Way back in 1993, an alt-rock three-piece called Regurgitator began life as a side project in the Brisbane suburbs. By 1995, they’d signed with Warner Music Group, and their debut album, Tu-Plang, was released the following year. But it was 1997’s Unit – featuring the mega-hits ‘I Like Your Old Stuff Better Than Your New Stuff’ and ‘Polyester Girl’, among others – that lodged Regurgitator firmly in Australia’s popular music consciousness, positioning them as a band able to fuse musical styles and influences without taking any of it too seriously. In this wide-ranging conversation – which has been lightly edited and condensed for clarity – 4ZZZ Programming Co-ordinator Ian Powne talks art, authenticity and mashed potato with two of the band’s founding members, Quan Yeomans and Ben Ely. 

IAN POWNE: When I first heard the name ‘Regurgitator’ I felt as though I got what you guys were about immediately: I didn’t think, ‘This is about vomiting’; I was thinking this is more a comment on the fact that as a band you were going to be regurgitating everything happening now and before, and that you had no high-minded ideals about originality.