Southland Express Article

City band giving ‘a voice to the little man’

• Southland Express

• 23 Jul 2026

• TAYLER MUTTON are (from left) Simon Carey, Bill Wilkes and Jacob Ambrose.

Ronnie Stash & The Resistance are celebrating the physical release of their selftitled album which frontman Jacob Ambrose described as a “multigenre album”.

“There’s country rock, hard rock, and reggae fusion … I’ve fused rock and reggae together, I call it roots fusion.”

He plays the titular character of Ronnie Stash.

The album has themes of war and famine while also including some lighthearted tracks about being a musician.

“There’s lots of different things I tackle that are taboo subjects, I try and do it very gently and respectfully.”

Ronnie Stash & The Resistance is “the voice for the little man”, and he said his goal is to stand up to the powers that be.

“There’s a lot of corporate tyranny going around internationally and nationally, and right down here too.”

Mr Ambrose sings and plays guitar, Simon Carey plays bass and Bill Wilkes is on drums.

They will be holding an album release event at Invercargill record store Threes and Sevens with two other bands performing as well.

“We’ve invited this band from

Dunedin called Rebirth to Ruin, they’re a metal band who are a bit younger … Goat is a local metal band who I hadn’t heard of either.”

He said they reached out to whoever they could and were grateful to have other bands to play with.

“They may not be Rasta adjacent but we have enough rock songs that we can have a custom set list for whoever we play with.”

Gaining traction as a musician in Southland was a mixed bag for Mr

Ambrose, citing the “massive support for country music”.

“We’re still working to earn the respect of other musicians in town, it takes a wee while especially if you’re going against the status quo.”

“Respectfully, it’s very conservative down here … we’re pushing stones uphill at the moment but we’ve got the product now.”

He grew up listening to Kiwi rock. Bands like The Black Seeds, Katchafire, Pumpkinhead and Shihad, all inspired his blend of reggae and rock.

“It’s a very Kiwi sound.” The band is looking forward to the upcoming event, with Mr Ambrose saying everyone was “feeling really fluffy about it”.

“We might not get the turnout we hoped for, but these are things that you have to grind away being an independent band in New Zealand.”

“We’ve got the product, we’ve got the goods, I say we just need to keep our chins up and keep slogging away,” he said.

The album release event is on August 7, doors open 8pm music starts at 8.30. Tickets are $10 at the door or available from the Undertheradar website.

tayler.mutton @alliedmedia.co.nz