How Regurgitator Beat The Major Labels

One of Australia's best-loved bands, Regurgitator are about to hit the road and play two of their classic records - Tu-Plang and Unit - in their entireties. Frontman Quan Yeomans recently opened up about how the band has managed to keep creative control through their 19-year, and counting, career.

Speaking to Time Off's Steve Bell, he admitted that as long as they were selling records, the major labels would let them do what they wanted. Testament to that is the fact that their first single on a major - Warner - was I Sucked A Lot Of Cock To Get Where I Am.

“Yeah, I mean we had a couple of arguments [with the label] – particularly early on – but if you're selling records, that's enough for them generally,” Yeomans said.

“They'll say their piece, but I don't particularly remember worrying about I Sucked A Lot Of Cock... being called that on the album, or stuff like that. These guys are salesmen and that's what they do best – and they're good at what they do – but if you're selling stuff you can usually get your way. If you stop selling shit things change obviously, and they want to sit in on sessions and they want creative input sometimes, which is just a nightmare, but we certainly got away with a hell of a lot at the beginning, for sure."

In the full interview, which you can read here, Yeomans admits that they actually tried to annoy their early fans with their second album, to see who'd continue to listen to them.