Their iconic 1997 album Unit will be played in full with an extended set of hits, and some killer supports in May.
If you’re the type of Regurgitator fan that like their old stuff better than their new stuff, you’re in for a treat as the band celebrates and pays homage to their iconic 1997 album, Unit next month. The record will be played in full with a Unit-era line-up that includes keytarist Shane Rudken for two shows at the Forum as part of a nationwide tour.
Surprisingly, this will be the ‘Gurge’s first-ever appearance at the legendary venue. “We’ve never played the Forum, which is a bit weird for us,” Quan Yeomans, Regurgitator frontman, tells us after recovering from a sickness that may or may not have been Covid.
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He’s keen to reflect on the classic album after 25 years and the upcoming tour, which features DZ Deathrays, Custard, Butterfingers, and Glitoris. “I have to pinch myself because I’m 50, and I still get to do this shit and level up. It’s amazing; this tour feels like something bigger than we’ve ever done.”
This may actually be the case, as the line-up reads more like a mini-festival than a Regurgitator show with four support acts, all of whom are major drawcards in their own right.
We’ll get to this later, but first, let’s address the fact that for some of you reading this, nothing will make you feel older than the fact that Unit was 25 years ago. For Quan, revisiting the album is somewhat odd: “I think as an artist, when you are looking back at something so far away, there is a kind of alien artifact element to it because you work on something for such a long time then just kind of let it go. It doesn’t feel like it’s my music anymore; it’s more like, ‘who the hell wrote this, it is bizarre.'”
Quan says Unit has moments of cohesion, but is ultimately very disjointed. “I do love how unexpected it is; it still surprises me to this day when I listen to some of the tracks that made it onto that record, and how popular it was.
“We just look at each other and think ‘how the hell?’ It is one of the weirdest popular records in Australia; I don’t think that happens all that often.”
The record, which won five ARIAs, including Album of the Year in 1998, certainly was a strange one with tracks like The World of Sleaze and I Will Lick Your Asshole, but it also came in heavy with the hits: Polyester Girl made it to 26 on Triple J’s Hottest 100 in 1998 and ! (The Song Formerly Known As) reached number six, while also being nominated for three ARIA awards the following year.
Every second of Unit will be on display for the upcoming shows and tour, and to help warm up to this momentous occasion, Regurgitator have picked a unique line-up of acts.
“With DZs, I was surprised they said yes to be honest. They are lovely guys, and I think they bring a lot to the line-up. I’m really amazed they are on board.
“We met them at the first show in Brisbane, and they were so excited to be there; it’s great when you meet young bands that are in it for the passion.”
The bill balances old and new with an inclusion that will likely get many 90s kids excited – Custard. “Custard have a long history with us, we’ve done numerous tours with them, but I have a weird relationship with their music,” Quan says.
“I can’t remember being that enthralled with it when we were touring with them back in the 90s. I liked some of their songs, and I’ve always loved Dave’s banter; I think his banter is fucking amazing, but to be honest, when I saw them the other day playing on the big stage, I thought they sounded better than I’d ever remembered them. A lot of these older bands are really playing brilliantly purely because they’re not as blotto,” he laughs.
I mention I wasn’t surprised that TISM weren’t on the bill, after their and Regurgitator’s very public (and also very fake) feud about sharing the stage at Good Things festival last year.
“Hahaha, oh my TISM, god bless them. We find it hard to find people who are on the same wavelength to muck around and have fun these days.”
I inform Quan that one of TISM’s secret Good Things warm-up shows was listed as a Regurgitator cover band in the gig guides, which draws more laughter. “It’s strange that there aren’t more bands like that at the moment, isn’t it? There seems to be a lot of seriousness. The whole idea of backlash is quite different now.
“We lived through an era of the idea of selling out, but you weren’t really exposed. Everyone is very exposed now, and this whole idea of exposure makes every move a little bit harder to make because you are overthinking everything.”
While the immediate future is all about celebrating the past, the rest of the year is very much about moving forward for Regugitator, who are deep in the process of writing and recording a new album.
“We just did a session up in Brisbane, which is probably about 50% of the new record. We’ve got about six songs each, and I’m pretty happy with about half of those, I’m actually working on drums today.”
Quan expects the record to be out later this year and is feeling pretty good about it all. “We wanted to go in with a concept, which is very hard for this band because we do jump all over the place. It seems to have a stronger foundation than most of our previous records, post maybe Art?
“We’ve slowed things down and thought about the songs a bit more. It was mainly just fun being up in Brisbane and recording in an actual studio again; we haven’t done that in a long time!”
Catch Regurgitator playing Unit in full, with a bunch of extra songs, as well as at the Forum on May 13 & 14 (the first show is already sold out). They will be joined by DZ Deathrays, Custard, Butterfingers and Glitoris and multi-dimensional full-pixel visuals.
Tickets available here.
