Some more information on Regurgitator, the
Australian band based in
Brisbane.
The
band started playing together after a chance meeting on a
bus in early 1994 between Ben Ely and Quan Yeomans. Regurgitator was formed with
drummer Martin Lee. Before Regurgitator, Ben Ely was (and still is) in a popular underground local Brisbane band, Pangaea. Martin and Quan were also in
local bands previously, Emporium and Zooerastia respectively.
Later on, Paul Curtis (Pangaea's manager) sent a
demo tape of Pangaea into Warner Music, with Regurgitator on the
b-side. Surprisingly, Warner was interested in Regurgitator rather than the main group, and were immediately
signed with a quick release of the EP Regurgitator (self titled).
Triple J discovered Couldn't Do It and Regurgitator were launched into the public spotlight.
A few months later in
March 1995 the band released the follow-up
EP New. Once again Triple J pushed the hits Blubber Boy and Track One. After a short while Regurgitator was
touring Australia; pubs, clubs as well as major festivals Homebake & The
Big Day Out.
Ben, Quan & Martin travelled to
Bangkok (Thailand) in 1996 to record Tu-Plang, Regurgitator's first album. This album was recorded in a Thai pop star's
recording studio; a useless bit of interesting trivia! The Singles F.S.O., Kong Foo Sing, Miffy's Simplicity and the tongue-in-mouth
I Sucked A Lot Of Cock To Get Where I Am were lifted. Later on that year, Tu-Plang won Best Debut Album and Best
Alternative Release at the
ARIA Awards. Tu-Plang was also followed up by a song clip &
live video called Regurgitated.
After constant
touring, in particular with the
Red Hot Chilli Peppers, Regurgitator recorded
UNIT in three weeks during 1997. At this point Shane Rudkin joined the group playing the
keyboard. The recording was done in a
Queensland house, simply because they wanted to stay at home. The short 35 minute album was a change from the style of Tu-Plang, moving over to an 80's pop type thing. UNIT was extremely successful, making it
double platinum (over 140 000 copies sold) by 1999 and 5 prizes at the ARIA Awards. The album even warranted a re-release, UNIT Rebooted. Many of the songs were popular with radio stations (
JJJ of course) even breaking into the commercial
mainstream with some tracks. The singles lifted off UNIT were Everyday Formula, Black Bugs, Polyester Girl, Modern Life and
! (the song formerly known as).
Following the Burst of Happiness tour and a new single
Happiness (Rotting My Brain) in July 1999, the band released a new album titled '
...art' on August 23. As opposed to having very little material from which to choose from, this time Regurgitator actually had songs to leave off the album. This release is once again a change in style for the group, this time perhaps implementing a broad range of genres;
britpop-esque clean tunes, 60s-style melodies,
fast guitar songs and even
electronica/
dance numbers.
Following this release the group ventured on their ...art tour over September and October 1999, followed by various
festival appearances over the summer period. Shortly after the second single from ..art being released,
I Wanna Be A Nudist, the long-suffering Martin Lee left the band in a somewhat
disgruntled fashion. Apparently he was displeased with the direction of the band's music, and particularly in regard to the fact he was no longer adding to it. This was followed by the
announcement that Peter Kostic (Front End Loader, Hairy Mary) has replaced Martin Lee as Regurgitator's new drummer. He appeared with the group on the ABC Sports Awards for the first time.
The
songs on the albums are as follows:
New!
Regurgitator
Tu-Plang
Unit
Art
I recently heard a new song on the
radio by Regurgitator, it's called Fat Cop (thanks
tres equis), with Ben Ely rapping (and actually sounding quite rap-ish).