I first read about The Residents in about 1983. They were coming to the UK as part of their first European tour, and would be performing the now legendary ‘Mole Show’ at Hammersmith Odeon. I read various articles and previews about them in the music press and became intrigued. As I was still at school at the time, with only my meagrepocket-money to keep me going, I wasn’t able to go to see them but I was able to find a copy of their ‘Intermission’ record in a local second-hand record shop. Musically, it was completely different to anything I’d previously heard but I really liked it and found myself spurred-on to learn more. Over the ensuing months and years, I bought their records whenever I found them and, even though no two albums were alike, I found myself enjoying them all. I eventually got to see them live in 1986 during their 13th Anniversary Tour and I’m glad to say I’ve seen them on every tour since then.
Although The Residents themselves don’t do interviews, they’ve always worked with the Cryptic Corporation, a trusted consortium of friends and collaborators who take care of the business-side of The Residents’ projects. As part of their duties, they also act as spokesmen for the band and handle interviews as and when they are appropriate. Since the mid-Eighties, the two prominent members of the Cryptic Corp were Hardy Fox and Homer Flynn, until Hardy was forced to retire due to health issues in 2016 (sadly, he passed away in 2018.) But The Residents have continued to work on new projects, including music, film and live performances, so there’s always plenty to talk about. For their latest tour, The Residents are presenting a live interpretation of their classic 1988 album, ‘God in Three Persons’, in collaboration with video artist John Sanborn. With a set of UK dates due shortly, I was fortunate to arrange an interview with Homer Flynn, using that infernal Zoom contraption, in order to discuss The Residents current plans and projects as well as delving into their past…
STOP PRESS…
Two things should be mentioned. Although at the time of the interview everything was in place for the ‘God in Three Persons’ tour, it was suddenly announced in February that the dates had been cancelled due to unforeseen circumstances. We can only hope that they are rescheduled for some point in the near future. That said, I’ve still included Homers’ comments about the tour as I’m sure that fans will appreciate his observations… But on a more positive note, the 50th Anniversary concert that Homer mentions has since been made available as the excellent CD/ DVD release ‘Secret Show’, which offers an entertaining overview of their five decade career. I can’t recommend it enough!
STOP PRESS…
Two things should be mentioned. Although at the time of the interview everything was in place for the ‘God in Three Persons’ tour, it was suddenly announced in February that the dates had been cancelled due to unforeseen circumstances. We can only hope that they are rescheduled for some point in the near future. That said, I’ve still included Homers’ comments about the tour as I’m sure that fans will appreciate his observations… But on a more positive note, the 50th Anniversary concert that Homer mentions has since been made available as the excellent CD/ DVD release ‘Secret Show’, which offers an entertaining overview of their five decade career. I can’t recommend it enough!
So, to begin, the upcoming UK tour will be based on the ‘God in Three Persons’ album. I wondered why they had decided to re-visit that particular album as a live-project now?
‘Well, The Residents have done a lot by this point but of all those things, ‘God in three Persons’ was always near the top of the list of projects that they wanted to develop beyond the original album. It’s just that it’s taken them thirty years to do it! The show actually had its’ premiere at the Museum of Modern Art in New York back in 2020 and was also performed at theatres in San Francisco and Los Angeles, but The Residents really wanted to get the show over to the UK and Europe. The problem at that point was that every time they started to book dates, there would be a Covid lockdown, followed by another Covid lockdown, and so on. Fortunately, during that time we were able to make a really good connection with the AEG agency and they eventually booked this upcoming tour. Everybody seems to be very excited about it and we wish it could have happened sooner, but Covid just kept getting in the way!’
The upcoming tour only features dates in the UK and not in the rest of Europe. Do you know if they intend to do any further performances of ‘God in Three Persons’ after these?
‘There’s one more show planned, which will be in Athens, Greece, but at the moment that’s the only other performance planned after the UK shows. They’ve already moved on to other projects since these dates were originally planned, so they haven’t got the time to do any further touring or dates at the moment…’
They’re working with the media artist John Sanborn on this project. He’s collaborated with The Residents on several previous occasions over the years, but how did this particular project come together?
‘The Residents had always been extremely happy with both the music and text of ‘God in Three Persons’ and always thought the text was very visual. So when they began to create this live performance, they needed someone to help them bring those visual components to life. When they spoke to John, he was adamant that he could do that. Everyone had been very happy working with him in the past and when we were speaking to the Museum of Modern Art, it was one of the things that really engaged them. They thought that having a collaboration between the Residents and John Sanborn would be a great thing, so that’s the combination of elements that had them working with John again.’
‘Well, The Residents have done a lot by this point but of all those things, ‘God in three Persons’ was always near the top of the list of projects that they wanted to develop beyond the original album. It’s just that it’s taken them thirty years to do it! The show actually had its’ premiere at the Museum of Modern Art in New York back in 2020 and was also performed at theatres in San Francisco and Los Angeles, but The Residents really wanted to get the show over to the UK and Europe. The problem at that point was that every time they started to book dates, there would be a Covid lockdown, followed by another Covid lockdown, and so on. Fortunately, during that time we were able to make a really good connection with the AEG agency and they eventually booked this upcoming tour. Everybody seems to be very excited about it and we wish it could have happened sooner, but Covid just kept getting in the way!’
The upcoming tour only features dates in the UK and not in the rest of Europe. Do you know if they intend to do any further performances of ‘God in Three Persons’ after these?
‘There’s one more show planned, which will be in Athens, Greece, but at the moment that’s the only other performance planned after the UK shows. They’ve already moved on to other projects since these dates were originally planned, so they haven’t got the time to do any further touring or dates at the moment…’
They’re working with the media artist John Sanborn on this project. He’s collaborated with The Residents on several previous occasions over the years, but how did this particular project come together?
‘The Residents had always been extremely happy with both the music and text of ‘God in Three Persons’ and always thought the text was very visual. So when they began to create this live performance, they needed someone to help them bring those visual components to life. When they spoke to John, he was adamant that he could do that. Everyone had been very happy working with him in the past and when we were speaking to the Museum of Modern Art, it was one of the things that really engaged them. They thought that having a collaboration between the Residents and John Sanborn would be a great thing, so that’s the combination of elements that had them working with John again.’
There have also been hints and rumours over the years, that The Residents planned to perform a show based on the ‘Eskimo’ album. Do you know how far they ever got with that?
‘Well, there was a guy called Glenn Max, who was a programmer at the South Bank Centre in London. While he was there, they had to close the Centre for a while, due to re-modelling or something like that. During that time he came up with the idea of having a performance of ‘Eskimo’ take place in an actual ice-skating rink, like ‘Eskimo on Ice!’ He really tried to promote the idea of an ‘Eskimo’ live show, although in the end I guess he was unable to convince his superiors to go with it. But even quite recently, there have been conversations going on with a guy named Ego Plum. He’s a composer for films and cartoon soundtracks, in particular ‘SpongeBob’, but a lot of others too… They’ve had conversations with him about working together to create a new version of ‘Eskimo’. There’s an event called ‘A Night of Ideas’, which I think was originally created in France but is now international. They had an idea that they would have an event all over the world, where they would have different artists, musical artists, performers and speakers, all performing at different places on this one night. Anyway, there’s a French Consulate here in San Francisco who have been involved with this thing for a few years and have recently said that they’d really like The Residents to perform in San Francisco as part of this. Well, nothing is entirely confirmed at this moment, but the conversation has all been around The Residents working with Ego Plum to do a partial presentation of ‘Eskimo’. If that happens, they may go beyond that as they also have connections with a guy involved with the Dali Museum in Barcelona and they are currently looking for examples of surreal work to be presented as part of a Dali Celebration. These things are all still just talks at the moment, but if it does go further, who knows what it might become… So, ‘Eskimo’ as a live event still remains on the fringes of what they’re doing and it’s certainly something that may still happen.’
It’s interesting that, while The Residents certainly have respect for the things they’ve done in the past, they’ve never been afraid to go back and re-work or re-develop their older projects…
‘They’ve often gone back and re-interpreted certain songs… ‘It’s a Man’s World’ and ‘Constantinople’ being two good examples. They’ve been re-interpreted over and over again and I think that’s something they really enjoy, re-visiting that material… In fact, there was a show to celebrate their 50th Anniversary about a year ago, at the San Francisco Conservatory. The Residents played, but they also had a lot of guest-artists joining them and I actually think their favourite part of it was hearing all those other people interpreting their material. Also, a few years ago, they released an album called ‘I Am a Resident’, where they invited fans to record their own versions of Residents’ songs and then re-interpreted them in their own way. I think they really enjoyed that, but were also pretty shocked by how many people responded to that idea…’
‘Well, there was a guy called Glenn Max, who was a programmer at the South Bank Centre in London. While he was there, they had to close the Centre for a while, due to re-modelling or something like that. During that time he came up with the idea of having a performance of ‘Eskimo’ take place in an actual ice-skating rink, like ‘Eskimo on Ice!’ He really tried to promote the idea of an ‘Eskimo’ live show, although in the end I guess he was unable to convince his superiors to go with it. But even quite recently, there have been conversations going on with a guy named Ego Plum. He’s a composer for films and cartoon soundtracks, in particular ‘SpongeBob’, but a lot of others too… They’ve had conversations with him about working together to create a new version of ‘Eskimo’. There’s an event called ‘A Night of Ideas’, which I think was originally created in France but is now international. They had an idea that they would have an event all over the world, where they would have different artists, musical artists, performers and speakers, all performing at different places on this one night. Anyway, there’s a French Consulate here in San Francisco who have been involved with this thing for a few years and have recently said that they’d really like The Residents to perform in San Francisco as part of this. Well, nothing is entirely confirmed at this moment, but the conversation has all been around The Residents working with Ego Plum to do a partial presentation of ‘Eskimo’. If that happens, they may go beyond that as they also have connections with a guy involved with the Dali Museum in Barcelona and they are currently looking for examples of surreal work to be presented as part of a Dali Celebration. These things are all still just talks at the moment, but if it does go further, who knows what it might become… So, ‘Eskimo’ as a live event still remains on the fringes of what they’re doing and it’s certainly something that may still happen.’
It’s interesting that, while The Residents certainly have respect for the things they’ve done in the past, they’ve never been afraid to go back and re-work or re-develop their older projects…
‘They’ve often gone back and re-interpreted certain songs… ‘It’s a Man’s World’ and ‘Constantinople’ being two good examples. They’ve been re-interpreted over and over again and I think that’s something they really enjoy, re-visiting that material… In fact, there was a show to celebrate their 50th Anniversary about a year ago, at the San Francisco Conservatory. The Residents played, but they also had a lot of guest-artists joining them and I actually think their favourite part of it was hearing all those other people interpreting their material. Also, a few years ago, they released an album called ‘I Am a Resident’, where they invited fans to record their own versions of Residents’ songs and then re-interpreted them in their own way. I think they really enjoyed that, but were also pretty shocked by how many people responded to that idea…’
There’s always been a playful sense of humour running through The Residents’ work, but a lot of people seem to miss it…
‘They’ve always had a lot of humour in what they do. It may at times be a rather dark sense of humour, but it’s there nonetheless. The problem was that, early-on, the humour was picked-up by the media in a way that saw them being portrayed almost like an inversion of the Bonzo Dog Band or Spike Jones or something like that. They really didn’t like being categorised as a ‘humour’ group, so in a way they tried to push that aspect back a little bit, But it’s still a very strong part of what they do.’
One of the more infamous stories about the Residents was that they were in fact The Beatles. Whilst it wasn’t a rumour that they started, it seems as if they were happy to let it follow its’ own course and, by neither denying or confirming the story, allowed fans to develop and play with it…
‘Well, they’ve always loved that people speculate on who they are, so when they found out that it was being speculated that they were The Beatles, well, it doesn’t get much better than that!’
On the other hand, The Residents did use Beatles’ material as a source for several of their early records… Was there ever any come-back from the Beatles’ record companies concerning their use of that material?
‘Not really… the only real come-back they ever had was with the cover of ‘Third Reich’n’Roll’. The original artwork was a drawing of Dick Clark, the host of ‘American Bandstand’, and a friend of theirs was actually working for him at the time and saw the cover of the album in his office! The Residents absolutely loved that! But I don’t really know if the Beatles would have been aware of The Residents, although it’s hard to imagine that none of them were. But, no, there’s never been any direct feedback…’
‘They’ve always had a lot of humour in what they do. It may at times be a rather dark sense of humour, but it’s there nonetheless. The problem was that, early-on, the humour was picked-up by the media in a way that saw them being portrayed almost like an inversion of the Bonzo Dog Band or Spike Jones or something like that. They really didn’t like being categorised as a ‘humour’ group, so in a way they tried to push that aspect back a little bit, But it’s still a very strong part of what they do.’
One of the more infamous stories about the Residents was that they were in fact The Beatles. Whilst it wasn’t a rumour that they started, it seems as if they were happy to let it follow its’ own course and, by neither denying or confirming the story, allowed fans to develop and play with it…
‘Well, they’ve always loved that people speculate on who they are, so when they found out that it was being speculated that they were The Beatles, well, it doesn’t get much better than that!’
On the other hand, The Residents did use Beatles’ material as a source for several of their early records… Was there ever any come-back from the Beatles’ record companies concerning their use of that material?
‘Not really… the only real come-back they ever had was with the cover of ‘Third Reich’n’Roll’. The original artwork was a drawing of Dick Clark, the host of ‘American Bandstand’, and a friend of theirs was actually working for him at the time and saw the cover of the album in his office! The Residents absolutely loved that! But I don’t really know if the Beatles would have been aware of The Residents, although it’s hard to imagine that none of them were. But, no, there’s never been any direct feedback…’
The Residents have often referenced pop culture in their work, but a few years ago the singer Kesha had dancers in her live show dressed in the ‘classic’ Residents style, complete with eyeballs and top-hats, which seemed to be pop-culture turning the tables on The Residents!
‘Supposedly, the story was that she had no idea of where that image came from and it was actually one of her designers that came up with the idea of using it in her show. When The Residents found out, they kind of thought it was funny. We were in contact with her agents around that time and there was some kind of negotiation with them about trying to help promote the next Residents album on social media or whatever, but I don’t think it ever came to anything…’
There was a nice irony in that, after The Residents referencing pop culture in their work for so many years, they were suddenly being referenced by a pop star…
‘It is interesting how iconic and lasting that the eyeballs and top-hats have been. There seems to be a lot of people who, if you mention The Residents, won’t know what you’re talking about. But if you mention the eyeballs and top-hats, they will be familiar with that. I don’t think The Residents intended it to be such a long-lasting icon and in actual fact wanted to have a different faceless image for each new project. It was just the image they came up with for ‘Eskimo’ and they were ready to move on to something else once that was done, but the fans really loved that image and wouldn’t let them. It’s obviously something that connected with a lot of people. But they don’t use it too often now, especially when they play live, as the reality is that it’s almost impossible to perform in those costumes. There are times when they’ll bring it out, more as a symbol for the audience, but I think the last time there was any real use of it was during the ‘Wormwood’ tour in 1999. They had to have special eyeballs made for that, made out of mesh, which made it a lot easier to see and hear what was going on. But at the same time they were still so uncomfortable to wear that they all hated them by the end of the tour and decided that they were never going to wear them again. So I think that kind of ended the use of those costumes, at least for their live performances.’
A lot of bands and artists encountered serious problems during the Covid lockdowns and had to find new ways of continuing their work whilst being unable to interact socially. However, for the most part The Residents have always worked in isolation so, apart from the inability to perform live, did the lockdowns present any particular problems for them?
‘Honestly, I don’t think it really affected them too much and, in fact, it probably gave them more free time. They had a movie project, ‘Triple Trouble’, which they had been working on for a while. The lockdowns actually freed-up a lot more time and allowed them to complete the movie. They certainly saw that as a good thing and I think, while it doesn’t have direct references to the lockdowns, the movie does have references to that era, in particular the whole idea of conspiracy theories. The protagonist in the movie is very isolated and spins-off in to all these crazy conspiracy theories, which are part of what’s interesting about the movie. I mean, the things that people are willing to believe, even in the face of all contrary reality, never cease to amaze me! Other than their often ominous tones, I think conspiracy theories are probably one of my favourite things that people are willing to believe. Some of them are so incredibly stupid!’
‘Supposedly, the story was that she had no idea of where that image came from and it was actually one of her designers that came up with the idea of using it in her show. When The Residents found out, they kind of thought it was funny. We were in contact with her agents around that time and there was some kind of negotiation with them about trying to help promote the next Residents album on social media or whatever, but I don’t think it ever came to anything…’
There was a nice irony in that, after The Residents referencing pop culture in their work for so many years, they were suddenly being referenced by a pop star…
‘It is interesting how iconic and lasting that the eyeballs and top-hats have been. There seems to be a lot of people who, if you mention The Residents, won’t know what you’re talking about. But if you mention the eyeballs and top-hats, they will be familiar with that. I don’t think The Residents intended it to be such a long-lasting icon and in actual fact wanted to have a different faceless image for each new project. It was just the image they came up with for ‘Eskimo’ and they were ready to move on to something else once that was done, but the fans really loved that image and wouldn’t let them. It’s obviously something that connected with a lot of people. But they don’t use it too often now, especially when they play live, as the reality is that it’s almost impossible to perform in those costumes. There are times when they’ll bring it out, more as a symbol for the audience, but I think the last time there was any real use of it was during the ‘Wormwood’ tour in 1999. They had to have special eyeballs made for that, made out of mesh, which made it a lot easier to see and hear what was going on. But at the same time they were still so uncomfortable to wear that they all hated them by the end of the tour and decided that they were never going to wear them again. So I think that kind of ended the use of those costumes, at least for their live performances.’
A lot of bands and artists encountered serious problems during the Covid lockdowns and had to find new ways of continuing their work whilst being unable to interact socially. However, for the most part The Residents have always worked in isolation so, apart from the inability to perform live, did the lockdowns present any particular problems for them?
‘Honestly, I don’t think it really affected them too much and, in fact, it probably gave them more free time. They had a movie project, ‘Triple Trouble’, which they had been working on for a while. The lockdowns actually freed-up a lot more time and allowed them to complete the movie. They certainly saw that as a good thing and I think, while it doesn’t have direct references to the lockdowns, the movie does have references to that era, in particular the whole idea of conspiracy theories. The protagonist in the movie is very isolated and spins-off in to all these crazy conspiracy theories, which are part of what’s interesting about the movie. I mean, the things that people are willing to believe, even in the face of all contrary reality, never cease to amaze me! Other than their often ominous tones, I think conspiracy theories are probably one of my favourite things that people are willing to believe. Some of them are so incredibly stupid!’
Over the five decades that The Residents have been active, they’ve obviously witnessed a lot of changes within the music business, from the technology that’s available now, to how music is marketed and distributed. But while many established musicians and artists have been wary of such changes, The Residents have always seemed happy to embrace new ways of doing things…
‘Yes, I’d have to say that’s true. One of my favourite Bob Dylan lines is, ‘There’s no success like failure and failure’s no success at all.’ I think The Residents are good examples of that… The people who don’t like change are the ones who had success in one era, but when things move on they don’t have success anymore because they’re locked in to that one place where they were successful. But The Residents have never had that kind of popular success, so they’ve always been able to embrace change and move with the times. They’ve always been quite comfortable with the idea of change.’
During their early days, a lot of the technology that’s now taken for granted hadn’t even been invented and The Residents often had to find novel ways to record their ideas. Do they ever feel nostalgic for those days?
‘They do sometimes get nostalgic for those days… Back when they were beginning, one of the things that they credit for initiating their career was when one of them was given a stereo tape recorder. The thing that they found most interesting about it was what was then called ‘sound on sound’ technology, which meant that you could record the two channels separately. You could record one channel, then record the other, mix them together and then record another… It was really that whole mish-mash of different tracks coming together, piled one on top of another, which formed the basis of their early sound. You can’t get a sound like that except in a way of necessity. But by this point, now, you can make an album on your phone and everything will be clean and clear and pristine! I’m sure in some ways they miss the crazy cacophony which came out of that earlier process.’
‘Yes, I’d have to say that’s true. One of my favourite Bob Dylan lines is, ‘There’s no success like failure and failure’s no success at all.’ I think The Residents are good examples of that… The people who don’t like change are the ones who had success in one era, but when things move on they don’t have success anymore because they’re locked in to that one place where they were successful. But The Residents have never had that kind of popular success, so they’ve always been able to embrace change and move with the times. They’ve always been quite comfortable with the idea of change.’
During their early days, a lot of the technology that’s now taken for granted hadn’t even been invented and The Residents often had to find novel ways to record their ideas. Do they ever feel nostalgic for those days?
‘They do sometimes get nostalgic for those days… Back when they were beginning, one of the things that they credit for initiating their career was when one of them was given a stereo tape recorder. The thing that they found most interesting about it was what was then called ‘sound on sound’ technology, which meant that you could record the two channels separately. You could record one channel, then record the other, mix them together and then record another… It was really that whole mish-mash of different tracks coming together, piled one on top of another, which formed the basis of their early sound. You can’t get a sound like that except in a way of necessity. But by this point, now, you can make an album on your phone and everything will be clean and clear and pristine! I’m sure in some ways they miss the crazy cacophony which came out of that earlier process.’
The Residents always seem to have several projects on the go at any given time… Apart from the things you’ve already mentioned, do you know what else they’re working on at the moment?
‘Well, they’re completing a new album right now, which will be titled ‘Doctor Dark’, and it’s partially based on two real-life events or characters. One is Dr Kevorkian, who is someone that The Residents always found to be quite fascinating, and the other is an event that happened back in the late-Eighties or early-Nineties. There were two teenagers who were taking too many drugs, drinking too much alcohol and listening to too much Heavy Metal, and decided to commit suicide. The thing that actually made all the headlines was that their parents, who took no responsibility for this whatsoever, tried to sue the band Judas Priest and their record company. That got a lot of attention, but the thing was, only one of the teenagers actually succeeded in killing himself. The other one blew-off half his head but, unfortunately for him, still survived for quite some time after. There was a guy who went to the trial to shoot a documentary about it and when The Residents saw it, they found it very compelling. The whole idea of Doctor Dark is that it brings the surviving teenager and Dr Kevorkian together and they develop a special relationship. From a narrative point of view, that’s kind of the basis for this album. The Residents are very happy with the way it’s come out and I think they would love to see it as a theatre piece as well, but we’ll have to wait to see what happens. Apart from that, there’s a French artist called Loris Greaud who currently has a massive installation consuming the entire Petit Palace museum in Paris. This went up in early October, so it’ll be coming to an end pretty soon… It turns out that Loris is a huge Residents fan and his fantasy is that The Residents would go over to Paris and perform one song for the grand finale of this exhibition. At this point, it looks as if that may happen… I’m not sure if they’re ready to announce anything just yet, as they’re still trying to sort-out the details in Paris, but it looks as if it will happen if they can organise everything in time.’
‘Well, they’re completing a new album right now, which will be titled ‘Doctor Dark’, and it’s partially based on two real-life events or characters. One is Dr Kevorkian, who is someone that The Residents always found to be quite fascinating, and the other is an event that happened back in the late-Eighties or early-Nineties. There were two teenagers who were taking too many drugs, drinking too much alcohol and listening to too much Heavy Metal, and decided to commit suicide. The thing that actually made all the headlines was that their parents, who took no responsibility for this whatsoever, tried to sue the band Judas Priest and their record company. That got a lot of attention, but the thing was, only one of the teenagers actually succeeded in killing himself. The other one blew-off half his head but, unfortunately for him, still survived for quite some time after. There was a guy who went to the trial to shoot a documentary about it and when The Residents saw it, they found it very compelling. The whole idea of Doctor Dark is that it brings the surviving teenager and Dr Kevorkian together and they develop a special relationship. From a narrative point of view, that’s kind of the basis for this album. The Residents are very happy with the way it’s come out and I think they would love to see it as a theatre piece as well, but we’ll have to wait to see what happens. Apart from that, there’s a French artist called Loris Greaud who currently has a massive installation consuming the entire Petit Palace museum in Paris. This went up in early October, so it’ll be coming to an end pretty soon… It turns out that Loris is a huge Residents fan and his fantasy is that The Residents would go over to Paris and perform one song for the grand finale of this exhibition. At this point, it looks as if that may happen… I’m not sure if they’re ready to announce anything just yet, as they’re still trying to sort-out the details in Paris, but it looks as if it will happen if they can organise everything in time.’
I’ve always had a theory that The Residents have created so many albums, in so many different styles, that if you say you don’t like them it’s just because you haven’t heard the right album yet. Once you do hear the right one, it will start to make sense and start unlocking the access to all their other projects. You don’t have to like everything they’ve done, but there will be something out that will grab you and send you off into their world. So, search diligently, but also be prepared to have some fun along the way!
For more information;
www.residents.com