"I like your old stuff better than your new stuff" - Regurgitator
Can't argue with that, can we?
Last year we celebrated the 20th Anniversary of their career-defining album, Unit. A mixture of 1980s style synthesised pop music and 90s alternative rock, with some hip-hop influences, Unit was widely successful, receiving overwhelmingly positive reviews. Five of the songs off the album crossed over into commercial mainstream, mostly due to their popularity with Triple J. In 1998, Unit won 5 ARIA awards, and by 1999 had already sold triple platinum, eventually selling over 250,000 copies - a huge success by Aussie album standards.
Fast-forward to 2018 (now) and The 'Gurge are hitting their stride once again, with a brand new album, Headroxx - in true Regurgitator style it continues to push boundaries with genre and production.
Next up in our 'The Roots of...' series we asked founding member and bass/keys/vocalist Ben Ely to take us through the tracks that influenced Regurgitator's sound in the early days, and he's kindly curated this Spotify playlist for us and we've added some classic 'Gurge for the nostalgia kick, and some new tracks off Headroxx to keep you keen.
This is The Roots of Regurgitator...
Ben Ely...
Gratitude - Beastie Boys
At the time of our formation, we all were playing in some pretty heavy prog metal bands and we were looking to explore with a sound that was more minimal stylised than the heavy music that was around at the time. Then when the Beastie Boys album Check Your Head came out it opened a window into a sound that was distorted and energetic without being overly macho. We really loved this album. It was very inspiring.
Acid Police - Boredoms
We were such huge fans of the music, film and art that came out of Japan. Touring there was probably the best part of our young adult lives. Everything we witnessed was fresh and original and the Boredoms were really amazing. Their album Chocolate Synthesiser was genius. They also toured with us in Australia in June 1996 and we had the great fortune of seeing them play 12 times!
Boys Of Summer - Don Henley
This song we all loved. We all had an emotional connection to it for various reasons. Teenage crushes and lost lives spent getting sunburnt at the local pool. It was songs like this that inspired the turn from hard rocking 90s rock to becoming 80s revivalists. The part of the song where the guitar emulates seagulls is probably our favourite part. It gets us every time.
Regurgitator play at CIVIC SOUNDS Laneway Party on Sunday 18 November at ACDC Lane, Melbourne. Get tickets & info here.
