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BUBBLE BOYS

AUSTRALIAN ART ROCK trio Regurgitator say they're looking forward to the Rockit music festival in more ways than one.

Having spent 21 days confined in a 10 by 10-metre glass recording 'bubble', laying down their fifth album, the prospect of playing music outdoors is appealing.

'I can't wait to get back to Hong Kong,' says lead singer Quan Yeoman, just hours after getting out of his enclosure in Melbourne. 'It's such a dynamic place and it'll be great to be in motion again. At this point, I just want to walk in a straight line for 100 metres.'

Hongkongers will be among the first people in the world to hear whether the bubble experiment has paid off. Regurgitator put down 20 songs during their three-week confinement, and now begin an intense rehearsal process ahead of a live performance in Victoria Park later this month.

Yeoman says he still doesn't know what fans will think of the album, or whether it will make the grade. 'Everything is still very surreal at the moment, being outside the bubble,' he says. 'But we do know that the songs we've tracked will have this extraordinary energy about them. It's a bit of a blur because we worked at an incredibly fast pace recording this album.'

For most bands, studio sessions are a private process, allowing them to record away from external influences. But Regurgitator chose to expose themselves, with only a sheet of glass separating them from the outside world. Thousands of people followed the band's every move, gathering around the bubble in Melbourne's city centre. There were also regular updates on the host music network, Channel V, while more voyeuristic fans could keep tabs via a 24-hour cable TV station that relayed vision from dozens of cameras inside and outside.

The idea was originally dreamt up several years ago by Regurgitator's manager, Paul Curtis. The band dismissed it as insane. But last year, while in London, Yeoman saw illusionist David Blaine suspended in a box over the River Thames, and felt inspired to take up the challenge.

Less than 12 months later, Yeoman, bandmates Peter Kostic and Ben Ely, a producer, an engineer and a Channel V TV host entered their tiny purpose-built space, which included a makeshift studio, bunk beds, a bathroom - and an X-Box for entertainment.

Going into the bubble, Yeoman was excited. 'The band will be under a completely different process and level of scrutiny,' he said. 'It's a very private thing when you're in the studio, and that's something we've let go of, and we've said, 'Hey, this is a public thing.' And so our approach will be very different.

'I think the more extreme the situation is, the more value it will have as a project. If it's not as extreme as it should be, I think people will see it as a gimmick or a novelty. This will be different to reality TV shows like Big Brother in that there's no competition, and there's no voting off. This falls into something called metaculture and it's about us making the creative process more public.'

Bass player Ely said he hoped the unusual situation would make the band 'go insane enough' to come up with music that was different. 'We're looking forward to seeing what will happen in a creative way, and we hope to experiment with the audience, as well,' he said.

The band were keen for onlookers to be involved, and had microphones fitted around the outside of the dome. This allowed them to record their discussions with people and incidental sounds. These now form part of the album's soundscape. Sometimes, the band would stop recording to ask people questions, and have them critique the music as they were making it.

At times, the band's interaction with the audience got a little too close. On September 11, three inebriated intruders scaled a perimeter fence. The Channel V host got the producers to turn off the sound and point the cameras to the ceiling. He later told the media the incident had frayed his nerves.

The only other contact with the outside world came in the form of web chats with fans and SMS messages. These included well wishes from Supergrass and Blink 182.

Yeoman says the most challenging part of the 21-day exercise was that he found it difficult to get a perspective on what it might have been like to watch the band from the outside. 'It's confusing because I haven't had any critical analysis of my own situation,' he says. 'I've been interacting in the most bizarre way - having random conversations with people through the glass and staring at them and having them stare at us.'

Apart from being slightly unnerved by the level of scrutiny, the band seems to have emerged largely unscathed, relationships intact. Going in, Ely said he was confident the band was 'fairly well lubricated' in the way they worked together.

The group have already decided that the first single. The Drop, a hip-pop hybrid, will be their first release, later this month. The untitled album is due out in Australia on November 8.

Other songs likely to be included on the final cut, include Metal is Big in the Baltic States, Pretty Girls Swear, I Was Sent by God, and I Hate My Band. Then, the touring starts in earnest, with music festivals locally and abroad.

Yeoman, who rates Hong Kong as one of his favourite destinations, says the band decided on a repeat performance at Rockit after a great reception headlining the event last year.

'We played at the first one and it's great to be part of something new,' he says. 'Most music festivals start off small anyway. Hong Kong is such a vibrant place that it's a shame it doesn't have more live music, and that's what people whinge about.'

The group has been asked by concert organisers to star in a feature film. Yeoman says they don't know too many details, but they're more than happy to be involved in a Hong Kong flick. Regurgitator, who at one stage had a strong following in Japan, say they'd like to increase their focus on Asia, which could mean more touring in the near future.

Meanwhile, fans can listen to what happens when you lock three musicians in a room for three weeks.

Rockit Music Festival, October 23-24, 11am-11pm, Victoria Park, Causeway Bay. Information: www.rockit-hk.com

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