The documentary changes nothing in that regard and easily allows anyone to believe exactly what they want. When Flynn was asked, via email, about The Residents’ identity and what takes place in “Theory of Obscurity,” he replied: “While everything has been hinted at or suggested, the identities of The Residents have never been revealed. I think it misses, in some way, some of the darker aspects of The Residents, treats them as a happier product than perhaps they actually are.” “My first question to Don when he approached us,” says Fox, “was ‘How are you going to do a film about obscurity?’ I think he takes an approach to it, an angle that might be more compatible with a film audience. The film drops hints about who The Residents may be - or may have been - but never quite lifts the veil. It starts with the members’ relocation from outside Shreveport, Louisiana, to San Francisco during the psychedelic ‘60s and follows them through the middle of this decade. The opening “act” at Royale will be a documentary, “Theory of Obscurity: a Film About The Residents,” written, directed and co-produced by Don Hardy. You can’t really see that if it it’s original music, but you can really see if it’s a cover.” The Residents became almost a ‘style’ rather than just a band playing a different song. By doing covers they were able to explain to people how their sound was different than the original sound. If you had to call them anything musical, he adds, “They felt like they were more akin to jazz. The Residents had to reinvent themselves to survive and I think what we’ve got going on right now with this cover band approach is just another reinvention, another way of seeing The Residents and another way of them seeing themselves as what they may have been like if they had been a band at the beginning.”įox says the group felt more like producers and multi-media artists when they started. He’s not touring anymore, so he’s been replaced by Rico. Hardy explains the super-meta concept employed this time: “The band is Randy, Chuck and Bob - although Chuck has retired. They claim to have nothing to do with the music-making/touring aspect of it. Officially, Fox and Flynn helm Cryptic Corp., founded in 1976, handle business and design aspects of The Residents. So explains Hardy Fox, who along with Homer Flynn, shares official spokesmen duties for the group.
And here’s the twist - as if there needed to be another one - the conceit this time is that The Residents are performing under the auspices of being “the world’s best Residents cover band.” The Residents are currently a singer, a guitarist and a drum programmer/special effects coordinator. The Residents are a band that can strike you simultaneously as alluring and repellent, whimsical and malevolent. There are offshoots of foul, such as cranky, agitated, aghast and, at their best, bemused. The Residents - minimalist in structure, ominous in tone - are not always in a full-on foul mood. They’re all-seeing, but impervious to emotional display.Īs a musical entity, The Residents have spent a lifetime subverting, deconstructing, disemboweling, and re-contextualizing pop music, whether it be warped, twisted versions of The Beatles, Rolling Stones, Elvis Presley and James Brown songs, or through their own dark, oft-atonal compositions. It’s The Residents “looking” at us as we are looking at The Residents. Their most iconic costume is a giant, bloodshot eyeball-head with a tuxedo and top hat. They’re a group of musicians and performance artists who have always sported some sort of face-masking devices. Or, if they have met, they’ve maintained silence about exactly whom they’ve met.Īnonymity is the calling card of the avant-garde Residents, who perform in Boston at Royale April 25.
Even now with 100-plus CDs and LPs and numerous videos and CD-ROMs to their credit - few people outside of their inner circle and collaborators have truly “met” The Residents. The Residents first landed in the rock music world in 1974 with an album called “Meet The Residents.” Aside from the crazy gang of masked rock ‘n’ rollers having fun with the “Meet The Beatles!” album title and design - with devilish, Dadaist doodling over the Beatles own - it has to still rank as the most ironic rock come-on of all time.Īt the heart of their cult fame is the mystery of who they are. (Courtesy The Residents) This article is more than 6 years old. The Residents at San Francisco's Golden Gate Bridge in 1979.
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