Alternative rock/metal band Ammonita is sick of surf rock and ready to make Pint Night their own. The band that recently played Hyde Street is known for opening up Pokémon packs on stage and their repertoire of head-banging tunes. The lineup of second-year students is lead singer and rhythm guitarist Paige Sumner, bassist Karl Young, drummer and occasional vocalist Zoe Eckhoff, and lead guitarist Iván Fernandez. Zoe, a fellow staff writer for Critic Te Ārohi, was happy to talk on behalf of the group.
Ammonita is ready to bring a new sound to Pint Night. Zoe, a science major, says she doesn't have enough phalanges to count the number of times she's heard a band play ‘Santeria’ by Sublime. The sheer concentration of surf rock at Pint Night initially deterred Zoe from the scene, “because that was all I was seeing." Ammonita evokes the progressive metal and alternative rock sounds of bands like The Smashing Pumpkins and Rage Against the Machine in their range of covers. Zoe highlights the second Pint Night of this year when they played ‘Toxicity’ by System of a Down. A guy at the front of the mosh was going absolutely feral for it, apparently. Zoe self-assuredly declared seeing that one guy "was all we needed" to know that they were doing something right. Zoe knows that there is an audience for metal in Ōtepoti; "You've just gotta dig them out of the dirt.”
The group, a half and half blend of Carrington students and Caroline Freeman College students, first formed in early September of 2024. They began practicing in Carrington College's music room, a space situated beneath the college's study centre with a noticeable lack of soundproofing. Sadly for Ammonita, Rage Against the Machine covers aren't a good alternative for Lofi Girl's hip-hop beats to study/relax to. Many residents in the health science-dominated hall thought it was necessary to complain to Zoe. She defensively responded, "I don't know what you want me to do, I just like playing the drums, leave me be." By executive order, sound pads will be put onto the Pearl Export drum kit by the end of the year.
Zoe concernedly asks, "If you are not studying music, but you wanna be a part of the scene, where do you go?" Zoe has found accessing music facilities in Dunedin "pretty much impossible." The band currently rehearses in Zoe's parent's place in Māori Hill, but is constantly having to deal with a barrage of noise complaints.
In early October last year, U-Bar hosted Next in Line, a multi-genre music exhibition for emerging artists. It offered first-year bands an opportunity in the spotlight, and Ammonita took that opportunity by the balls. Describing this as the kickstart to their journey, the next week the band was invited to play Pint Night alongside Nic Sick, OneDay and Fübar (previously known as Sølstice). This group of musicians remain uniquely connected, especially the latter two. Zoe calls them "brother and sister-like bands," and though they are all from different genres, "we are all of a similar wave" of success in the scene.
Currently, you can hear their first proper original song ‘Substance’ if you happen to catch one of their sets. The rap-metal banger is about the world being so fundamentally fucked that people are forced to turn towards alternative substances to deal with it. Zoe thinks that “it’s important to scream about these things” because “people just don’t get angry about this stuff enough.”
Ammonita is very keen to branch outside of their regular rotation of Pint Nights. Zoe hinted that a gig at The Crown Hotel is in the works, which would be their first independently organized show. The band aims to have a set of originals that people know and love to mix between the covers. She is determined to record a few songs for Spotify so one day she can say to her kids, “Hey, look at what I did at university.”
You can follow Ammonita on Instagram @ammonita_band to keep up with upcoming gigs.