand, hails from the small Northland town of Waipū.
Just recently, the boys were awarded a $10,000 grant from New Zealand on Air, which will go towards producing and completing the video for their song, "Rū ana te Whenua". They are the youngest recipients ever to receive the grant.
In an earlier interview with Alien Weaponry, they said, "It's been a huge boost to us. We started working with record producer Tom Larkin (who is also the drummer for Shihad) earlier in the year and have a couple of tracks recorded for our debut album. The funding is going to help big time in getting Rū Ana Te Whenua finished and a video shot so we can bring our sound to the general public."
Alien Weaponry is working alongside Shihad drummer Tom Larkin to record their debut album which is set to release next year.
Te Kāea will also bring more on this story tonight at 5:30pm.