Quan Yeomans Doesn't Give "A Shit About Legacy"

Regurgitator vocalist Quan Yeomans is the first to admit the years have been kind to him after more than two decades in the music business.

The 42-year-old recently relocated to Melbourne from Hong Kong and he says he has seen some drastic changes in the music scene.

"I don't give a shit about legacy and it is such a ridiculous thing to take seriously but so long as you are doing good and not being a complete prick about it all the time, then you will last," Yeomans says.

"There are a lot of damaged people in the industry and they are good because they are damaged, but the price of fame can be horrendous.

"I am happy at being mediocre and the rest of it is timing and luck and whether you become successful in the industry. I am happy not to be obsessive and lead a normal life.

"If I was obsessive I would not have the great wife and child I have, so it can sometimes be a terrible price to pay to have that brilliance."

After 10 albums, plus numerous EPs and awards, Yeomans says he is still flattered when approached by younger fans and artists.

"I had the bass player from Jet come up to me and say I used to listen to you guys all the time and Alison Wonderland came up to me and said she was a big fan, which was a surprise.

"Audiences to me have become old and that is the great thing for us - we did look after ourselves," Yeomans chuckles.

"There are audiences that are really young and listen to triple j or internet music and are at the cutting edge.

"I played in Newcastle and it was a really young crowd and pretty intense and enthusiastic, but not many of them knew our older stuff as they weren't born then, then we played a uni and they were a more mature audience.

"People raised on '90s music seem to have more of an analogue response and that is what happens between us and a mature audience, who grew up on the likes of Nirvana.

"Kids today are happy to listen to electronic music and some of these new singers are incredibly talented and have higher expectations but people from our era don't seem to mind a sloppier sound and a sense of humour."

Regurgitator has just released a live album, Nothing Less Than Cheap Imitations, which has been out a couple of months to critical acclaim from fans, something Yeomans says surprised him.

"I heard it and thought, 'Oh my God, we are going to release this?'"

"We didn't want any dubs, just the raw live sound, and fans said they loved it and I said, 'You don't mind that it sounds like shit?'"

"But there is no point in polishing something like this, because that is what we sound like."

The music veteran says his teen angst from the early days has eased and he now takes a wider perspective on life, politics and the music industry.

"People talk about changing the system; the problem is a people problem - people go on about socialism and capitalism - that is not important what is important is instilling better values in our kids.

"This attitude that we need to have more in our lives to be happy is nonsense, you can be perfectly happy on a moderate wage and you put a lot less strain on our society.

"It's not about mass political change, it's about individual change and helping your family and by doing that your family helps the community by being a happier, more integrated unit. That is the way change has to happen."

Originally published in X-Press Magazine