Teen rockers Alien Weaponry to attack Europe

At the moment it's studying for NCEA exams in between touring the country, then putting the finishing touches to their first album before playing at some of Europe's biggest festivals for Waipu teen thrash metal band Alien Weaponry.

The band - Henry de Jong (17) drums, brother Lewis de Jong (15) guitar/vocals and Ethan Trembath (15) bass - have been together for more than five years and have achieved major success so far in New Zealand.

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They've won the national finals of both Smokefreerockquest, and Pacifica Beats; toured the country several times, supported some of the biggest names in metal, and recorded the country's first te reo metal song - Urutaa (Plague) - and been nominated for a Silver Scroll for their third single, Rū Ana Te Whenua (The Earth Trembles).

But it's been the band's goal since its members were just 12 and 14 years old to play major European festivals before they are out of their teens.

That's now a step closer after they signed a three-year management contract with Berlin-based music agency Das Maschine to represent them in Europe and other parts of the world, and they already have four European dates lined up.

The deal came about after the band was approached directly by one festival, which prompted them to explore options for making a European festival tour.

"The biggest hurdle for us in NZ is the on-the-ground communication in Europe," Neil de Jong, who manages the band in NZ and Australia, said.

"So we began looking around for who could help us promote the band over there and add more dates to the trip."

Das Maschine has two decades of music management and a wealth of contacts and expertise behind them, Mr de Jong said.

Co-founder Nico Meckelnburg has worked with European metal giants Kreator and Amon Amarth and, based in Germany, which is arguably the centre of the global heavy metal scene, the agency is ideally placed to take Alien Weaponry on to the international stage, Mr de Jong said.

"We have had great feedback from promoters so far," Mr Meckelnburg said.
"And we are confident we can add a significant number of shows to the [four] dates already confirmed."

Oliver Kraemer, from Das Maschine, said Alien Weaponry has the potential to have a great impact on the worldwide music scene.

"Not only do they deliver great songs and an engaging live performance, but embracing their Maori whakapapa and making their culture part of their act makes them stand out among other bands - both inside and outside their genre," Mr Kraemer said.

Alien Weaponry is in the middle of a tour to promote Rū Ana Te Whenua (The Earth Trembles), which has had over 815,000 views on Facebook and 555,000 YouTube views. It is also being played on radio stations around the world. The European festival dates will be announced by the end of the year.

In the meantime it's NCEA exams for Henry de Jong and Trembath, then in December, they will be back in the studio recording the remaining tracks for their album, to be released early 2018.