Regurgitator tour could be last stand

Regurgitator has been entertaining crowds for almost 20 years, but this tour could be their last.

Guitarist and lead vocalist Quan Yeomans said the band’s latest tour had been the hardest, mostly because they each had lives separate to the music world.

He said occasionally all he wanted to do was be with his family, but he also loved creating music and performing live in intimate spaces.

“On tour, you have no time to do anything else — I’m so tired most of the time,” he said.

“The travel is hard and takes its toll because we are that much older.

“This could probably be our last tour, at least for a while.”

This tour is for the band’s eighth studio album and latest creation, Dirty Pop Fantasy.

Yeomans said the album was more mature than previous creations, especially from where they started in 1994.

“It’s a lot less naive and the production level is a lot higher,” he said.

“It’s a bit angsty — but it’s the strongest record we have made for a while.

“You have less original vibe and drive as you progress and develop — it’s a weird line you walk.”

Dirty Pop Fantasy took six months to record, because it meant travelling back and forth between Hong Kong and Melbourne.

“The reason it took so long is we all have lives and it makes it a bit harder than it used to be,” Yeomans said.

This album toys with a various genres — one minute listeners experience an 80s electric track, followed by a soft rock feel, and then a hard thrashing on the guitar in the next track.

Yeomans said Dirty Pop Fantasy was intended to “jerk” listeners around.

“Mixing it up was our one directive when we created this, we didn’t want it to flow easily at all,” he said.

Yeomans said a few of the tracks were motivated by a past relationship.

“I was seeing a girl briefly during August that year — it was the most stressful time of my life,” he said.

“Mountains is about how I was feeling at the time, that I couldn’t make it work.”

On the concept of being a pop artist — he said the band was still enjoying their roots.

“You do it for different reasons and we don’t think about the cool factor,” he said.

“We have no idea, but just follow our instincts.

“It’s difficult to represent anything cutting edge — it’s a weird conglomerate of waves and you can’t second guess where you fit in now.