Regurgitator

Regurgitator is a name synonymous with raucous live shows, polyester girls and electronic hedonism. They have been responsible for some of the most subversive and riveting content to be released on the Australian music scene for the past 15 years which has seen them live through many incarnations from the heavy rock angst of Tu Plang, to the computer game anthems of Unit through to a stint inside a gigantic bubble. Where other bands have come and gone, Regurgitator have stood the test of time and after relocating to Melbourne, the boys are back and better than ever, gearing up to preview new material on their September Distractions tour, which sees the band taking a fresh approach to the production and distribution of their music, with all of their songs now being recorded in home studios and being made available immediately to the public via their revamped website, to keep in line with the consumer demands of the digital age. The Dwarf recently had a chat with Ben Ely about the enigma that is Regurgitator and their past, present and future plans.

After all these years, what keeps Regurgitator going?

Just lately we’ve been up to a lot of different projects and trying our hand at new things that help to keep it interesting. Quan and I both have many side projects we work with alongside Regurgitator and have become more interested in different artistic projects in our older age. We were involved with a contemporary dance company for Rock Show and did a live soundtrack for a screening of Akira at the Opera house, which was a lot of fun. We have a friend in Sydney who books shows for the Sydney festival and we’re both big fans of comic books and Akira is one of our favourite comics ever, so when our friend asked if we’d be interested doing a live score to the film, we said yes. We were sent a copy of the film without its soundtrack and got to work. There is a lot involved in composing music to fit the film and perform along with the projector. Creatively, it was an amazing experience that we’re hoping to tour sometime in the near future. We enjoyed the Akira project so much that we’ve been producing our own films to compose soundtracks to, as well as still keeping the band alive.

Quan and you seem to vary with your creative styles. How do you find the happy medium to keep on writing music together?

Quan and I have an interesting relationship. We’ve been friends for years now and our differences balance each other out. I work very quickly whereas Quan is more meticulous and a bit of a tech nerd who works tirelessly on the post production. It took him years to release his solo record, whereas it took me about six months to get mine out. Our different approaches to writing works quite well as we bounce ideas off each other and have gotten to the stage where we can tell each other if something isn’t working and take a different approach to it. I like to record and release immediately and Quan will rework the material, I’m hyperactive and he’s more steady. We’ve reached our happy medium.

What inspired the move to Melbourne?

I’ve always loved Melbourne. I lived in Sydney for awhile, but preferred Melbourne for its friendly atmosphere, the many live shows and art galleries to go to. There’s a nice vibe in this city and its very supportive of the arts.

How is your new home recording set up working out and do you feel this has changed the way you write music?

It’s great to be able to record at home, and immediately release the songs online. I feel it's affected my writing in the sense that there is no demoing process with the songs anymore, they‘re instantaneously recorded and released. I’ll spend more time setting up the mics and making sure the sound is right before getting into the recording now. I think the music sounds more human, less production based and more live performance orientated. There’s less sampling and a more immediate feel to the sound. We feel like this set up really suits our band and us as people. We used to be on a major label where we would write and record songs and have to wait a long time for the music to be released. So by the time the label had gotten around to releasing the recordings we were in a totally different place and the stylistics of the band had changed completely. The immediacy of our new set up is just great and being in band, there is just so much you can do creatively with t-shirts, posters, album art etc. it’s a great creative outlet.

Personally do you prefer downloading music or a trip to the record store?

Lately I’ve been going into op shops and antique stores and buying vinyl. I do download music, but I love buying vinyl for the artwork, and buy a lot of random 60’s guitar music and sound effect records. I like to buy strange looking album covers. Although I’ve been loving the new Magnetic Zero’s album that I got a while back, they way things are with digital music and I-pods, it's become difficult to give one artist your full attention. There’s just so much there, you can skip from track to track and never listen to an album in full. I love listening to stuff on cassette tape and vinyl. The music seems more focussed that way and you can give the band your full attention.

What’s been your favourite side project?

I was drumming in a band called Broken Head that was Brisbane based and played dub-improv style music. I loved that a lot because I was drumming. It was the kind of band that I can see myself playing in when I’m 60 and living in a hippie commune.

Who’s the best band you’ve toured with?

Devo hands down, they were amazing. Playing with them was a dream come true for all of us. Our manager said it was the quickest simultaneous email response he’s ever gotten from us when he asked if we’d be interested in playing with them. Devo warped my mind when I was 8, they’re brilliant and it was the best thing ever to watch them play. They’re so unique and cutting edge and seem even more subversive now than they were in the 80’s.

You had work featured in galleries in Brisbane. Are you still working on your art?

I’m working on that at the moment. I did a few group shows in Sydney and Brisbane and would like to do a solo exhibition in Melbourne in the near future. Its another creative outlet that I enjoy, its just a matter of finding a space that works to display my stuff. If you know of any good galleries, let me know.

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