Regurgitator

Regurgitator was originally a 3-piece indie rock band with Quan Yeomans (guitar and vocals), Ben Ely (bass and vocals) and Martin Lee (drums).[1] The three had purportedly met on a bus in inner Brisbane. At this time, all three were already in several bands - Pangaea, Zooerastia, Precision Oiler, Brazilia among others. Regurgitator at this time were not considered to be the main focus of any members, rather as a side-project to their other bands.

The band released its debut self-titled EP in October 1994. With the emergence of Brisbane's underground music scene in the early 1990s, major labels, such as Warner Music Group, took the initiative to expand its Australian music roster. A&R representative Michael Parisi initially pursued Pangaea, a popular and established band in Brisbane's underground that Ben Ely fronted. It wasn't until Parisi was supplied with Pangaea recordings by their manager Paul Curtis that he discovered Regurgitator, whose material was also presented as part of a potential Valve label P&D deal. Ironically, Parisi would push for the less-established band to be signed because "it was the hook that Pangaea, for all the excitement [it] had generated on stage, had lacked."[2]

The band signed with Warner early in 1995, who re-released its debut EP in February 1995, which charted at number 45 on the ARIA singles chart. Regurgitator quickly released another EP, titled New, which featured radio hits "Track 1" and "Blubber Boy". New peaked at number 30 on the ARIA singles chart.

Following the success of their first two EPs, the band made an unusual move by travelling to Thailand to record their first full-length album. Made on a comparatively small budget[3] at a famed pop studio in Bangkok, Tu-Plang (ตู้เพลง; Thai for 'Jukebox'), largely featured a mixture of rock and hip hop, which was particularly evident on its third single release "Kong Foo Sing". The band also experimented in a number of genres including techno, musak, surf rock and dub. Yeomans gained notoriety for his uniquely cynical and obscene lyrical style, most notably the controversial pop-rock tune "I Sucked a Lot of Cock to Get Where I Am", which was attacked by Australian radio identity Alan Jones, who campaigned to have it removed from airplay.[4] Tu-Plang peaked at number 3 on the ARIA Charts, was certified platinum and won Best Alternative Release and Breakthrough Artist at the ARIA Music Awards of 1996.

The band recorded their second studio album in a warehouse in Brisbane which they affectionately named "The Dirty Room". In contrast with their rock-oriented works of the past, the band moved on with a more electronic and pop based sound. The band openly acknowledged their stylistic change with the album's opening track, ironically titled "I Like Your Old Stuff Better Than Your New Stuff". The band released "Everyday Formula" as the first single, with Yeomans and Magoo later admitting it was a conscious decision to ease their fans into the new sound with a heavier track.[5] The single release in October 1997 peaked at number 41 on the ARIA Charts. Unit was released in November and peaked at number 4 on the ARIA Charts. "Black Bugs", "Polyester Girl" and "! (The Song Formerly Known As)" (an homage to 1980s era Prince) were all released as singles and gained significant amounts of airplay. Unit is Regurgitator's most commercially successful album, going platinum three times in Australia. Whilst it no doubt increased the popularity of the band, fans of their first generation of work are still divided in their responses to it.[6][7][8]

During the Unit tour in late 1997 drummer Martin Lee had failed to appear at a show at the University of Western Australia. After disappearing from a Perth nightclub, he was found the next day, unconscious, and was taken to hospital where he remained comatose for a week. No-one, including Lee once he had recovered, had any recollection of the circumstances that had landed him there. Jon Coghill of Brisbane rock band Powderfinger was his fill-in for the rest of the tour, though the arrangement purportedly caused a rift between the two bands as Coghill and Lee were high school friends and, as Yeomans explained in a 2011 interview, "...those guys (Powderfinger) are kind of from a different scene I guess, if you like. Almost a different social strata in a weird way; they're all private school boys so we never had that much in common".[9]

At the ARIA Music Awards of 1998, Unit won 5 Awards, including Album of the Year and Producer of the Year.[10][11]

After a short break in 1998 working with respective side projects (Quan formed Happyland with Spiderbait's Janet English and Ben Ely revived Pangaea) the band moved into Wategoes Beachhouse at Byron Bay on the New South Wales coast to begin recording their third album, ...art, which was released in August 1999 and peaked at number 2 on the ARIA Chart. Having rebuilt "The Dirty Room" studio with the assumption it would be used for the recording, Lee felt undervalued when Yeomans made it clear he needed a change in working environment.[12] Ely admitted that tension had always existed between the two.[13] Since the Unit sessions he had felt excluded from the creative process as his material would rarely be used and he was often replaced by a drum machine in the studio.[14] After an extended absence during the album recording and a string of absences on the supporting tour schedule it was announced in late 1999 that Lee would be leaving the group due to 'creative differences'.[15][16] He formed The Boat Show with Matthew Strong of Custard when Custard disbanded.[17] Lee was replaced by Front End Loader and Hard-Ons drummer, Peter Kostic in late 1999.

The band's forth album, Eduardo and Rodriguez Wage War on T-Wrecks was released in July 2001; a hip-hop-focused album that Yeomans and Ely recorded and produced in London. At this time, a turbulent relationship commenced with the Warner label who were unable to grasp the band's lack of motivation and refusal to compromise for the sake of commercial success.[18][19][20] After the fourth album, discussions led to a mutual request to end the deal, and the compilation album Jingles was released.

In 2004, Regurgitator created and participated in the Band in a Bubble project; a new reality TV-inspired media stunt sponsored and broadcast by Australian music channel, Channel V. The band entered a small glass recording studio, built in Federation Square in the centre of Melbourne, to record their new album; their first on new label Valve Records. Pedestrians could look into most rooms of the "bubble" and could watch the band work, or tune into a 24-hour digital cable television channel and watch their work on that. Nobody could enter or leave the bubble, a la Big Brother. In addition to the three band members, their longtime Australian producer Magoo, engineer Hugh Webb and Channel V host Jabba were all also locked into the bubble with the band.

The first single from the session was released in October 2004 as "The Drop" and the album, Mish Mash! was released in November 2004 and it peaked at number 52 on the ARIA Charts.

In August 2005, the band released the #?*! (or Pillowhead) EP which contained B-sides from Mish Mash!.

In 2006, Regurgitator took a break during with Elys working on his project Jump 2 Light Speed and Yeomans working on his solo career. The band also licensed their Band in a Bubble concept to Initial TV in the UK. In 2007 Yeomans released an EP with Sydney-based musician Spod called Blox.

In 2007, the band reunited and recorded their sixth album in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Love and Paranoia was released in Australia on 15 September 2007 and peaked at number 74. It features 80s style keyboard-driven poprock tunes, with new member Seja Vogel on keyboards. Two singles were released from the album, "Blood and Spunk" and "Romance of the Damned".

In 2008, Regurgitator supported the album with a tour of UK and Asia. It was the first time in 5 years that the band had toured the UK. Simultaneously, Ben Ely and Quan Yeomans both launched solo projects with "Ben Ely's Radio 5" becoming his second solo project while Yeomans's album Quan: The Amateur was his debut solo album which was recorded in Hong Kong.

At the beginning of May 2010, Regurgitator announced on the news section of their website that they had begun work on new music and would release music 'as they go along' instead of an album.[21] In August 2010, the band released the single "Making No Sense"[22] and in September, a four-track EP titled Distractions. In December 2010, the band released another single titled, "Nrob Bmud".

In July 2011, the band released "One Day", the lead single from their seventh studio album Super Happy Fun Times Friends in August 2011. The album debuted on the AIR chart at No. 18 and the ARIA chart at No. 91.[23]

In June 2012, it was announced that Regurgitator would be playing their first two albums, Tu Plang and Unit, in their entirety in an Australian tour named RetroTech.[24]

In early 2013, the band announced that they were working on their eighth studio album in Hong Kong. Entitled Dirty Pop Fantasy, the album was released on 6 September 2013 through Valve Records. The album was streamed online on 23 August 2013 on the Deezer website.[25] During the band's keynote address at the Big Sound music conference in early September 2013, the band explained that the lower level of productivity during the latter part of their career is due to the geographical spread of the two primary band members, Ely and Yeomans—Ely is based in Melbourne, Australia, while Yeomans resides in Hong Kong. A post on the band's Facebook page on 18 September 2013 then revealed that Regurgitator will enter a period of indefinite hiatus following a national Australian and Asian tour that ended in December 2013 due to the birth of Yeomans's first child.[26][27] Their last show for the foreseeable future was in Beijing on 7 December 2013 as part of the Converse Rubber Tracks event with touring friends Chinese band New Pants.

In May 2015, following an 18 month hiatus commencing in September 2013, Regurgitator announced their Cheap Imitations tour-ché across Australia from August to September 2015.[28]

In April 2016 they performed at the National Gallery of Victoria covering Velvet Underground's debut album, The Velvet Underground and Nico as part of the Andy Warhol-Ai Weiwei exhibition.[29] Regurgitator's line-up was Yeomans, Ely, Kostic and joined by Seja Vogel on keyboards/vocals and Mindy Meng Wang on guzheng.[29] In homage to Prince, they added a cover of his song, "When Doves Cry" to their set list on 22 April.[30]

2018 saw the release of the band's 9th studio album, HEADROXX.

In 2019, the group announced their new children's music spin-off project Regurgitator's Pogogo Show. Their debut offering,The Really Really Really Really Boring Album was released on 1 March 2019.[31] At the ARIA Music Awards of 2019, The Really Really Really Really Boring Album was nominated for ARIA Award for Best Children's Album.[32]

In October 2019, the group released a best of album titled Quarter Pounder: 25 Years of Being Consumed

Notes

The Australian Independent Record Awards (commonly known informally as AIR Awards) is an annual awards night to recognise, promote and celebrate the success of Australia's Independent Music sector. They commenced in 2006.

The ARIA Music Awards are annual awards, which recognises excellence, innovation, and achievement across all genres of Australian music. Regurgitator have won 7 awards from 23 nominations.[67]