- One of the highest pieces of praise you can give a band that’s been around for a quarter of a century and is churning out their ninth album is to say that they still sound fresh, surprising and creative and that is certainly an accurate description for Regurgitator’s new offering. Regurgitator crystalised and emerged as a musical entity in Brisbane in 1993. Over twenty-five years they have generated a large output of very varying styles and sounds, with core members Ben Ely and Quan Yeomans also involved in numerous side projects, collaborations and solo recordings and performances. Regurgitator’s most recent activities have included live performances of the classic Velvet Underground & Nico album, with Brisbane performer with Seja and Chinese musician Mindy Weng Mang on Guzheng joining in. Now the world is about to be treated to a new full-length studio album from the band, with Quan and Ben joined by Peter Kostic on drums. The album is called HEADROXX and will be their first since 2013’s Dirty Pop Fantasy.
The band has always thrived on experimenting with sound, as well as visuals and imagery. That is not in any way meant to suggest that they qualify for the dreaded genre label of ‘experimental music’. Rather, it means they are always exploring new ideas and are comfortable with not being pigeon-holed with any label at all. Kostic’s composition for the album, a track called Weird Kind Of Hard, is a case in point. A bizzaro cross between Ween and cocktail lounge lizard crooning, the song is part of an erratic weaving of wildly varying tunes that showcases a band that doesn’t take itself too seriously, while producing some seriously interesting music. Electronic beep-boops transform into thrashing beats, a catchy melody switches to a grinding riff and then to an '80's style synth blast. Speaking of the '80s, the album end with a song called The Spirit of Ian Curtis, an instrumental song which feels like it is partly inspired by and partly a tribute to the Joy Division classic, Atmosphere (which was actually first released in 1979, but I reckon its spirit dwells in the '80s).
This is a band that gets the internet – or at least they have a song that says so – and they get that a band is at its best when it lets itself go where the mood takes them, rather than where they think their fan base wants them to go. Regurgitator poked fun early in their career, years ago, at this classic dilemma that any long-standing popular band faces, with their tune I Like Your Old Stuff Better Than Your New Stuff. With eight other albums of ‘old stuff’ to pick from, it’s quite likely that some fans of the ‘Gurge might well think that after giving HEADROXX a listen. But I recommend giving it a second and a third listen before jumping to any such conclusions. There are some real gems contained in this release, in amongst the fun and floating around in musical thought bubbles. We all know that bubbles can also be fascinating things when they get the chance to be stretched and twisted and float off into the ether.
Two songs from the album – Don’t Stress and Light Me On Fire – have already been released for a couple of months. These give a taste of what's on offer, but the main course has far more variety. I recommend you dive in and explore its offerings. The variety is such that it’s hard to single out a truly representative tune to encapsulate the whole album – but if I had to leave you with just one I'd go with with Party Looks. A party song for you to party on with Regurgitator as they take HEADROXX on tour over the next month – hopefully to a venue near you.
- Andrew Bartlett.