Rockquest winners on a roll

 

Northland thrash metal band Alien Weaponry has made it through to the national finals of both Smokefree Rockquest and Smokefree Pacifica Beats for the second year running.

After placing second overall in both competitions last year, the trio from Waipu are stoked that the judges have once again deemed their unique brand of ‘Te Reo Metal’ worthy of a placing in the top six from among the 700-odd acts that entered.

“We initially started writing in Te Reo Maori because the elements of haka and Te Reo work really well with thrash metal, and we thought it would be something different for Pacifica Beats,” says 16-year-old drummer Henry de Jong. “We got such an overwhelming response that we carried on writing more songs in Maori, so it is really cool to be recognised not just in Pacifica Beats, but in the mainstream as well.”

Following last year’s Smokefree successes, that recognition extended to independently receiving a $10,000 NZ On Air Making Tracks grant to record and produce a video for their song, Ru Ana Te Whenua, which is due for release shortly.

Their focus now is on the national finals in Auckland – Smokefree Pacifica Beats on Friday September 23 and Smokefree Rockquest on Saturday September 24.

And their strategy is simple: “We will just do what we have always done,” says bass guitarist Ethan Trembath (14). “Write good songs, practice heaps and stick together. We definitely want to win, but all the bands are really good and in the end it will come down to the judges’ opinion. It would be awesome to be the first band from Northland to win.”