WHERE THERE’S SMOKE…
Alien Weaponry are partway through a tour of their homeland, New Zealand. Ordinarily, that would be… ordinary. But in this day and age of banned gigs, it feels strange hearing them recount their experiences of playing a tiny bar in Dunedin, down on the South Island. Like they’re in another dimension, or on another planet. The run of dates is called the Level One Tour, named after the country’s lowest, and current, Covid Alert Level.
“I think it was one of the most insane gigs we played,” enthuses frontman Lewis de Jong. “I fully saw someone’s nose busted up after the show.”
“Aw yeah, that was sideways!” adds drummer/brother Henry.
“He was so stoked. He just came up to me after the gig and then broke it the other way to fix it!”
The pair live with their partners, but today they’re at their parents’ home in the town of Waipu, a mighty 960 miles north of Dunedin. It’s still the band’s HQ, and they practise here for three days a week. Henry’s logged into Zoom in the living room, while Lewis has decamped to his bedroom “because it’s comfortable and I can lie down” (“Fair enough, eh!” smiles Henry, in a big brotherly way.) They agree it’s a mess. “It’s a wonderful, magnificent, kind of
