It was amazing talking to a Rock Musician at 10.30 in the morning but Ben from iconic Aussie band Regurgitator had mellowed into a morning person over the years.
It had been a long time since Regurgitator first blossomed on the scene. Over fifteen years. Ben was a little coy “It’s been a couple of years,” he admits.
“Superhappyfuntimefriends,” is the new release.
It sounded very “Wigglish.”
Ben laughs.
“It always sounds a bit English to me! We’ve never been a serious shoe-gazer type band!”
Regurgitator has had time apart, in fact there was the sneaking suspicion that their time was over. But now they’re back.
“We’ve never been one of those bands that go into the practice room and rehearse and rehearse and constantly hang out with each other. We’ve all got other things in our lives, but when we get together we know how to work with each other.’
‘We’ve got to as point where we know how NOT to push each other’s buttons as well as enjoying the time together on tour or at a gig.’
‘The key to Regurgitator surviving is we do it sparingly.’
Was there any experimentation on the new release?
Our manager came to us and said: “It’s about time you did a tour!”
We asked how far away?
“Four months.”
I thought at the time it would be good to have a new album out for the tour. We counted up. It was going to take about three months to get the Cds pressed and ready. That left about three weeks to put the records together.’
‘We had a deadline and pressured ourselves to write, mix and produce the record in three weeks! We’ve been around long enough that we didn’t get too precious about it and had some fun with it.’
‘To me it feels like the strongest record we’ve done since “Unit.” It is a fun, light-hearted record like “Unit”.
We were back to 1997 when “Unit” was first released. Did Ben like “Superhappyfuntimefriends” more than Unit?
He was undecided, but I detected a “yes” in his voice.
Any favourite tracks?
“I like all the tracks, which is something I haven’t done. There’s ‘All Fake Everything” which is a cool, anti-conformist hi hop sort of song. Then there’s weird sixties, Peter Paul and Mary Puff The Magic Dragon guitar songs, funk, Leonard Cohen feel goods, Christian rock radio, 80’s songs. It is a very strange record.’
The new release was recorded in the comfort of the guy’s homes. We mixed it ourselves and produced it ourselves. It’s a very home-grown sort of thing. I have a bigger room, so we did drums, amplifiers, guitars and bass here. Then we did the vocals and keyboards over at Quan’s house.’
‘I don’t think we work that well with producers. I think this release worked so well, because we were able to work at home alone and unsupervised sort of thing!’
Has the writing method changed over the years? Is it still the collaborative effort?
‘When we first started we used to fight a lot. We really didn’t know how to do the band in a way that didn’t offend each other. We have been together so long that we have finally worked out a way. Quan writes his songs and kind of produces his tracks. Then I’ll write my songs and produce mine. It’s somewhat separated. But we do support and advice each other if needed. It’s pretty stress free. We’re like a couple of old nannas.’
It was 2007, some four years since the last release ‘Love and Paranoia.’ Ben was surprised. The years had gone by far too quickly.
Looking back over the years what has been the craziest thing the band has done?
‘Band In A Bubble’ would have to have been the craziest concept we put ourselves through.
‘Incarcerating ourselves in this tiny glass box in the middle of a public domain in Fed Square was nuts.’
‘It was pretty hard. On the second day I thought I was going to go crazy! We had made a really bad decision. But by the end of it I was looking on it as an interesting challenge.’
‘I think the secret behind the long lasting nature of Regurgitator is the fact that we can take long breaks/ We go off and do other things. Quan has gone off and done his solo record. I am into a lot of visual arts and do a lot of art exhibitions.
When we were younger we took it for granted because we were doing it so often. Now we really enjoy the experience!’
‘I feel like Regurgitator has been a really fortunate thing for me. I have been able to play music with some really good friends. I have had a good life!’