20 May 2022 – The Princess Theatre Brisbane – words and pictures by Bec Harbour
With several reschedules due to the pandemic and subsequent lockdowns the 19 and 20 May rolled around and we finally got to see Regurgitator play Tu Plang redux. I remember being a teenager in Darwin, completely obsessed with music and seeing the video for ‘Couldn’t Do It’ on Rage. Combining rap, funk, metal and punk it was mesmerising and so out of step with what everyone else was doing in 1995/96. Enter Tu Plang, their first full album after a couple of EP’s or extended singles and it blew me and my friends away that people were making music like that – on their own terms.
And Regurgitator have continued to do music on their terms, amassing a huge discography and songs that everyone knows. Here they were 25 (give or take some months) years later where it all began.
With 20 May landing on a Friday, The Princess Theatre Brisbane was pretty much sold out and a tightly packed crowd was there pretty much from the get-go. First support act, The Stress of Leisure had their supporters ready , and drew in even more appreciation (there were a few punters camped out on the barrier from doors open) from those who might not have heard of The Stress of Leisure but found them quirky and brilliant. They ran through a best of set that included ‘Banker on TV’ and ‘Pulled Pork’.
By the time Screamfeeder took the stage, the theatre was packed. Screamfeeder were playing their 1996 album Kitten Licks in full but as Tim Steward and Kellie Lloyd warned us, not in album order, but the first and last songs would be in the right order.
Starting off with ‘Static’ and ending with ‘Pigtails on a Rock’ and every thing Kitten Licks in between. ‘Dart’ got played a lot at parties that I went to in 1996/97 and it was this song when it was played in the middle of the set that got the biggest cheer. Screamfeeder released their 8th studio album only a few weeks prior and we can look forward to seeing them tour this new music in June, however this gig was all about 1996.
After a brief intermission, the theatre went dark. Footage began playing that was instantly recognisable from the ‘Kong Foo Sing’ video – footage shot in Thailand where they recorded the majority of Tu Plang (Tu Plang means jukebox in Thai). Regurgitator came on to rapturous applause and cheers.
Ben Ely, Quan Yeomans and Peter Kostic kicked off with ‘I Sucked a Lot of Cock to Get Where I Am’ with the entire front row singing along, indeed the whole theatre. Then the unmistakable opening chords of ‘Kong Foo Sing’ sounded and the crowd went nuts. A song that was probably responsible for supermarkets across Australia stocking the Kong Foo Sing brand fortune cookies. Ben and Quan looked to be really enjoying themselves playing Tu Plang and also revelling in how much the crowd were loving it.
Regurgitator did stick to the the album order of Tu Plang, so you know that ‘G7 Dick Electro Boogie’, “Couldn’t Do It’ and ‘Miffy’s Simplicity’ were next and so on through the album. Tu Plang wound up with ‘Blubber Boy’ (and possibly ‘Doorselfin’) and the band kicked into a mini best of the rest including ‘Polyester Girl’, ‘Black Bugs’ and ‘! (the song formerly known as)’.
Regurgitator’s music is timeless – you can’t really pin it to a time and and era. This is because they made and continue to make the music that they want to make. Their artistic integrity is on display (and their commentary on when they are asked to compromise) and fans love it.
