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# Ammonita
- URL: https://www.rootsmag.nz/ammonita/
- Published: 2026-09-07T03:33:17.000Z
- Updated: 2026-09-07T03:33:17.000Z
- Author: Ryan Brash
- Tags: Interviews

Ōtepoti five-piece **Ammonita** have been carving out their own space in Dunedin’s alternative rock scene, blending grunge, metal, rap and softer alternative sounds into something that’s difficult to put in a single box. Made up of **Zoe Eckhoff**, **Paige Sumner**, **Ivan Fernandez**, **Mason O’Connell** and **Karl Young**, the band formed through a series of university connections and has since become known for their energetic live shows and collaborative approach to songwriting. Their debut EP *SPORE* brings together four songs that move between heavy political commentary and more vulnerable moments, including the band’s debut single *Walnut* and the chaotic *Jane’s Masquerade*. I caught up with Zoe and Ivan to talk about how Ammonita came together, the making of *SPORE*, their approach to songwriting and live performance, and what the future holds for the band as university takes them in different directions.

### **So how'd you guys form the band?**

**Ivan:** I believe it was Paige and Karl, our bassist, starting it off, and then Zoe joined a little bit afterwards when they were looking for another member.

**Zoe:** I was playing the drums at the hall that I was in, Carrington, when I first started at Otago, and I got approached by another resident who said to me, "Oh, you play the drums? You should join this band that I'm forming." And then he introduced me to Karl. That guy didn’t actually end up being in our band, but it’s funny in the sense that he was the one who brought us together.

**Ivan:** Yeah. And then after that, Karl approached me about joining the band as a guitarist. I actually tried asking him if he wanted to start a band with me and he said “No, I’m part of band already” and he actually ended up recruiting me instead. After that I was able to bring in my friend Mason to the band as well. So now we’re a five-piece band.

### **Where did the name *Ammonita* come from?**

**Ivan:** Well, I have this poster in my room. We were looking for a name for our band, and we’re all environment ecology students, and we just kept getting drawn to this poster in my room that’s got this poisonous genus of mushroom on it, which is the Amanita mushroom. So we took that, but we changed the spelling of it to make it a bit more unique. And now it reflects the ammonite shell fossil, which we use on all our logos and imagery too.

### **What genre would you label yourselves as?**

**Zoe:** I think we've really evolved a lot over time as well from the first songs that we wrote and recorded. But I think we've called ourselves a “rock-metal-alternative band.” 

We really touch on a few genres, because we do a bit of rap, and also have some quite heavy metal songs that we do live, but then we also have the more softer rock and just general kind of alternative sound.

### **If someone was listening to you for the first time, what song should they start with?**

**Zoe:** That is a good question. Maybe *Ruse*. I think its a good intro into our sound.

**Ivan:** Well, I'm thinking *Walnut*, which I think would show you a lot of our sound, but I don't think it's fully reflective of it. I think it's hard to pick one song and say, "This encompasses everything."

**Zoe:** Yeah. I think *Ruse* and *Walnut are good* intros to the sound, for sure.

**Ivan:** Oh, and *Jane's Masquerade* probably.

**Zoe:** Well at that point you might as well just name the whole EP.

### **Did you write the songs specifically with an EP in mind, or did the tracklist come together after you had a collection of songs?**

**Zoe:** We'd already written the songs. They were the songs that we'd performed for Bring the Noise, which is the competition that we won that sent us to Sublime Studio where we recorded. We kinda wrote those songs in succession. *Ruse* was one of the first cohesive songs that we wrote as a band that we all really loved. After that we wrote *Walnut*, and then *Righteous Socialite*. 

*Jane's Masquerade* was written specifically for the competition. We really loved those songs, and we loved how those songs took us through the competition, so I think it felt right to also make them the songs that we'd end up recording in the studio.

### **There’s a bit of variety across the EP, from political songs like *Righteous Socialite* to something much more vulnerable like *Walnut*. Was that variety intentional?**

**Ivan:** Yeah, I think so. We also have different people who wrote the lyrics across those songs on the EP. Zoe wrote the lyrics for *Righteous Socialite* and *Walnut* was Paige. Paige does a lot of our lyrics. And that just makes sense to us the most, for the people who are singing the songs to be the ones to write what they’re about.

### **Was there one song on the EP that was particularly difficult to get right?**

**Ivan:** I'm thinking *Jane’s Masquerade*. That took the longest to work out. At that point we didn’t know what we were really doing. It was very fresh and very new. We didn't know what process worked for us. So that one took a while 'cause we also had a lot of added bits we wanted to put on. 

### **So what is your songwriting process?**

**Zoe:** It kind of varies a bit. But 90% of the time it'll start with Ivan on the guitar. We’ll usually start with a riff that he's brought in. Most of the time it's me and Ivan having a jam together because we’re the most available at the same time. And with me on the drums it's easier to write when you’ve got drums and then another piece. I think three of the four songs on the EP started with the guitar. The only one that didn’t was Jane’s Masquerade, which is kind of random. That one started with a drum beat.

Then Ivan was adding stuff, and then Paige usually brings in the lyrics, and Karl comes in with the bass, and then Mason adds his bits on top, all the solo and stuff. The solo for *Jane’s Masquerade* we actually heard for the very first time live on stage. We hadn’t had the time to jam it yet as a band because we were all super busy with finals, so we were all very excited to hear it on stage.

**Ivan:** It's very cohesive songwriting. Like everyone really contributes their part within it. And it’s all super collaborative.

### **What bands/musicians are you guys most inspired by?**

**Zoe:** I think we all have varied tastes a little bit, and we bring in our own parts and inspirations. In terms of New Zealand bands especially, I really love Blindspott. They’re one of my favourite bands. And I love Limp Bizkit and Rage Against the Machine, which is why I think I love rap metal songs.

**Ivan:** The riff style that I try to make are either kind of groove metal, nu metal kind of style with that drop D kind of, like, fun feel to it, or a bit more sad grunge kind of stuff. And that’s the sort of stuff I listen to. A lot of System of a Down, Linkin Park, Alien Weaponry.

**Zoe:** I think bands like Nirvana do definitely inspire the sound a lot. Songs like *Ruse* were very much inspired by the Nirvana sound. The kind of grungy, fast-paced, fun, crazy stuff. And then bands like Alice In Chains are an inspiration too, like some of Paige's vocals.

### **Do you guys find that you all have the same vision for a song, or do you end up arguing over what the finished product's gonna look like?**

**Zoe:** We definitely have disagreements in terms of parts or songs, and parts that we do and don't kinda like between each other. But we're very lucky in that I feel like we're very capable of having a good discussion about it and work it out. 

**Ivan:** To this day, I don't think we've had an argument as a band. We’re all very civil. If there is something that we're like, "I'm not so sure on this," we make it clear then and there. We don't let it brew and bottle up, we make sure it's sorted before we move on and we make sure that everyone is happy with the final product.

**Zoe:** Yeah, I think that is a big part of it. We want everyone to have fun on stage. I mean, that's what music is about, especially live performance. Like, we all wanna enjoy what we're doing up there, you know? And if someone really hates something, well, we are all very willing to make compromises I think as a band. So it all works really well.

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/82/ae/82ae15cc-791b-45a9-a46a-3900b2eee181/content/images/2026/09/2026.06.16-Ammonita-K.FROSTPHOTOGRAPHY-31.jpg)

Ammonita. Photo by K.FROST Photography [@kfrostphotog](https://www.instagram.com/kfrostphotog/?ref=rootsmag.nz)

### **Are there any songs on the EP that have changed quite a bit for you since you started playing them live?**

**Ivan:** I feel like we haven't really changed how we play them live per se, but I do think that some of the songs in the EP are different to how we play them live.

**Zoe:** The only one I really think of is *Righteous Socialite*. That one we really changed in the studio. That song is very much a live performance song. There’s these breaks in between the chorus and verses, and when I’m performing live I like to have a bit of a spiel or make some big statements. But we didn’t want to set that in the recording because it kind of takes away from the magic of the live performance a little bit. 

And in the studio Paige added some vocal parts that she’d just written on the spot that we really loved and ended up mixing in and splicing up. That's probably the only one that we definitely perform live differently, but, the other songs I have to say are pretty similar. I think we like to kind of keep it a bit consistent there.

### **Do you have a favourite song to perform live?**

**Ivan:** It changes every day. And it kinda changes with new songs that we add on as well, because it's so fresh and new, it's kinda like, "Oh, this is, this is really fun to, to mess around with."

**Zoe:** I'm a big *Ruse* fan personally. It’s really fun. Everytime we perform it, Ivan says, "Get the fuck up," the energy of that song really pumps it up live.

### **Do you have any pre-show rituals that you do before you go on stage?**

**Zoe:** We have this mid-show ritual, I guess. Yeah, I guess that's what you could call it. When I go up to do the rap song, because we're doing a bit of a changeover, to fill the time I do this fun gimmick where I pull a Pokemon pack on stage. So I’ll open the pack and peel through the cards on stage with the audience, and Ivan will be on the guitar and he’ll be building up this little beat. And Paige is hyping it up, and everyone's going, "Oh, what's it gonna be?" Everyone's going, "Ooh." And if it's a shit pull, Ivan will do a *“wah wah wah”* with the guitar.

### **Do you have a favourite venue that you've played?**

**Ivan:** Probably **Pearl Diver**, yeah. It has that perfect balance of being, like, a decently sized stage and beautiful place. Yeah. It's a really lovely place to just chill at. It’s a good size as well, and very interactive with the audience.

**Zoe:** **U-Bar** is great too. The U-Bar stage is huge. It’s probably the biggest stage we’ve played. And there’s always a guaranteed crowd there, which is nice. And it's free, which is also awesome, 'cause anyone can come along. And Pearl Diver is so beautiful, just the brick walls and everything. The staff are really friendly as well, so it's just a really good vibe, and the people who show up are always really sweet, too.

**Ivan:** Yeah. Yeah. Don't forget **The Crown** as well, though. It's a good, intimate, nice venue. That’s a real classic for Dunedin.

### **What's a dream venue or festival that you'd love to play?**

**Zoe:** Sick New World in America, that would be the dream.

**Ivan:** Yeah, that where all the new nu metal, inspirational bands all play at. But on the local sense, I'm not really sure.

**Zoe:** It's hard because I feel like on a local scale for New Zealand, there's not a lot of those kinds of festivals. Here in Dunedin, Dankfest is probably something that would resonate a bit more I guess with the band. But even then, that might be a bit too heavy in a sense for Ammonita.

**Ivan:** For venues I would say Spark Arena. 

**Zoe:** There are some really cool venues, like even just smaller venues. I think about, like, Meow in Wellington seems like a really cool place to be. Whammy Bar, Or Double Whammy in Auckland. 

### **What about a dream collaboration?**

**Zoe:** Maybe New Zealand bands would be fun like Blindspott or Alien Weaponry.

**Ivan:** I think Devilskin could be cool as well. They’re a really good New Zealand band.

**Zoe:** Yeah, those three are definitely very iconic, big rock metal bands for New Zealand. I think they're awesome, so they would be insane to collab with for sure.

### **Alright, last question. So what's next for Ammonita?**

**Ivan:** Well, I'm going to be back up to the North Island for a teaching program, but that doesn't mean that it's gonna be the end of Ammonita. We are still going to be in contact with each other. We're still gonna send each other a bunch of material to make music. We're trying to see if we can get some recording done for an album as well at the end of the year, and we’ll be aiming to get that out next year.

**Zoe:** I think the hardest thing about being a university band is we're all from different places and we've come here for different goals. Especially as science students. We didn't come to study music to be musicians, so it's been an incredible shock, getting to be so involved in the local scene. But like Ivan said, it's definitely not the end of it for the band. We're gonna keep writing even, even if we do it long distance, you know, we're gonna make it work where we can. But yeah, we'll record the album, um, and get that out hopefully sometime next year when we can afford it, 'cause that's the other hard thing about being a musician - especially a student musician - is that it is so expensive to record. It costs a lot of money to go to the studio and record and then mix and then master. So we’re working up some funds, but we’ll get there and it will be really cool to get something new out as well; and depending on that goes, you know, maybe we’ll have a reunion tour. I think that’s the next dream.

*You can follow Ammonita on Instagram* [*@*ammonitaband](https://www.instagram.com/ammonitaband/?ref=rootsmag.nz)