Kiwi rockers Alien Weaponry are plugging into the thunder of Tāwhirimātea and the earth-shaking power of Rūaumoko again for new album, Te Rā, due out next month.
But first there’s a new single, Mau Moko, and a documentary telling their story, Alien Weaponry Kua Tupu Te Ara.
They’re coming south to play Queenstown in March, but for now bassist Tūranga Morgan-Edmonds fields some questions about the blistering Mau Moko.
Q Releasing the new single, Mau Moko, must be an exciting moment. Has it been a long process?
A I must’ve written the main riff for Mau Moko over two years ago now on a livestream I was doing at the time and I actually ended the stream early because I knew back then that this could be something good, so I didn’t want to give any more away. It has been through much development to get it to where it is now so it’s pretty awesome to finally have it out there for the world to see and to see how much it’s evolved since that livestream kicked off the inspiration.
Q It’s a powerful sound, as we’d expect, but melodious too. Is that the essence of your groove?
A Yeah, melody has always played a significant role in the "textbook" Alien Weaponry sound. When you think about Māori performance (kapa haka), like what you’d see at Te Matatini, it isn’t just haka. There’s so much more that Māori can do musically to achieve a Māori "sound". For example, we often get quoted as "rapping" in our music but it’s not rap that inspires those rhythms, it’s traditional Māori rhythms akin to what you might hear in a mōteatea, for example. So, even though we often get compared to haka only, we try to pull inspiration from all elements of Māori performance.
Q Does it seem to you that you are climbing two mountains at the same time, to take your playing and performances to the next level, while also employing te reo Māori to best effect?
A For me they’re kind of separate tasks. The processes are happening at very different times in the so-called cycle. Writing is for the most part taking place at home when we are off tour. But the honing of our performance is obviously most focused on when we hit the road.
Q Has your use of te reo changed alongside the development of your music, and the subject matter you are choosing for the songs?
A Because we are still learning/ re-learning te reo Māori, every album our use of the language changes as our knowledge expands. Also, a difference in this album compared to the past is the inclusion of some dialect/ words from Te Tau Ihu, thanks to my whanaunga and lyrical consultant/proofreader, Ropata Taylor. When it comes to the subject matter, it varies a lot from political conversations to mental health to history/mythology. Whatever feels important to us at the time shapes the lyrical direction.
Q You are focusing on an important subject, addressing toi moko in the song Mau Moko. Why did you decide to discuss that topic?
A Lyrically the song itself isn’t specifically about toi moko, it’s about moko as a whole and is a protest about the treatment of this tradition over the years while also being a reminder that despite all that it is still a tradition very much alive today and was definitely inspired by my own personal experience since getting my mataora in 2021. The video focused more specifically on the head trade because it’s a grisly visual that helps shock into people’s brains the grim reality of this part of history — hopefully to bring more awareness to these heads that are still out there.
Q Soon, your new album will be out, Te Ra. Is it a different vibe to your previous albums or similar?
A People loved the first album, the second album didn’t quite land where we had wanted, so when we set out to start this album we had to take a step back and ask ourselves "what do people love about Alien Weaponry and how do we provide that while still moving forward?". So, we ultimately wanted to find a balance between the songwriting of the first album and the musical technicality of the second. We hope it will both be familiar and fresh to our fans and new listeners alike.
The album
• New album Te Rā is out on March 28.
• Alien Weaponry plays Tāhuna (Queenstown) on March 23.
