Alien Weaponry Show Off Their Favorite Metal T-Shirts
A metalhead’s t-shirt collection contains some of their most prized possessions. Sweaty, stained and torn, our shirts are chronicles of our lives, physical markers of a past time and place that we pridefully put on our bodies every day. They have a clear pecking order: there are those shirts you wear only when all the best ones are in the laundry, there are the absolute favorites you wear once every couple of weeks, and there are all the shirts in between, each with their own clear rank. To a metalhead, T-shirts are EVERYTHING.
New Zealand’s Alien Weaponry is the latest to share their most prized threads for our series My Metal T-Shirt Collection! The unique teenage thrash trio unify Te Reo Māori (the native language of New Zealand) with thrash metal sensibilities, ultimately creating a sound that is driven by emotionally and politically charged conflict while boasting youthful, warrior-like resilience. They will begin their first North American headline tour in May. Dates are at the bottom of this post!
Henry de Jong (Drums)
Deathnir
Deathnir are a Hamilton band we playing with quite a few times at the start of our touring career. I actually wore this in a few of our first music videos, to rep NZ music as well as give the guys a bit of a shout-out because they had been so supportive of us the couple of years prior.
Evil Design
This is probably my favorite shirt currently. It’s not a band shirt, but it’s such a sick design. I was given it in New Mexico when we played there last year with a whole bunch of First Nation bands.
Jörmungandr
I love the Viking compass on the back of this shirt. These dudes are from Wellington, New Zealand, and really brought the power when we played with them.
Blue Ruin
This shirt is so wicked, it really catches your eye. I got this a few years back when we played with the awesome chicks in Blue Ruin, which is an all-girl punk band from New Zealand. Great shirt, great band
Ethan Trembath (bass)
Carcosa
One of my first band shirts from one of our first shows! Carcosa was a stoner doom band from Invercargill – almost as far South as you can go in New Zealand. They were something completely new to me when I saw them at first. I’ve always liked wearing this shirt on stage because of the awesome design that stands out really well.
Bulletbelt
Bulletbelt was my first taste of black metal. I was shocked and excited by their music when we toured with them a few years back. This shirt holds good memories.
Jinjer
I got this one at Summer Breeze in Germany, where I first saw Jinjer live. These guys are more of a recent influence, as I discovered them when we joined Napalm Records.
Ministry
This shirt was given to me by Big Al himself, I was lucky enough to spend an afternoon in his backyard having a good yarn. He’s an awesome guy with loads of interesting stories. I also love all the colours!
Lewis de Jong (guitars/vocals)
Ministry
This is a shirt that I got when we toured with Ministry last year. I grew up listening to these guys, so the shirt says a lot about me musically, and also the design is a personal favourite of mine.
Seas of Conflict
We go way back with the boys from Seas of Conflict, and this is one of many shirts I own from them. We just wrapped up a NZ tour with these guys opening for us, and they are such great guys – we are always keen to rep their gear.
Stonehurst
This is probably my newest band shirt. I like it because it has an awesome design and it was given to me by one of the band’s members.
Alien Weaponry – North American Headline Tour Dates
Saturday, May 4th – Mexico City, MEX @ Domination Festival*
Monday, May 6th – Dallas, TX @ Cambridge Room at House of Blues
Tuesday, May 7th – Houston, TX @ Bronze Peacock @ House of Blues
Wednesday, May 8th – Austin, TX @ 3TEN @ Austin City Limits
Saturday, May 11th – Rockingham, NC @ Epicenter*
Sunday, May 12th – Washington, DC @ DC9
Monday, May 13th – Boston, MA @ Middle East
Wednesday, May 15th – New York, NY @ Saint Vitus
Thursday, May 16th – Montreal, QC @ L’Esco
Friday, May 17th – Toronto, ON @ Velvet Underground
Sunday, May 19th – Chicago, IL @ Chicago Open Air*
Wednesday, May 22nd – Minneapolis, MN @ 7th St Entry
Friday, May 24th – Pryor, OK @ Rocklahoma*
Sunday, May 26th – Denver, CO @ Bluebird Theater
Tuesday, May 28th – San Francisco, CA @ Bottom of the Hill
Wednesday, May 29th – Los Angeles, CA @ The Roxy
* – Festival Date
