{"id":1120,"date":"2019-06-01T23:33:58","date_gmt":"2019-06-01T13:33:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/regurgitator.net\/news\/?page_id=1120"},"modified":"2019-11-14T14:07:36","modified_gmt":"2019-11-14T04:07:36","slug":"biography","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/regurgitator.net\/news\/biography\/","title":{"rendered":"Biography"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Regurgitator – a History<\/em><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Low fat version…<\/em><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Formed in March 1994… Ben Ely, Quan Yeomans, and Martin Lee started a side project to the bands they had going at the time \u2013 Pangaea, Zooerastia, Brazilia respectively. Regurgitator was an appropriate moniker to describe the assembled mass of styles, sounds and attitudes, fueled as much by an unmitigated irony and geekish nature as an irreverent take on themselves, corporatisation of culture and human social behaviour. From their early guest spots with Primus, Beck, The Buzzcocks, John Spencer Blues Explosion, Ministry, Pansy Division, TISM they quickly developed a following that led to signing a record deal with the Warner Records corporation. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\n\t\t\t\t\t\tThe first self-titled EP was released in late 94… quickly \nfollowed by the second EP New in early 1995. Late 1995 after constant \ntouring Australia, they embarked on their first international trip with a\n European tour with Filter, followed by their first shows in Tokyo. \nAfter their debut Big Day Out tour in Jan 1996, they relocated to \nBangkok to record their debut album with Magoo. April 1996 the first \nsingle Kong Foo Sing broke the cookie jar – an ode to the humble fortune\n cookie, it paved the way for the debut album Tu Plang (Thai for \nJukebox) – a rubble of punk pop, hop-rock-beats and discarded sounds; \nand coincided with a national tour with the Red Hot Chili Peppers, \nfollowed by another crazier one with Japanese avant garde guests, \nBoredoms. The band was picked up by Reprise in the US, in conjunction \nwith their first US tour as guests of God Lives Underwater (as well as a\n Sub Pop 7\u201d vinyl of I Sucked A Lot Of Cock To Get Where I Am). After a \nJapan\/Australian tour together with CIV from New York (including an \nincredible show with the Boredoms in Osaka at Wo`Hol) and the Japanese \nrelease of Tu Plang, sold out Brisbane`s Festival Hall headlining Easy \nCheese \u2013 a celebration of Brisbane music with guests Powderfinger, \nCustard etc. After various Summer Festival appearances in Australia, \nalong with supports with The Prodigy (Sydney) and Rocket From The Crypt \n(Auckland), they open 1997 with another tour to USA and their only SXSW \nappearance, before embarking on an extensive tour from Sacremento to \nBoston with Helmet and The Melvins.\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\t\t\t\t\t\tUpon return, they set up their own mock studio The Dirty Room in a\n condemned warehouse in Brisbane`s Fortitude Valley backstreets to \nrecord the second album UNIT \u2013 it heralded a new direction with a strong\n pop ala 80`s electro vibe although never short of their \nself-deprecating sense of humour and fun. UNIT was released in 1997 \nculminating in a national Australian tour with The Prodigy and their \ngold ranked single Polyester Girl. Unit ended up dry reaching triple \nplatinum in Australia. This was followed by far more relevant \nAnti-Jabiluka Uranium mining protest for the Mirrar people – a 5am \nperformance with Midnight Oil and Coloured Stone at the blockade of the \nproposed mining site in the Kakadu National Park. A third tour to Japan \nis followed by the sellout Australia\/NZ Caveat Emptour with guests TISM \nand The Fauves, that incorporated for the first time the usage of a \nlarge scale visual projections and computer animation of (and made by) \nthe band members. More dates in Japan and the UK (including the Reading \nFestival and the UK release of UNIT), their second Big Day Out tour \nbefore relocating their studio bits and pieces to a Byron Bay beach \nhouse for sun, surf and to make …art \u2013 the third album.\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\t\t\t\t\t\tAfter tours with Japan`s Audio Active, and the subsequent visual \nridden Art Tour with Custard and The Resin Dogs, drummer Martin Lee \ndeparted the fold to be replaced by Front End Loader\/Hard-Ons drummer \nPeter Kostic. After more Australian festival shows and tours over \n1999\/2000, the SNOOZER presented Japan dates were their most successful \nso far, with the album going on to sell 12,000 copies there. Quan and \nBen commenced work in their home studio setups on their fourth album \nEduardo and Rodriguez Wage War on T-Wrecks, relocating to London to mix \nit all with Andy Gill (Gang of Four). A quick trip to Japan for the \ngreat Fuji Rock Festival as the album was released in Australia, NZ, \nJapan, Singapore, Germany and Scandanavia in July 2001\u2026 along with \nAustralian Canon Fodder tour with guests Gerling through Aug\/Sept 2001. \nAfter another appearance at Brisbane`s 2001 Livid Festival, they headed \nback to Japan again with special guests The Zoobombs, followed by a New \nYears Eve show at The Falls with The Hives etc and the 2002 Big Day Out \ntour in Jan\/Feb (performing between System of a Down and Garbage on the \nmainstage). The highlight of this tour being the inclusion of Peaches \nand a duet on her track Rock Show. \n\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\t\t\t\t\t\tIn June 2002 they performed in London at the Fierce Festival to \n20,000 people, along with Midnight Oil, Spiderbait etc. After ending the\n arrangement with Warner, the JINGLES single compilation and \nInfomercials DVD compilation was presented in Oct 2002 as final \ncontracting ending condition. A short Australian tour \u2013 Nein, Nein, \nNein…the Slumber of the Beast also led to a DIY DVD release of live \ntunes from this tour as their first self-produced independent release \nthrough Valve. In 2003 while Quan was based in Switzerland, Sweden and \nLondon a UK tour and release of Jingles (via independent label Kennel) \ntook place. Following a second tour to the UK in early October, they \nperformed at one of the first alternative music festivals in Hong Kong\u2026 \nthe Rockit festival along with the 17-piece Spanish Harlem Orchestra \nfrom New York, Electric Eel Shock and Ride\u2026 This was when plans were \nhatched for the Band in a Bubble concept to take place in conjunction \nwith the independently released fifth album MISHMASH! An idea suggested \nby their manager in 1999 and given some context when Quan witnessed \nDavid Blaine suspended above the Thames in a Perspex box while on tour \nthere\u2026\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\t\t\t\t\t\tAfter various festival appearance including a very torrid night at\n the Sydney festival with Peaches and Spod, a headline spot on the St \nKilda Festival in Melbourne, and the Bong in my Eye tour with Spod and \nThe Grates \u2026 the Band in a Bubble was born in Melbourne\u2019s Federation \nSquare Aug 2004. Regurgitator had a history of trying to buck shit up \nbut as of August 31, they bent themselves over to that system, exposing \nthemselves to the reprehensible machinations of the “culture industry” \nwhilst still getting to happily shit in its pants. In partnership with \nChannel [V], Regurgitator sealed themselves in a transparent, “fishbowl”\n studio to record their fifth album MishMash! and show the world wide \nweb how the creative process is ultimately both destructive and \nhypnotic, liberatory and constraining, beautiful and very ugly. By \ncreating a panoptic platform for their public, they gave themselves over\n to their viewers\/fans\/citizens and allowed the intrusive eye of the \npublic to pierce their “bubble”.\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\n\t\t\t\t\t\tAfter Band in a Bubble and the release of the album they escaped \nto another Australian tour with Wolfmother and Lucas Abela playing his \nbroken sheets of glass (venue banning his appearance as the tour went \non), a second ROCK IT appearance in Hong Kong, Homebake in Sydney (early\n Dec) and the 2005 Big Day Out tour. In Sept 2005 they released their \nMishmash follow EP #*?! featuring Pretty Girls Swear and set out on the \nRegurgitator Lives tour with friends New Zealand\u2019s brilliant The Mint \nChicks, and Snowman (from Perth). They performed at Earthcore in late \n2005, where Quan and Ben were joined by Ben and Simon from The Bird, \nturning our drum and bass versions of their tracks. Feb 2006 saw them \nperform at the Dusty Days Festival in Wagga Wagga and an awesome \nperformance at the Domain for Tropfest2006. Mishmash! came out on Avex \nin Japan Apr 2006. They headlined Come Together, Luna Park in Sydney in \nJune 06 and followed this up with a periodic string of shows over the \nremainder of the year\u2026 Quan produced a fantastic animated video for The \nGame. \n\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\t\t\t\t\t\tBand in a Bubble, in conjunction with Valve Records, was licensed \nto take place in London (unfortunately losing its way to never emerge) \nand in New York (produced in the Meat packing District over May\/June \n2007). Ben also released a solo project under the name JUMP 2 LIGHT \nSPEED and Quan relocated to Hong Kong working on solo projects including\n the EP he released with Spod entitled BLOX. Regurgitator did an \nextremely fun tour in Feb\/Mar 2007 across NSW, VIC and SA prior to \nQuan\u2019s departure and before starting working on new tracks for their \nsixth album.\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\t\t\t\t\t\tIn 2007 off the back of a poorly realised US version of Band in a \nBubble in New York (spending the whole time laughing at how bad it was),\n they headed to Brazil to record their sixth full length album Love and \nParanoia. Recorded in Rio de Janeiro right under the arms of the looming\n Corcovado, with Seja Vogel joined on keyboards, and featuring the \nsingles Blood and Spunk and Romance of the Damned. Upon release they set\n out on a highly successful 28 date 7 week long tour of Australia in \nOct\/Nov with special guests New Pants from China and Brisbane indie \nsensations I Heart Hiroshima. From that point they launched into a \nstring of festival appearances over the coming year culminating in \nanother great mainstage Big Day Out 2008 run all in white playing after \nAntiflag and before Arcade Fire.\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\t\t\t\t\t\tIn April 2008 they returned to live fire headlining the Essential \nfestival along with shows with guests Ratatat. Plans were set afoot for \ndates and releases in the UK, China, Japan, Brazil, Vietnam, Singapore\u2026 \nand whatever else stuck to the wall. In July\/August they had a rather \nspecial tour in Australia as super special guests with hugely \ninfluential DEVO! (plus Eddy Current Suppression Ring opening Sydney and\n Melbourne shows)… where at the final show in Perth Devo invited them \non stage to perform Beautiful World together. After this and various \nheadline shows they headed off to the UK to play shows in Glasgow and \nLondon in support of the album release there on Valve\/Weatherbox. This \nwas followed by an extensive Asia tour through Hong Kong (in a makeshift\n club put together on the tenth floor of a warehouse building with Macy \nGray), Laos (in this incredible old Russian Circus building in Vietianne\n presented by Tiger beer and raising money for prosthetic limb support \ngroup COPE\u2026 and where the power went out just as the band started due to\n dodgy pyrotechnics installed by the promoters\u2026 hilarious moment), \nVietnam (to 1500 people on the site of the US embassy with a great \nlineup of Vietnamese artists including Ngung Guc) and China (with 5 \nshows in Beijing, Shanghai and China\u2019s capital of punk rock Wuhan\u2026 and \nwhere the album was released by Modern Sky). The sold-out Chinese shows \nwere an amazing run playing with guests Hedgehog, New Pants and more. \nThey also shot a video for Hurricane in the confines of the Forbidden \nCity with Peng Lei from New Pants.\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\t\t\t\t\t\tThe final months of 2008 saw them return to Australia to play well\n received sets at Stonefest in Canberra, Fat As Butter Festival in \nNewcastle, the Meredith Festival in Victoria\u2026 before another trip to \nVietnam to play the Loreto Festival in Ho Chi Minh City to raise money \nfor education facilities for unprivileged, handicapped and blind \nchildren. Early in 2009, with both Quan (The Amateur) and Ben (Radio5) \nreleasing solo albums, Regurgitator played one final Brisbane show \u2013 a \ndebut at the Brisbane Riverstage with Spiderbait, Pnau, The Herd, etc as\n part of Hear and Now festival. Time for a breather\u2026 well except for \nQuan who focused on solo work The Amateur touring, with the Big Day Out \nand supporting Prodigy, followed by various festivals and Australian\/HK \ntour dates with Ratatat. Ben took off for travels to Turkey, Berlin and \nJapan. Late in the year they hooked back up to play a small festival in \nthe Japanese Alps with Hoodoo Gurus\u2026 before working with dance \nchoreographer Gavin Webber and 6 dancers on the live \nmusic\/dance\/theatrical project Rock Show at QPAC in Brisbane.\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\t\t\t\t\t\tIn 2010 Quan and Ben relocated to Melboune and set studios up in \ntheir new dwellings before they started work amid various distractions \non new recordings planning to eschew the typical album release [;an for a\n take it as it comes approach. After a few shows including the Tenth \nbirthday of the Brisbane Powerhouse they performed a highly successful \nlive soundtrack to Japanese anime film AKIRA at Sydney Opera House. To \ncoincide with a Sept Australia tour they released a batch of recordings \nunder the title Distractions followed by various Festivals plus shows in\n London, Dubai and Bahrain\u2026 returning for Festival of the Sun in Port \nMacquarie and a NYE show in Newcastle. 2011 started with a huge \ntwo-night flood benefit show in Brisbane which also featured a special \nappearance of Custard. Following this a massive 3 song set in front of \n60,000 at the Australian Soccer Grand final held in Brisbane where the \nRoar fought back to win an exciting penalty shoot out. After an \nextensive Australian tour was announced for Aug\/Sept \u2013 the \u201cAnnual sail \ntour\u201d the guys set about completing more music that rose with the tide \nin August and turned into an full blown album under the title \nSuperHappyFunTimesFriends, with first single One Day surfing up the \nradio and net waves. It was released on vinyl, CD, cassette, download\u2026 \nand a new format Playbutton (a wearable badge that contains the whole \nalbum).Coinciding with this Regurgitator\u2019s UNIT was voted #10 on the \nTriple J Top 100 Australian albums. The Annual Sail tour concluded with \nsold out shows in Sydney, Brisbane, Melbourne, Geelong, Hobart, Adelaide\n and Perth and was possibly the most enthusiastically received tour they\n have done since the 90s. They then followed this up with performances \nof their album \u201cUNIT\u201d over the Falls and Southbound festivals end of \n2011. \n\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\t\t\t\t\t\t2012 kicked off with the Big Day Out tour \u2013 their 6th time around –\n plus performances at the Margaret River Surf Classic, Red Deer Festival\n in Qld before touring seminal albums Tu Plang and Unit \u2013 The \nRetrotech2012 tour (with special guests from Indonesia Senyawa and China\n Hedgehog) was highly successful with the majority of shows sold out. \nFollowing this with the hot spot on the sold-out 2012 Meredith Music \nFestival.\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\t\t\t\t\t\tThe past few years have seen Regurgitator do some superfluous \nshit. It\u2019s all pretty interesting \u2013 the costume changes, the gimmicky \nrecord and release strategies, the full-album live sets \u2013 but tonight \nthey achieved something far more pure. In straight power-trio formation \n(no spandex onesies, no heavy metal wigs), they performed what could \nwell be the set of their careers. Hearing thousands sing along to I Will\n Lick Your Arsehole never gets old. They\u2019re a punk band at heart, and \none of the finest this country has produced. (Beat Magazine Dec 2012)\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\t\t\t\t\t\tIn April 2013 they headed out on the rural Groovin\u2019 The Moo \nfestival tour and then released album #8 Dirty Pop Fantasy in September \n2013\u2026 followed by the Australia\/New Zealand Dirty Pop Tour with guests \non the majority of the shows from Portland, Wampire. \n\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\t\t\t\t\t\tFrom there they ending up playing their last show for who knows \nhow long as part of a short Asia tour in Beijing mid December\t 2013 with\n friends New Pants. This tour also included a great slot on the \nClokenfalp festival in Hong Kong. Regurgitator are currently on some \nkind of hiatus.\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\t\t\t\t\t\tNever ones to compromise or shy away from the unusual, the \nuntried, or any genre that infects their creative sensibility\u2026 more than\n ever they continue to infuse their irregular live performances with \nexuberance, mania and their mashedup motion of rock, punk, electro, \nfunk, pop, where ever it goes vibe.\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Always more to come…<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Regurgitator – a History Low fat version… Formed in March 1994… Ben Ely, Quan Yeomans, and Martin Lee started a side project to the bands they had going at the time \u2013 Pangaea, Zooerastia, Brazilia respectively. Regurgitator was an appropriate moniker to describe the assembled mass of styles, sounds and attitudes, fueled as much by […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-1120","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"better_featured_image":null,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/regurgitator.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1120","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/regurgitator.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/regurgitator.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/regurgitator.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/regurgitator.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1120"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/regurgitator.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1120\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1346,"href":"https:\/\/regurgitator.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1120\/revisions\/1346"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/regurgitator.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1120"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}