Join Cheryl Lee - That Radio Chick on STILL ROCKIN' IT for news, reviews, music and interviews with some of our favourite Australian musicians.
What if you could trace the fascinating journey of a rock star from a non-musical household to leading one of Australia's most iconic bands?
Join us as we chat with Quan Yeomans, the charismatic frontman of Regurgitator, who shares his unique path to musical fame. From his initial resistance to piano lessons to discovering his passion for the guitar through the sounds of Led Zeppelin, Quan's story is one of serendipity and self-discovery. Hear about the mythicized origins of Regurgitator, including a memorable encounter with bandmate Ben Ely, and how Quan's supportive family played an unexpected role in his rise to stardom.
Take a nostalgic journey with us back to the 90s, reminiscing about the era's iconic bands like Little Birdie and Jebediah, and listen to Quan's excitement about the forthcoming Hotter Than Hell tour.
We explore the evolution of music consumption and how Quan's children influence his own listening habits, spanning from hip-hop to pop, featuring artists like Ivan Ooze and Olivia Rodrigo.
This episode promises engaging stories and insights, reminding us of the enduring appeal of 90s music and the importance of meaningful conversations in the music world.
What has Quan Yeomans been up to lately? Let's find out!!
Get out when you can, support local music and I'll see you down the front!!
Visit: ThatRadioChick.com.au
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:02):
That Radio Cheek Cheryl Lee here.
Welcome to the Still Rocking itpodcast where we'll have music
news, reviews and interviewswith some of our favourite
Australian musicians and artists.
Today we're speaking toAustralian musician best known
as the front man of Regurgitator, Qan Yeomans.
Born in Sydney to fifthgeneration Australian father,
(00:23):
neville and his mother Leen, awell-known Vietnamese Australian
chef and author.
Along with regurgitatorsbassist and co-vocalist Ben Eli,
they wrote most of the punksongs that made the 90s band
famous, and they're out on theroad again.
To catch up on podcasts fromother favorite artists, simply
(00:46):
go to that radio chickcomau.
You're with cheryl lead and I'dlike to welcome into the zoom
room today kwan yeomans, frontman of regurgitator.
Thank you so much for joining ustoday pleasure, absolute
pleasure because I know you'vegot a busy workload coming up,
so really appreciate your timewith us.
(01:08):
I was going to ask you do youcome from a musical family clan?
Your parents musical no, notreally.
Speaker 2 (01:18):
I would say my father played the clarinet when he was
very young, but I have noevidence of that, apart from the
old clarinet that I found ofhis in the attic of the terrace
that we used to live in inSydney.
I've never heard him play.
He's a bit of a whistler, butthat's about it.
I don't think it really coversmy mother's interested in music
but was never particularly goodat it, so no, I don't.
(01:47):
She was the one that organizedyour lessons as a child, didn't
she?
Piano lessons, yes, which Ireally really pushed back
against.
I really didn't like learningthe piano when I was younger, so
took to the guitar because Ifound the instrument myself and
wanted to learn, and wanted tolearn off just listening to Led
Zeppelin records and JimiHendrix records, and that's
really how I developed as aguitar player when did you first
pick up the guitar?
Speaker 1 (02:05):
Until I was 13 or 14, I think.
In high school.
Speaker 2 (02:09):
Yes, there were some just acoustic instruments around
and I think there was anacoustic guitar at home which I
played.
But my mother was really kindand she did buy me my first
guitar on a visit to LA, becausea lot of her Vietnamese family
are based in the US.
So she went to the guitarcentre, I believe, and bought
back a Gibson an S1, which is akind of a Stratocaster version
(02:31):
of a Gibson guitar which hadthree single coils in it.
Quite a nice guitar actually,and reasonable neck on it.
So I think I had a good guitarto start with, that's for sure.
Speaker 1 (02:40):
When did you realise that music was going to be your
destiny?
It was your passion, and wasthere ever any plan B in there
if it didn't pan out?
Speaker 2 (02:51):
My family, my mother's side, particularly not
great at plan Bs.
We just go with whatever seemsto fall in our laps and, just,
you know, point the ship forwardand go for it.
But she did secretly want Ithink she really wanted me to be
an architect or an industrialengineer.
So there was a little bit ofthat like residue wanted to have
the child live her dreams thatshe couldn't fulfil.
(03:14):
But it was quickly like put astop to.
Speaker 1 (03:17):
She wanted to live vicariously through you, but you
weren't into architecture.
Speaker 2 (03:21):
I wasn't into architecture.
My dad was a psychiatrist aswell, and there was certainly no
way that I was going to do that.
So the one thing that my motherdid do was put up with the
noise and encourage me they wereboth very encouraging of
whatever I wanted to do.
Speaker 1 (03:33):
Well, lucky you did pan out, then yeah exactly.
Speaker 2 (03:36):
Well, it's debatable, isn't it?
Speaker 1 (03:39):
How do you meet someone, a stranger, on a bus
and find out you both playguitar, you both like the same
music and form a band?
Speaker 2 (03:51):
Well, there's a bit of mythology there, a little bit
of legend making.
Actually, we had met beforethat, not formally I don't think
, but we played together invenues around Bristol.
Then I was in a band calledPengae who was doing quite well
in the local scene, and I was ina kind of weird punk fusion
band called zorastia at the time, so we had supported them on a
couple occasions.
(04:11):
He had seen the band, said Ireally like the guitar player
and he was.
He's a real connecting peopleperson.
Uh, he loves jamming.
I'm very shy, introverted inlots of ways, so I don't really
get into it, but he convinced meto have a jam with him.
The way that we really met wasbecause he was hanging out with
the lead singer from my band andthey wanted to score weed and
(04:33):
my mother was notorious.
My singer knew that my mothersmoked a shit ton of weed and
had some always in the house.
She said come over, we can getsome from Kwan's mum's place,
then you can say a quick helloto him.
I was in the basement, he gotblown out with my mum, came down
, heard me mucking around on afour track and then we, you know
, we spoke then and the rest ishistory.
(04:54):
We live in a very similar area,so we would catch the bus and we
would see each otheroccasionally.
So he probably said a couple oftimes on the bus as well.
Speaker 1 (05:01):
But I love that story got stoned out of his mind with
your mother.
Yeah, that's right.
But also I really liked theurban myth bus story that you
just met on a bus and became aband.
There's more to it than that.
Speaker 2 (05:15):
Well, brisbane was a pretty small city back then, so
most of the musicians wereprobably able to be contained on
the bus at that point.
You are listening to StillRocking it.
The podcast with Cheryl Lee.
Speaker 1 (05:30):
Let's have a quick break and listen to Immigrant
Song by Led Zeppelin from theMothership album from 1970,
which Kwan played to on hisbrand new guitar.
And then we're back to speak toKlan straight after this.
You are the major songwriter ofRegurgitator, one of two.
(05:56):
It's a pretty unique sort ofgenre of songs, I guess.
Where do you find yourinspiration for your songs?
Inspiration?
Speaker 2 (06:07):
Generally I will take from the world around me.
So like everyone else I guess Idon't have.
I've had a very, very easy life.
I don't have a lot of trauma inmy life.
Fortunately, somehow, eventhough my mother lived through
like a French war and my fatherlived through depression, they
somehow managed to protect mefrom that kind of traumatic
(06:28):
experience which they could havequite easily passed down
intergenerationally.
So I live a very middle classexistence.
I was taken overseas by myfather and I've traveled quite
extensively as a mid-30s kind ofcharacter, lived overseas as
well.
But the first trip my dad tookme on was to the third world and
I'd never really experiencedthat.
(06:48):
It was the mid-90s, so around93, I think, and I went to Rio
de Janeiro and I kind of saw theworld, the way that it worked
and the incredible disparitybetween the third world and the
first and east and the west andall that sort of thing.
So I got an idea of the balanceand what was going on and I've
(07:11):
always been interested incapitalism and the way we live
and the way we function as asociety and the bigger pictures.
I like bigger pictures.
So I talk about bigger picturesa lot thematically through my
music, but often hidden bytongue, in cheekness.
You know profanity, comedybecause I have that luxury.
I have the luxury of living avery comfortable life.
So I see life as a comedyrather than a tragedy.
(07:33):
That is the true luxury of mylife.
I approach music and lyricalwriting with that in mind.
Speaker 1 (07:39):
Apart from being, you know, a great musician and a
talented songwriter, you arealso a very talented animator
and animated several ofRegurgitator's music videos.
Speaker 2 (07:52):
When did you realise you?
Speaker 1 (07:53):
had a talent for that art form.
Speaker 2 (07:56):
I think using the word talent a little bit
liberally there, I mean I dabble, I dabble, all those things
that you've mentioned that I cando I still feel like I'm a
hobbyist in lots of ways.
I don't think of myself as a Imean I don't know if there's
many people who do there are butsome people really embrace the
artist's lifestyle, embrace thatwhole notion of the artist and
(08:18):
really embody it, and I feellike I've always been a dabbler
in things and I never takethings seriously enough to be
called that or treated that.
So talent is a word that I'm alittle bit uncomfortable with.
I'm definitely.
I love doing stuff.
I love making music and I lovedoing animation when I've got
the time, but there's so much tolearn and so you need to
practice these things like everyday for hours and hours, and
(08:40):
hours.
I'm at an age where obviously Ihaven't got that kind of
youthful energy that I used to,but I still love doing those
things.
I feel like if I wanted to bereally great at something, I
would have to do it every dayfor 10 hours a day for the next
15 years to really say that Iwas accomplished at anything in
particular.
So when you say that I'm amusician, it doesn't really sit
that well with me, because thereare so many musicians out there
(09:03):
who play their instruments withfar more finesse and far more
skill than I do.
I get up there and I make aracket and I have a good time.
I say what I want to say.
If that makes me a musician,then you know I think you're
very modest, but it's lovelyyeah, okay, thanks, I'll take
that still rocking the podcastwith that radio chick, cheryl
(09:23):
lee.
Speaker 1 (09:24):
Let's have one of those songs now.
How about Exclamation Point,the song formerly known as,
released as a double A-sidedsingle with Modern Life in 1988
as the fourth and final singlefrom the band's second studio
album, Unit.
Back to speak some more to Kwanshortly.
I don't go to parties.
(09:45):
Baby Got to talk about the tourHotter Than Hell tour.
You guys are doing the wholefive dates.
Some of the bands are coming inand out, but you guys are doing
every date of the tour.
Yes, the headlining, includingLittle Old Adelaide here at
Jepps Cross.
Adelaideans, get onto theGooglometer hotterthanhellcomau
(10:06):
and get your tickets.
Don't leave it to the lastminute, like you usually do,
because Jepps Cross isn't a hugevenue, so it will sell out.
I'm telling you now have youtoured with many of these other
bands on the bill before?
Speaker 2 (10:20):
Yeah, I mean Jebadiah is a band that we've toured
with very extensively and we'retouring a bit with lately as
well, just in the last couple ofyears, which is really lovely
because we haven't seen them fora long spate and you just get
to connect with them as an older, as an adult, as an older adult
, and it's just really lovely tosee how people have matured and
kind of lived over the last 20years, because we've been doing
(10:42):
this for 30 years and the bandsthat we're playing with now from
the 90s have been doing it forthe same.
They've survived and they'vegone through the same sort of
stuff that we have.
So it's really lovely toreconnect and also to realize
how great live bands they are.
You know, there's a reason whythese bands were really popular.
It's because they're reallygreat at what they do and I've
got a sort of newer likeappreciation for that, because I
(11:04):
can see it with older eyes andsee it out of the competitive
arena of when you're coming upas a young band with these bands
around you.
So that's been really lovely.
I cannot recall whether weplayed with any of the American
bands on this.
We must have done big day outswith them from time to time, but
I'm really interested in seeingthem as well because they come
(11:25):
from the same sort of era.
So it is really cool.
Little Birdie we played with acouple of times as well.
So, yeah, it's just theaudience gets that nostalgic
kick from seeing the music thatthey grew up with, but we also
share that nostalgic thing withthe bands that we played with as
well, so that's quite different.
Speaker 1 (11:42):
So many great bands came out of the 90s.
It's pretty much all theirfavourites from the 90s.
How can that possibly be thatthat was 30 years ago, like
we're only 21, right?
Speaker 2 (11:53):
Yeah, that's right, it's weird, it's tough.
I remember when people startedtalking about the 90s as an era
like the 70s or like the 60s, itwas a really weird mind mess
with me.
I couldn't really deal with it.
But yeah, I mean, it's a thing,it's definitely a thing it's
hard to believe it was that longago.
Speaker 1 (12:13):
It's that you know.
If you say the 90s, the lastdecade yeah, exactly feels like
that so hotter than hell,headliners, regurgitator from
the us, less than Than Jake andUnwritten Law.
Also appearing Jebediah, littleBirdie, adelita, the Bennies
and the Kick-Ons.
Not all bands playing in allvenues, so get on to
(12:37):
hotterthanhellcomau and checkout who's playing in your town.
Speaker 2 (12:43):
You are listening to Still Rocking it.
The podcast with Cheryl Lee.
Speaker 1 (12:48):
Let's have one from Jebediah, shall we?
Leaving home?
And then we're back to speaksome more to regurgitators.
Quan Yeomans, leaving home,life was never good today.
Leaving home, you guys have gottwo children.
Are they musical?
Are they following in Dad'sfamily business footsteps?
Speaker 2 (13:08):
Not mine.
I know Ben's a little bit moretalented.
He's got three girls now, buttwo ones that are over 19,
almost 20, 22.
The elder one is playing inbands Definitely Anouk is
playing in bands.
They're both in Melbourne now.
So they're both either inMelbourne Ben's actually up in
Brisbane but they're both quitemusically talented.
I think Dee's got a great voiceand she's more into making and
(13:33):
art and stuff like that, butthey're both very creative.
My boys are younger, they'reonly seven and ten.
I don't know how theircreativity will actually form at
this point.
I can't quite see it.
Speaker 1 (13:44):
Might be a little bit too early to tell.
Speaker 2 (13:46):
Yeah, they seem to be reasonably intelligent and
they're open and I think they'recheeky, so there might be
something interesting going on,but I would never force them to
do what.
Speaker 1 (13:54):
I want to do.
Speaker 2 (13:55):
I think it would be a waste of energy.
Speaker 1 (13:57):
I know we haven't got much longer, so I'd better be
quick.
I'm going to ask you if they'reis a question that you've
always wanted an interviewer toask you.
Speaker 2 (14:10):
I think the kinds of interviews I love are the
conversational ones, whereyou're just sitting with a
friend almost, or with anacquaintance that you've just
met and you're kind of gettingto know them.
So I'm going to be reallyboring and say there's no
particular question that I couldask anyone to ask me.
I would more like sometimes toflip it.
You know, sometimes aninterview doesn't go
particularly well because theperson's not particularly
(14:32):
interested in your music, andthat's fair enough.
There's sometimes they don'tknow anything about you.
If I find myself in thatsituation, it's usually a
younger interviewer who's like,not from your era or whatever,
and has no particular interest.
What are you saying?
I would rather ask them aboutthemselves or find out about
them.
So that's the kind of thingthat I would like an interview
when it goes astray.
Speaker 1 (14:52):
That's a good idea.
Last question, because I thinkour time might be nearly up what
is on your playlist?
If you're in the car or in theshower and can listen to
whatever you like, what are youlistening to?
Speaker 2 (15:08):
I usually get caught on like occasional songs that
are like just random singles,because you know, I listen to a
lot of streaming music.
I don't actually have a recordplayer set up on regular so I
don't listen to music the way Iused to.
I don't have a cd playeranymore either.
So I'm, like, you know, mostyoung people and most people
around the world.
So I really really like thistrack by Ivan Ooze called Snack
(15:30):
at the moment, which I kind oflisten to over and over.
I've been listening to itbecause my kids go to school and
I did a bit of a band class atschool their primary school so I
had to learn about Taylor Swiftand listen to the songs so I
could teach them how to playthem.
So I listened to a bit ofTaylor Swift over the last.
So that got me into mainstreampop stuff, which I've avoided
for years and years, and Ireally got hooked on Olivia
(15:51):
Rodriguez's last record Greatpop songwriting.
But you know, for pleasure Imight listen to hip-hop.
Mostly.
I really enjoy listening tohip-hop, even though I hate a
lot of it.
A lot of the modern stuff makesno sense to me at all, but
occasionally the songs willstick out to me.
I really like the song by mike,which is quite old now, called
(16:13):
swish, just about him being aballer and like he's an
ex-baseball player who becamelike a, a big, reasonably large
rapper.
Just a weird career change andthere's a yeah, there's a couple
of his songs that I appreciate.
But yeah, I do I do like DannyBrown, I like clipping, I like
the more weirder hip-hop acts.
I love Tyler the creator.
(16:33):
Yeah, anything that's got alittle bit of spark or a little
bit of a backstory, that's alittle bit interesting.
I like to listen to it If it'sjust pure relaxing classical
music Vivaldi is always myfavourite, bach, bach and
Vivaldi, Nice.
Speaker 1 (16:50):
I.
Classical music, Vivaldi isalways my favourite Bach, Bach
and Vivaldi Nice.
I've got three daughters, soI've heard enough Taylor Swift
to last me the rest of my life.
But Olivia Rodriguez I wasactually chatting to Kevin the
other day from Jebediah, he'sgot two girls.
They're off to see OliviaRodriguez when she comes.
Lucky ducks.
Speaker 2 (17:05):
There you go.
Yeah, I was due to go, but Ifound out that it was a Ticketek
thing or a Live Nation thingand my manager was like you
can't go to that.
I was like, yeah, I know Ican't go to that.
I really it sucks.
Speaker 1 (17:16):
We wish you all the best as you embark on the Hotter
Than Hell tour.
We shall see you down the front.
Speaker 2 (17:23):
Thank you so much.
Thanks so much for your time.
I'm really looking forward toplaying in adelaide.
We always have a ball inadelaide, so it should be a hoot
no, thank you for your time.
Speaker 1 (17:30):
I really appreciate you sitting down and having a
quick chat with us absolutepleasure, thank you still
rocking the podcast with thatradio chick, cheryl lee.
Let's go out with one ofthey're probably more well-known
hits in the mainstream from1997 regurgitators, polyester
Girl, my polyester girl, sostrong Polyester girl.
(17:54):
You're with Cheryl Lee, thatradio chick.
Thank you so much for joiningme on the Still Rocking it
podcast.
Hope to catch you again nexttime.
Get out when you can supportAussie music and I'll see you
down the front.
That Radio Cheek Cheryl Lee here.
Welcome to the Still Rocking itpodcast where we'll have music
news, reviews and interviewswith some of our favourite
Australian musicians and artists.
Today we're speaking toAustralian musician best known
as the front man of Regurgitator, Qan Yeomans.
Born in Sydney to fifthgeneration Australian father,
(00:23):
neville and his mother Leen, awell-known Vietnamese Australian
chef and author.
Along with regurgitatorsbassist and co-vocalist Ben Eli,
they wrote most of the punksongs that made the 90s band
famous, and they're out on theroad again.
To catch up on podcasts fromother favorite artists, simply
(00:46):
go to that radio chickcomau.
You're with cheryl lead and I'dlike to welcome into the zoom
room today kwan yeomans, frontman of regurgitator.
Thank you so much for joining ustoday pleasure, absolute
pleasure because I know you'vegot a busy workload coming up,
so really appreciate your timewith us.
(01:08):
I was going to ask you do youcome from a musical family clan?
Your parents musical no, notreally.
Speaker 2 (01:18):
I would say my father played the clarinet when he was
very young, but I have noevidence of that, apart from the
old clarinet that I found ofhis in the attic of the terrace
that we used to live in inSydney.
I've never heard him play.
He's a bit of a whistler, butthat's about it.
I don't think it really coversmy mother's interested in music
but was never particularly goodat it, so no, I don't.
(01:47):
She was the one that organizedyour lessons as a child, didn't
she?
Piano lessons, yes, which Ireally really pushed back
against.
I really didn't like learningthe piano when I was younger, so
took to the guitar because Ifound the instrument myself and
wanted to learn, and wanted tolearn off just listening to Led
Zeppelin records and JimiHendrix records, and that's
really how I developed as aguitar player when did you first
pick up the guitar?
Speaker 1 (02:05):
Until I was 13 or 14, I think.
In high school.
Speaker 2 (02:09):
Yes, there were some just acoustic instruments around
and I think there was anacoustic guitar at home which I
played.
But my mother was really kindand she did buy me my first
guitar on a visit to LA, becausea lot of her Vietnamese family
are based in the US.
So she went to the guitarcentre, I believe, and bought
back a Gibson an S1, which is akind of a Stratocaster version
(02:31):
of a Gibson guitar which hadthree single coils in it.
Quite a nice guitar actually,and reasonable neck on it.
So I think I had a good guitarto start with, that's for sure.
Speaker 1 (02:40):
When did you realise that music was going to be your
destiny?
It was your passion, and wasthere ever any plan B in there
if it didn't pan out?
Speaker 2 (02:51):
My family, my mother's side, particularly not
great at plan Bs.
We just go with whatever seemsto fall in our laps and, just,
you know, point the ship forwardand go for it.
But she did secretly want Ithink she really wanted me to be
an architect or an industrialengineer.
So there was a little bit ofthat like residue wanted to have
the child live her dreams thatshe couldn't fulfil.
(03:14):
But it was quickly like put astop to.
Speaker 1 (03:17):
She wanted to live vicariously through you, but you
weren't into architecture.
Speaker 2 (03:21):
I wasn't into architecture.
My dad was a psychiatrist aswell, and there was certainly no
way that I was going to do that.
So the one thing that my motherdid do was put up with the
noise and encourage me they wereboth very encouraging of
whatever I wanted to do.
Speaker 1 (03:33):
Well, lucky you did pan out, then yeah exactly.
Speaker 2 (03:36):
Well, it's debatable, isn't it?
Speaker 1 (03:39):
How do you meet someone, a stranger, on a bus
and find out you both playguitar, you both like the same
music and form a band?
Speaker 2 (03:51):
Well, there's a bit of mythology there, a little bit
of legend making.
Actually, we had met beforethat, not formally I don't think
, but we played together invenues around Bristol.
Then I was in a band calledPengae who was doing quite well
in the local scene, and I was ina kind of weird punk fusion
band called zorastia at the time, so we had supported them on a
couple occasions.
(04:11):
He had seen the band, said Ireally like the guitar player
and he was.
He's a real connecting peopleperson.
Uh, he loves jamming.
I'm very shy, introverted inlots of ways, so I don't really
get into it, but he convinced meto have a jam with him.
The way that we really met wasbecause he was hanging out with
the lead singer from my band andthey wanted to score weed and
(04:33):
my mother was notorious.
My singer knew that my mothersmoked a shit ton of weed and
had some always in the house.
She said come over, we can getsome from Kwan's mum's place,
then you can say a quick helloto him.
I was in the basement, he gotblown out with my mum, came down
, heard me mucking around on afour track and then we, you know
, we spoke then and the rest ishistory.
(04:54):
We live in a very similar area,so we would catch the bus and we
would see each otheroccasionally.
So he probably said a couple oftimes on the bus as well.
Speaker 1 (05:01):
But I love that story got stoned out of his mind with
your mother.
Yeah, that's right.
But also I really liked theurban myth bus story that you
just met on a bus and became aband.
There's more to it than that.
Speaker 2 (05:15):
Well, brisbane was a pretty small city back then, so
most of the musicians wereprobably able to be contained on
the bus at that point.
You are listening to StillRocking it.
The podcast with Cheryl Lee.
Speaker 1 (05:30):
Let's have a quick break and listen to Immigrant
Song by Led Zeppelin from theMothership album from 1970,
which Kwan played to on hisbrand new guitar.
And then we're back to speak toKlan straight after this.
You are the major songwriter ofRegurgitator, one of two.
(05:56):
It's a pretty unique sort ofgenre of songs, I guess.
Where do you find yourinspiration for your songs?
Inspiration?
Speaker 2 (06:07):
Generally I will take from the world around me.
So like everyone else I guess Idon't have.
I've had a very, very easy life.
I don't have a lot of trauma inmy life.
Fortunately, somehow, eventhough my mother lived through
like a French war and my fatherlived through depression, they
somehow managed to protect mefrom that kind of traumatic
(06:28):
experience which they could havequite easily passed down
intergenerationally.
So I live a very middle classexistence.
I was taken overseas by myfather and I've traveled quite
extensively as a mid-30s kind ofcharacter, lived overseas as
well.
But the first trip my dad tookme on was to the third world and
I'd never really experiencedthat.
(06:48):
It was the mid-90s, so around93, I think, and I went to Rio
de Janeiro and I kind of saw theworld, the way that it worked
and the incredible disparitybetween the third world and the
first and east and the west andall that sort of thing.
So I got an idea of the balanceand what was going on and I've
(07:11):
always been interested incapitalism and the way we live
and the way we function as asociety and the bigger pictures.
I like bigger pictures.
So I talk about bigger picturesa lot thematically through my
music, but often hidden bytongue, in cheekness.
You know profanity, comedybecause I have that luxury.
I have the luxury of living avery comfortable life.
So I see life as a comedyrather than a tragedy.
(07:33):
That is the true luxury of mylife.
I approach music and lyricalwriting with that in mind.
Speaker 1 (07:39):
Apart from being, you know, a great musician and a
talented songwriter, you arealso a very talented animator
and animated several ofRegurgitator's music videos.
Speaker 2 (07:52):
When did you realise you?
Speaker 1 (07:53):
had a talent for that art form.
Speaker 2 (07:56):
I think using the word talent a little bit
liberally there, I mean I dabble, I dabble, all those things
that you've mentioned that I cando I still feel like I'm a
hobbyist in lots of ways.
I don't think of myself as a Imean I don't know if there's
many people who do there are butsome people really embrace the
artist's lifestyle, embrace thatwhole notion of the artist and
(08:18):
really embody it, and I feellike I've always been a dabbler
in things and I never takethings seriously enough to be
called that or treated that.
So talent is a word that I'm alittle bit uncomfortable with.
I'm definitely.
I love doing stuff.
I love making music and I lovedoing animation when I've got
the time, but there's so much tolearn and so you need to
practice these things like everyday for hours and hours, and
(08:40):
hours.
I'm at an age where obviously Ihaven't got that kind of
youthful energy that I used to,but I still love doing those
things.
I feel like if I wanted to bereally great at something, I
would have to do it every dayfor 10 hours a day for the next
15 years to really say that Iwas accomplished at anything in
particular.
So when you say that I'm amusician, it doesn't really sit
that well with me, because thereare so many musicians out there
(09:03):
who play their instruments withfar more finesse and far more
skill than I do.
I get up there and I make aracket and I have a good time.
I say what I want to say.
If that makes me a musician,then you know I think you're
very modest, but it's lovelyyeah, okay, thanks, I'll take
that still rocking the podcastwith that radio chick, cheryl
(09:23):
lee.
Speaker 1 (09:24):
Let's have one of those songs now.
How about Exclamation Point,the song formerly known as,
released as a double A-sidedsingle with Modern Life in 1988
as the fourth and final singlefrom the band's second studio
album, Unit.
Back to speak some more to Kwanshortly.
I don't go to parties.
(09:45):
Baby Got to talk about the tourHotter Than Hell tour.
You guys are doing the wholefive dates.
Some of the bands are coming inand out, but you guys are doing
every date of the tour.
Yes, the headlining, includingLittle Old Adelaide here at
Jepps Cross.
Adelaideans, get onto theGooglometer hotterthanhellcomau
(10:06):
and get your tickets.
Don't leave it to the lastminute, like you usually do,
because Jepps Cross isn't a hugevenue, so it will sell out.
I'm telling you now have youtoured with many of these other
bands on the bill before?
Speaker 2 (10:20):
Yeah, I mean Jebadiah is a band that we've toured
with very extensively and we'retouring a bit with lately as
well, just in the last couple ofyears, which is really lovely
because we haven't seen them fora long spate and you just get
to connect with them as an older, as an adult, as an older adult
, and it's just really lovely tosee how people have matured and
kind of lived over the last 20years, because we've been doing
(10:42):
this for 30 years and the bandsthat we're playing with now from
the 90s have been doing it forthe same.
They've survived and they'vegone through the same sort of
stuff that we have.
So it's really lovely toreconnect and also to realize
how great live bands they are.
You know, there's a reason whythese bands were really popular.
It's because they're reallygreat at what they do and I've
got a sort of newer likeappreciation for that, because I
(11:04):
can see it with older eyes andsee it out of the competitive
arena of when you're coming upas a young band with these bands
around you.
So that's been really lovely.
I cannot recall whether weplayed with any of the American
bands on this.
We must have done big day outswith them from time to time, but
I'm really interested in seeingthem as well because they come
(11:25):
from the same sort of era.
So it is really cool.
Little Birdie we played with acouple of times as well.
So, yeah, it's just theaudience gets that nostalgic
kick from seeing the music thatthey grew up with, but we also
share that nostalgic thing withthe bands that we played with as
well, so that's quite different.
Speaker 1 (11:42):
So many great bands came out of the 90s.
It's pretty much all theirfavourites from the 90s.
How can that possibly be thatthat was 30 years ago, like
we're only 21, right?
Speaker 2 (11:53):
Yeah, that's right, it's weird, it's tough.
I remember when people startedtalking about the 90s as an era
like the 70s or like the 60s, itwas a really weird mind mess
with me.
I couldn't really deal with it.
But yeah, I mean, it's a thing,it's definitely a thing it's
hard to believe it was that longago.
Speaker 1 (12:13):
It's that you know.
If you say the 90s, the lastdecade yeah, exactly feels like
that so hotter than hell,headliners, regurgitator from
the us, less than Than Jake andUnwritten Law.
Also appearing Jebediah, littleBirdie, adelita, the Bennies
and the Kick-Ons.
Not all bands playing in allvenues, so get on to
(12:37):
hotterthanhellcomau and checkout who's playing in your town.
Speaker 2 (12:43):
You are listening to Still Rocking it.
The podcast with Cheryl Lee.
Speaker 1 (12:48):
Let's have one from Jebediah, shall we?
Leaving home?
And then we're back to speaksome more to regurgitators.
Quan Yeomans, leaving home,life was never good today.
Leaving home, you guys have gottwo children.
Are they musical?
Are they following in Dad'sfamily business footsteps?
Speaker 2 (13:08):
Not mine.
I know Ben's a little bit moretalented.
He's got three girls now, buttwo ones that are over 19,
almost 20, 22.
The elder one is playing inbands Definitely Anouk is
playing in bands.
They're both in Melbourne now.
So they're both either inMelbourne Ben's actually up in
Brisbane but they're both quitemusically talented.
I think Dee's got a great voiceand she's more into making and
(13:33):
art and stuff like that, butthey're both very creative.
My boys are younger, they'reonly seven and ten.
I don't know how theircreativity will actually form at
this point.
I can't quite see it.
Speaker 1 (13:44):
Might be a little bit too early to tell.
Speaker 2 (13:46):
Yeah, they seem to be reasonably intelligent and
they're open and I think they'recheeky, so there might be
something interesting going on,but I would never force them to
do what.
Speaker 1 (13:54):
I want to do.
Speaker 2 (13:55):
I think it would be a waste of energy.
Speaker 1 (13:57):
I know we haven't got much longer, so I'd better be
quick.
I'm going to ask you if they'reis a question that you've
always wanted an interviewer toask you.
Speaker 2 (14:10):
I think the kinds of interviews I love are the
conversational ones, whereyou're just sitting with a
friend almost, or with anacquaintance that you've just
met and you're kind of gettingto know them.
So I'm going to be reallyboring and say there's no
particular question that I couldask anyone to ask me.
I would more like sometimes toflip it.
You know, sometimes aninterview doesn't go
particularly well because theperson's not particularly
(14:32):
interested in your music, andthat's fair enough.
There's sometimes they don'tknow anything about you.
If I find myself in thatsituation, it's usually a
younger interviewer who's like,not from your era or whatever,
and has no particular interest.
What are you saying?
I would rather ask them aboutthemselves or find out about
them.
So that's the kind of thingthat I would like an interview
when it goes astray.
Speaker 1 (14:52):
That's a good idea.
Last question, because I thinkour time might be nearly up what
is on your playlist?
If you're in the car or in theshower and can listen to
whatever you like, what are youlistening to?
Speaker 2 (15:08):
I usually get caught on like occasional songs that
are like just random singles,because you know, I listen to a
lot of streaming music.
I don't actually have a recordplayer set up on regular so I
don't listen to music the way Iused to.
I don't have a cd playeranymore either.
So I'm, like, you know, mostyoung people and most people
around the world.
So I really really like thistrack by Ivan Ooze called Snack
(15:30):
at the moment, which I kind oflisten to over and over.
I've been listening to itbecause my kids go to school and
I did a bit of a band class atschool their primary school so I
had to learn about Taylor Swiftand listen to the songs so I
could teach them how to playthem.
So I listened to a bit ofTaylor Swift over the last.
So that got me into mainstreampop stuff, which I've avoided
for years and years, and Ireally got hooked on Olivia
(15:51):
Rodriguez's last record Greatpop songwriting.
But you know, for pleasure Imight listen to hip-hop.
Mostly.
I really enjoy listening tohip-hop, even though I hate a
lot of it.
A lot of the modern stuff makesno sense to me at all, but
occasionally the songs willstick out to me.
I really like the song by mike,which is quite old now, called
(16:13):
swish, just about him being aballer and like he's an
ex-baseball player who becamelike a, a big, reasonably large
rapper.
Just a weird career change andthere's a yeah, there's a couple
of his songs that I appreciate.
But yeah, I do I do like DannyBrown, I like clipping, I like
the more weirder hip-hop acts.
I love Tyler the creator.
(16:33):
Yeah, anything that's got alittle bit of spark or a little
bit of a backstory, that's alittle bit interesting.
I like to listen to it If it'sjust pure relaxing classical
music Vivaldi is always myfavourite, bach, bach and
Vivaldi, Nice.
Speaker 1 (16:50):
I.
Classical music, Vivaldi isalways my favourite Bach, Bach
and Vivaldi Nice.
I've got three daughters, soI've heard enough Taylor Swift
to last me the rest of my life.
But Olivia Rodriguez I wasactually chatting to Kevin the
other day from Jebediah, he'sgot two girls.
They're off to see OliviaRodriguez when she comes.
Lucky ducks.
Speaker 2 (17:05):
There you go.
Yeah, I was due to go, but Ifound out that it was a Ticketek
thing or a Live Nation thingand my manager was like you
can't go to that.
I was like, yeah, I know Ican't go to that.
I really it sucks.
Speaker 1 (17:16):
We wish you all the best as you embark on the Hotter
Than Hell tour.
We shall see you down the front.
Speaker 2 (17:23):
Thank you so much.
Thanks so much for your time.
I'm really looking forward toplaying in adelaide.
We always have a ball inadelaide, so it should be a hoot
no, thank you for your time.
Speaker 1 (17:30):
I really appreciate you sitting down and having a
quick chat with us absolutepleasure, thank you still
rocking the podcast with thatradio chick, cheryl lee.
Let's go out with one ofthey're probably more well-known
hits in the mainstream from1997 regurgitators, polyester
Girl, my polyester girl, sostrong Polyester girl.
(17:54):
You're with Cheryl Lee, thatradio chick.
Thank you so much for joiningme on the Still Rocking it
podcast.
Hope to catch you again nexttime.
Get out when you can supportAussie music and I'll see you
down the front.
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