Regurgitator - Life on the point of an embroidary needle

With their lead singer running off to Hong Kong and their website disappearing off the face of the on-line world earlier this year you would be forgiven for thinking that Regurgitator where dead.

However the band have just released the EP Pillowhead and are about to embark on the national “Regurgitator Lives!” tour to assure fans The Gurge are alive and rocking.

We managed to track down Quan Yeomans to see what the lads have been up to in their time off from the band.

“I don’t know precisely about the other guys but I have been falling deeper and deeper into a creative void. It’s been fun-ish,” says Yeomans.

After living in a city where western culture has been very instrumental in its development Quan describes Hong Kong as place that has many of the cultural complexities that are inherent in big western cities - giving it a very east meets west kind of feel. However he noticed that western culture has not seemed to have made such a large impact on the live music scene as it has to business interests in the region.

“In terms of a live band scene from a western point of view Hong Kong is as naïve and underdeveloped as a puppy,” he explains.

“Whether during its history Hong Kong ever exuded the atmosphere of rebellion that is usually distilled and personified by counterculture is doubtful, and moreover whether the idea of loud, messy western influenced music and art as counterculture ever seemed appropriate at any particular point or period is even more questionable.”

So after spending so much time in a country where the live music scene is virtually non-existent one would imagine Quan is looking forward to hitting the dirt roads of Australia once again for this tour.

“Well, yes and no,” he explains, “I will miss being in Hong Kong but will enjoy the company of my band and friends. I’ll get to wrap my lips ‘round the accent and say the word “cunt” and “fuckin’” lots again so that’ll be good. And I have missed screaming and inadvertently spitting into the faces of crowds of strangers quite a bit.”

Being locked in a tour bus for days on end with band mates and crew would drive most people to escape to an island off the coast of a whole other continent but The Gurge took it a step further by locking themselves in a bubble earlier last year to record their last album Mish Mash, so how does a person cope when they have no escape?

“Madness is the best distraction from the things in life that sometimes get to you,” says Yeomans.

“In fact,” he states, “it could be argued that this is what the actual function of madness is. Inducing a kind of controlled madness is the game we came to play. If you do it right, lots of people happily come along for the ride.”

This madness certainly comes across in the bands music, switching with ease from punk, hip hop and electronica influenced songs from one album to the next, which has been a large factor in their success but it must make it difficult to create a set list that flows smoothly from one song to the next.

“Flowing smoothly’ and Regurgitator doesn’t really happen in Nature. It has been simulated under strict, scientifically controlled conditions but I’ve yet to witness the phenomenon out in the field,” jokes Quan.

“I have always thought we were confused aesthetically and that it was only by coincidence that at some points this happened to work in our favour.”

And worked in their favour it has, with multi platinum selling albums and successful tours in this country and overseas the band has gained mass appeal.

With the rush one would expect to get from performing to sold out venues of screaming fans over the years you would expect that out on the road between cities the band would get up to some pretty crazy stuff, however Quan gives a new meaning to the “living on the edge” rock n roll lifestyle.

“I like to embroider stuff in the van. One has to pay close attention to your needle in a moving vehicle. I like the intensity of that kind of danger.”

So what are the plans once the tour is over and the embroidery needles are packed safely away?

“I don’t know plans and me don’t mix to well. No doubt we will find ourselves plugging in boxes and twiddling knobs in some strange isolated room somewhere some time once again.”

Share this article on Facebook