Created in partnership with Mentos
Wellington’s shoegaze scene continues to thrive, with Dillon Jo emerging as one of its most exciting new voices.
Led by co-vocalists and guitarists Betty Smith and Georgie Levien, the queer four-piece blends hazy dream-pop textures, heavy distortion and emotionally vulnerable songwriting into their own blend of dreamy garage pop.
Since forming in early 2025, Dillon Jo have quickly made their presence felt across Te Whanganui-a-Tara, evolving from an intimate songwriting project into an expansive live band.
Their latest single, “Good Person”, explores the fear and self-doubt that can accompany growing apart from someone you once loved, pairing melodic guitars and shoegaze noise with a potent mix of yearning and feminine rage. The track follows earlier singles including “Shiver” and “Jo”, and offers another glimpse of the band’s forthcoming debut album, Guard Dog, due later this year.
With a run of massive supports behind them, a heavier new single titled “Vertigo” on the way, and their first nationwide headline tour planned for early 2027, Dillon Jo are building towards their biggest chapter yet.
The Mentos Fresh Sounds Class of ’26, curated by Rolling Stone AU/NZ, has officially been unveiled — and now we’re turning the spotlight to even more artists making serious noise. As part of our Up-And-Coming Artists series, we caught up with Dillon Jo to talk about Wellington’s thriving music community, the realities facing emerging New Zealand musicians, and the making of Guard Dog.
Rolling Stone AU/NZ: Where are you from?
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We are from Wellington, NZ!
Our co-lead vocalist and guitarist Georgie, and our bassist/producer Kahu are from Nelson, which is at the top of New Zealand’s South Island, they both met in college and collaborated previously before Dillon Jo was created. Betty, who is also our co-lead vocalist and guitarist as well as our drummer Ruadh are both from Wellington, but as a band we formed in Wellington in early 2025 through our studies at University.
Describe your ‘Fresh Sound’ in three words.
We like to call our sound “Dreamy Droppy Rock-Pop”.
Name three of your biggest musical influences.
As people, we collectively love different genres and styles of music, but when it came to our approach for Dillon Jo’s sound we were influenced by a few things:
- Our Local Wellington Scene.
We are a part of a collective called ‘Glasshead Records’ and the music our friends in the collective are creating has really influenced our own sound. Bands like Felix Bird, TWIAY, Kinghit, and Park Flyers create loud, immersive shoegaze live shows and the talent of our peers definitely has influenced us. There are also so many incredible bands in the wider Wellington scene that we love to go watch/support and in turn have influenced our style.
- Female-Fronted bands.
Georgie: Betty introduced me to Slow Pulp and they’ve definitely become one of our main influences on Dillon Jo’s sound. Other female-fronted artists and bands like Paramore, Mercury and our friends in Coast Arcade have also had a big influence on us.
- Other Rock bands.
Betty: I grew up listening to more alternative music through my dad such as the band Slint who I believe has influenced our heavier work as well as my songwriting personally.
Georgie: I’m personally super inspired by Spacey Jane from Australia and Caleb’s songwriting has had a huge influence on me since I was fifteen.
Tell us about your latest release.
The last song we’ve released is called “Good Person”. It’s our fourth single and it’s a coming of age, relatable, alternative-rock ballad exploring the self-doubt and fear that can come from growing apart from people you once cared about. Through vulnerable moments and heavy distortion, it asks one lingering question: after all this time, do you still see me as a good person? The track merges melodic guitar with distorted, shoegaze tones while capturing the emotions of feminine rage, and yearning.
We’ve since performed “Good Person” all across the North Island, being Rockquest’s guest band for five different cities and Borderline’s opening act for Tauranga and Rotorua.
If you could collaborate with any artist, who would it be?
We’d love to collaborate with artists that make a similar sound to us. Collaborating with bands like Slow Pulp or Mercury would be absolutely surreal. More locally we love the artist Goodwill who is based in Christchurch, we’d love the opportunity to write with him someday and are really inspired by his production and songwriting.
What’s your dream venue to play?
Our dream venue/festival to play is Laneway NZ/AU. We feel like our music would really suit the festival and we’ve all been attending Laneway as fans for a few years now. Some of our all time inspirations have played at Laneway such as Wet Leg, Wisp, Clairo, Lucy Dacus, and Womb and we hope that one day we can join a line up of amazing acts that we take inspiration from.
What one thing do you think the Australasian music industry needs right now and why?
I’m going to answer this in terms of the New Zealand Music Industry as that’s where we are based at the moment.
The New Zealand music industry is full of incredibly talented people making beautiful art, but many emerging musicians simply can’t afford to keep creating while covering basic living costs like rent and groceries. We need a government that recognises artists as essential contributors to our culture and economy, and invests in the arts accordingly. Supporting musicians doesn’t just benefit artists it strengthens New Zealand culturally and economically too.
What’s coming up for you in 2026 and beyond?
We’re releasing our debut album Guard Dog at the end of the year, featuring our previous singles like “Shiver” and “Jo”. Our next single, “Vertigo”, is one of the heaviest songs on the record. It was inspired by Georgie’s experience with having a severe reaction to a drug and the aftermath that followed. The song builds slowly before exploding, and it’ll be accompanied by a music video co-directed by our friend and photographer Evie Thomson.
This year we’ve shared stages with Coast Arcade, Wet Denim, Hemi Hemingway, Borderline and Australia’s The Rions, with more shows coming alongside Emerson, First Reserve and Debt Club. We’re hoping to spend summer playing festivals across New Zealand before taking Guard Dog on our first nationwide headline tour in early 2027.
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A Rolling Stone AU/NZ-backed music launchpad, the inaugural Mentos Fresh Sounds Class of ’26 was created to support the next generation of talent. Head to the Mentos Fresh Sounds Hub to learn more about our official Class of ’26.
