Legend Has It Regurgitator Met On A Bus - It Really Involved Skinny Dipping & Mushrooms

So, you know how legend has it that the founding members of revered Brisbane band Regurgitator met on a bus? Well, in the latest season of Rewind With Steve Bell, that origin story is debunked by band member Ben Ely.

In the podcast, alongside long-time manager Paul Curtis, Ely recalls first spotting future bandmate Quan Yeomans on stage at the Boulder Lodge in the early ‘90s. At the time Yeomans was playing with punk band Zooerastia, Ely recalls, "I just saw Quan and he had these little tiny, hot pants on… he seemed really cool, but I didn't meet him that night.”

Ely insists that their first proper encounter happened at a hippy hangout in regional Queensland. And, this time there was even less clothing than the hot pants.

Ely had a friend with an “old hippy kind of place”, he explains: “He used to throw these wild, full moon parties where he would collect all of the refuge from the property and make these big bonfires…. And he had a sweat lodge and everyone's walking around naked and you'd jump in the dam and sit in the sweat lodge naked. 

“But he also had a stage. He was a drummer and he had a stage. He had no electricity, but a generator that he put in the forest and we would run an extension lead to the stage and he just had a set up and everyone would just, you know, hippie jam. 

“And then… I had some mushrooms and I was just starting to trip and then I picked up the bass and was playing… and the drummer went away and then Quan came up and I was like, ‘Oh my God.’ l was looking at him going, ‘Oh, that's a dude from that crazy band.’ And then he was playing drums and he's a really good drummer. Like he's really funky. He doesn't play drums in any band, but he's a really good drummer.”

According to Ely, his trippy jam led to a skinny-dip and an odd bushwalk - a friendship was born. Ely: “Quan was drinking and we, we got naked and jumped in the lake and then got in the sweat box. And then we walked through the forest, like, and then Quan was like getting the leaves and licking the leaves and rubbing them on his face. And he's going, they're so beautiful. And I was, I was tripping, but he wasn't, I was going, ‘Man, this guy is far out.’”

As the story concludes, manager Curtis states bluntly: “And, you just blew the myth of the bus story.”

The Oral History Of Regurgitator’s Tu-Plang features on this season of Rewind With Steve Bell. Guests include the original Regurgitator line-up: Quan Yeomans, Ben Ely and Martin Lee. Plus manager Paul Curtis, former Warner A&R Michael Parisi and album producer Lachlan “Magoo” Goold.

Check out part one of Rewind's special deep dive into Tu-Plang below on Apple Podcasts and Spotify, or anywhere you usually get your podcasts.
 

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Catch up on all previous episodes of Rewind here, and you can also check out all the other Handshake podcasts below:

• The Green Room With Tiana Speter - join host Tiana Speter as she chats with some of the biggest names in music, film and comedy
  
• That Sucks! - fortnightly musings about the worst of your favourite things
• The Take With Willie Mason - join ex-Australian and NSW rugby league Willie Mason talking all things sports