Chords for Heavy New York-Alien Weaponry Interview

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_ _ _ [D] _ _ [C] _ _ _
_ Hey [A] everybody, it's Alex from Heavy New [Db] York.
We are at Irving Plaza in probably the worst [Db] possible location ever.
But a busy [A] sold out ministry show, that's what happens.
But we [B] are here with Ethan of Alien Weaponry.
Thank you so much for your time, Ethan.
My pleasure, Burr.
Yeah, you guys just played an awesome set.
Congratulations on all the success. Thanks, man.
I had lots of fun.
Yep, I had to pick myself up one of these.
Tu, [Bb] your latest record, which I believe means [Ab] for stand your ground, right?
[B] Yeah, well, Tu is kind of the Maori [D] word for, well, Etu is like rise.
[Gb] But _ _ Tu is actually Tu [B] Mataunga, but kind of abbreviated.
[Eb] So Tu Mataunga is kind of the Maori deity of war.
[A] Okay.
Yeah.
What I've noticed with [B] your music is that you incorporate a lot of what from your native
New Zealand culture, Maori culture, right?
And I've noticed that in the music.
Was this like an idea of what Alien Weaponry was about?
Did you want to start a metal band and then bring in Maori music? _
[Gb] Well, when we [D] first started off, I mean, I was, well, [Eb] Hinder and Lewis started the band
[Dm] when they were eight and ten.
And I joined when I was ten years old, two years [Gb] after.
_ [G] _ And [D] you know, we first started off [Eb] just writing plain [Fm] metal songs, all in English.
And it was kind of, [A] I wouldn't say an accident [F] that we started writing in [Gb] Te Reo Maori.
But _ it's pretty much [G] because we had some mates who were entering a competition that we [Eb] wanted to enter.
And the competition was [Bb] that you had [Dm] to kind of [G] incorporate your own culture [G] through the
language or instruments or dance or whatever, be it [Eb] Maori, _ _ [G] Samoan or Tongan or whatever it is.
[Eb] So yeah, we kind of thought, well, why not keep it metal and write in Te Reo Maori because
we know all [Gm] these really cool stories that _ Hinder and Lewis's dad has actually told us.
[Eb] So we did it and we weren't really expecting that much.
[G] And the response was insane and it has been ever [Eb] since.
So we just kept doing it.
I compared your [B] record a lot to what Sepultura did with their Brazilian culture, like with
the Roots record having their Brazilian tribal elements.
That's [Bb] something that I saw in your [A] music.
Now, I [B] know that you have a lot of concepts behind your songs.
I know that you have one particular song that's about the Boyd massacre, right?
And so do you think of these concepts and then write your music according to that?
Or do you have to throw a couple riffs down before the [Eb] lyrics and the concept comes? _
_ I mean, when we're writing [Bb] our songs, usually we'll write _ the music first, however the [Dm] song
feels to us.
[G] We write lyrics _ to kind of match the vibe of the song.
It changes all the time.
[Eb] But _ [B] that's the most common way.
[Gm] And I mean, yeah, we write songs [G] about Maori history [Eb]
and _ [Dm] even quite recent things [Gm] like
the Foreshore and [Dm] Seabed Act, which was like 2005, I think.
So, you know, [Eb] _ [G] not only that, but we also [Eb] write songs that _ _ are more [Bb] personal, like
Holding My Breath is a song that _ _ _ Lewis wrote about his social anxiety and [Eb] _
darkness and
depression and things like that.
So, [Fm] yeah.
_ _ [B] Now, I find it interesting, like with having the Maori culture in [Eb] your music and like having
these history lessons, are you trying to inform a listener about your culture?
Is that kind of the goal with Alien?
[B] Yeah, man, that's part [Gm] of it.
I mean, that's a big part of it, of course.
I mean, we're trying to share some of these cool stories _ because, you know, a lot of them
are deemed shameful, [Dm] _
especially in New Zealand.
[Eb] So, you know, kind of think [Cm] about, you know, kind of some dodgy stuff happened.
So people [G] like to ignore them or whatever.
So we're just trying to get it out there, trying to [G] get people to notice it, using music
as this vehicle for some people to learn some stuff, you know, and forgive and move on.
And yeah, not only that, but trying to inspire other people to look into their own
history and their own past.
Yeah, because especially in New Zealand, we see that a lot of youth _ [Cm] kind of _ decide to
neglect their past.
They don't really think it's cool.
And a lot of Maori _ _ _ youth in New Zealand adopt the Afro-American culture, [A] which is, you
know, it's cool [Gb] culture and whatnot.
But, you know, Maori is a cool culture, too.
And you can [A] a lot of people just decide [C] not to go with that.
That's a very [A] interesting _ concept.
I don't think that concept has really been addressed in metal before.
[G] _ Now, you know, [Cm] for somebody who's not from New Zealand and not from [Ab] that culture, I mean,
like if somebody were to maybe interpret your music differently, is that OK, too?
Can your music be open to interpretation?
Of course, man.
It'd be great. _
[Eb] _ We've heard of people, you know, starting up Maori middle [Fm] bands and it's like some
[F] people are like, are you OK with that?
And we're [Eb] like, man, that's fantastic.
It's great [Bb] to be an inspiration to other people.
[Fm] And, you know, it's not like we make any of our [Eb] stuff copyright or whatever.
I mean, [Bb] you know, we _ [Abm] don't we don't want [Ab] to be the only people out there trying to
get Maori out to the world.
We're trying to get [Eb] everybody passionate about it and passionate about their own stuff
as well.
Awesome.
[B] Now, coming from New Zealand, I mean, [Eb] I interviewed a lot of bands from Australia,
which, you know, different country, but Oceania.
[A] Yeah.
And I interviewed Die Artist Murdered, King [C] Parrot, Neoliberal Scaris, [B] which are
not as heavy as that background noise right there.
[Db] But, you know, like coming [Ebm] from New Zealand, is there like a metal scene out there that
you guys kind of go to?
I mean, what metal scene we do have in New Zealand is fantastic, really loyal metal
hits and stuff.
[F] But, you know, as far as New Zealand is like not a huge country in the
first place.
[Bbm] So there's not that many metal heads to begin [F] with.
I mean, when we played at Wacken in Germany, there was more metal heads [Db] there than there
were in New Zealand, probably.
[F] So, you know, we can still [Gb] have a lot of fun in [Bbm] New Zealand, pull a decent crowd.
But, you know, the metal community is really close knit.
I mean, [Db] everybody knows everybody and, you know, all the bands have probably played [Eb] with
each other already.
So, yeah, it's just it's cool.
[Ebm] It's lots of fun, but it's different from anywhere else in the world.
And the final question [Bb] I have for you is, you know, first, you guys are the fifth band
I interviewed on their first North American [F] tour.
Do you think that this could be influential to you [Bb] guys like in the future with writing
music?
I mean, first, how do you like America touring America so far?
Oh, [Eb] man, honestly, _ the expectations that we had coming over here have all been completely
demolished.
It's like the crowds that we've been playing in [Db] front of and all the people
that [Abm]
actually know who we were has [Eb] been incredible.
I mean, we never expected to see people singing along to our lyrics _ while we're playing,
especially our Marty stuff.
So it's actually been really fantastic.
[Ebm] I mean, we definitely want to come back [Db] ASAP, basically.
So, yeah, we'll come back, have heaps of fun, hopefully do some headline [Eb] tours, maybe some
festivals.
So, yeah, [Ab] we're _ [G] thinking about it.
And so far we like in America a lot.
Awesome.
Well, you pretty much just answered the next question.
I was going to ask if there was anything you'd like to promote.
You just hit the nail on the head.
But, Ethan, I want to thank you so much for your time.
[B] Congrats on all the success and thank you for coming to the U.S.
My pleasure, man.
Thank you.
Everybody, Ethan of Alien Weaponry Pickup 2, if you haven't already, out on Napalm
Records.
This is Alex from Heavy New