The Residents

The Residents are an American art collective best known for their avant-garde music and multimedia works. Since their first official release, "Meet the Residents" (1974), they have released over 60 albums, numerous music videos and short films, three CD-ROM projects, and ten DVDs. They have undertaken seven major world tours and scored multiple films. Pioneers in exploring the potential of CD-ROM and similar technologies, the Residents have won several awards for their multimedia projects. They founded Ralph Records, a record label focusing on avant-garde music, in 1972.
Throughout the group's existence, the individual members have ostensibly attempted to work anonymously, preferring to have attention focused on their art. Much speculation and rumor has focused on this aspect of the group. In public, they appear silent and costumed, often wearing eyeball helmets, top hats and tails—a costume now recognized as their signature iconography. In 2017, Hardy Fox, long known to be associated with the Residents, identified himself as the band's co-founder and primary composer; he died in 2018.
The Residents' albums generally fall into two categories: deconstructions of Western popular music, and complex conceptual pieces composed around a theme, theory or plot. The group is noted for surrealistic lyrics and sound, with a disregard for conventional music composition.
History.
1965–1972: Origins and Residents Unincorporated.
The artists who became The Residents met in high school in Shreveport, Louisiana in the early 1960s. Around 1965, they began making their first amateur home tape recordings and making art together with a number of friends. In 1966, intending to join the flourishing hippie movement, they headed west for San Francisco, but when their truck broke down in San Mateo, California they decided to remain there.
While attempting to make a living, the group purchased crude recording equipment and began to refine their recording and editing skills, as well as photography, painting, and anything remotely to do with art that they could afford. The Residents have acknowledged the existence of at least two (of perhaps hundreds) of unreleased reel-to-reel items from this era, titled "The Ballad of Stuffed Trigger" and "Rusty Coathangers For The Doctor". "Uncle Willie", former Residents fan club president, wrote in his book "Uncle Willie's Highly Opinionated Guide to the Residents" that, while searching through the band's archives, he came across "a suite named "The Ballad of Stuffed Trigger"," but not a complete album. Further evidence of pre-1970 recordings surfaced with the release of the song "I Hear You Got Religion", supposedly recorded in 1969, and released originally as a downloadable track from Ralph America in 1999. The Cryptic Corporation has confirmed that their archives contain many tapes dating back decades, but because they were recorded before the group officially became The Residents, the band does not consider them part of its discography.
Word of the unnamed group's experimentation spread, and in 1969 British guitarist and multi-instrumentalist Phil Lithman, known as Snakefinger, began to participate with them. Around this time they also met the mysterious (and perhaps apocryphal) N. Senada, whom Lithman had picked up in Bavaria where the aged avant-gardist was recording birds singing. The two Europeans became great influences and life-long collaborators with the group.
In 1971 the group sent a reel-to-reel demo tape to Hal Halverstadt at Warner Brothers, as he had signed Captain Beefheart, one of the group's heroes, to the label. Halverstadt was not impressed with "The Warner Bros. Album" (he describes it as "okay at best" in "Uncle Willie's Cryptic Guide to the Residents"), but gave it an "A for Ariginality". Because the band had not included a name in the return address, the rejection slip was addressed to "Residents". The group decided to use this name, first becoming Residents Unincorporated, then shortening it to the current name. "The Warner Bros. Album" remained officially unreleased by the group until 2018, when it was remastered and reissued in a limited edition as part of their comprehensive "pREServed" campaign.
The first known public performance of the band that became The Residents was at the Boarding House in San Francisco in 1971. The brief, guerrilla-style performance took the audience by surprise. A photo from it, showing Lithman playing violin with his pinky "about to strike the violin like a snake", originated the stage name he used for the rest of his life, Snakefinger. Later in 1971, a second tape was completed called "Baby Sex", featuring a long collage partially consisting of recordings from the Boarding House performance. The cover art for the tape box was a silk-screened copy of an old photo depicting a woman fellating a small child, an example of the extremely confrontational and deliberately puerile visual and lyrical style the group adopted during this period.
Early influence—or not.
N. Senada (which may be a play on "Ensenada", "en se nada" meaning "in himself nothing," "no sé nada" meaning "I don't know anything" or "enseñada", a form of the past participle meaning "taught") was said to be a Bavarian composer and music theorist who formulated the "Theory of Obscurity" and the "Theory of Phonetic Organization". His "Theory of Obscurity" states that an artist can only produce pure art when the expectations and influences of the outside world are not taken into consideration; while his "Theory of Phonetic Organization" states, "the musician should put the sounds first, building the music up from [them] rather than developing the music, then working down to the sounds that make it up."
There is a debate as to whether or not Senada actually existed, or was simply an invention of The Residents. Supposedly born in 1907 and dying in 1993 at the age of 86, Senada was one of The Residents' earliest collaborators, having arrived in San Mateo, California, with Philip "Snakefinger" Lithman. It is frequently speculated that, if real, N. Senada may have been the famous avant-garde composer and instrument-designer Harry Partch, the influence of whose work may be heard in Residents' compositions such as "Six Things to a Cycle"; his death is also referenced in the song "Death in Barstow". Another rumor speculates that N. Senada may have been Captain Beefheart, because in the late 1960s Beefheart and his "Magic Band" lived in a residence on Ensenada Drive in Woodland Hills, California, while recording "Trout Mask Replica" and "Safe as Milk"; Beefheart influence can also be heard in early Residents works. The Residents also sent an early demo tape to the Warner Brothers executive Hal Halverstadt who had signed Beefheart.
According to The Residents, in 1937, N. Senada premiered his masterpiece, "Pollex Christi", which means either "Thumb of Christ" or "Big Toe of Christ". This work mainly consisted of borrowed pieces from other composers, namely Beethoven's "Symphony No. 5" and Carl Orff's "Carmina Burana", among others. He also left large holes in the work so that the performers could insert music of their choosing, thus "becoming composers themselves". Senada justified his work with "house" analogies claiming that he did not make the "bricks" but "cemented them together"; he was not the "architect", just the "builder". N. Senada allegedly collaborated with The Residents on their work prior to "Santa Dog" and "Meet The Residents", and then disappeared. He resurfaced in the mid-1970s, returning from an Arctic expedition and bearing a sealed bottle of pure Arctic air; this served as inspiration for the "Eskimo" project.
1972–1980: "Classic" era.
"Santa Dog", "Meet The Residents", "Not Available" & "The Third Reich 'n Roll" (1972–1974).
In early 1972, the band left San Mateo and relocated to 20 Sycamore St, San Francisco; a studio they named "El Ralpho", which boasted a completely open ground floor (seemingly ideal for a sound stage), allowing the group to expand their operations and also begin preliminary work on their most ambitious project up to that point, a full-length film entitled "Vileness Fats", which consumed most of their attention for the next four years. Intended to be the first-ever long form music video, The Residents saw this project as an opportunity to create the ultimate cult film. After four years of filming (from 1972 to 1976) the project was reluctantly cancelled because of time, space, and monetary constraints. Fifteen hours of footage was shot for the project, yet only approximately 35 minutes of that footage has ever been released.
The group also formed Ralph Records at this time, as a small, independent label to release and promote their own work. To inaugurate the new business, the group recorded and pressed the "Santa Dog" EP (1972), their first recorded output to be released to the public. Designed to resemble a Christmas card from an insurance company, the EP consisted of two 7" singles, with four songs between them. The four songs were presented as being by four different bands (Ivory And The Brain Eaters, Delta Nudes, The College Walkers, and Arf And Omega featuring The Singing Lawn Chairs), with only a small note on the interior of the gatefold sleeve mentioning the participation of "Residents, Uninc."
They sent copies of "Santa Dog" to west coast radio stations with no response until Bill Reinhardt, program director of KBOO-FM in Portland, Oregon received a copy and played it heavily on his show. Reinhardt met the Residents at their studio at 20 Sycamore St. in the summer of 1973 with the news of his broadcasts. The Residents gave Reinhardt exclusive access to all their recordings, including copies of the original masters of "Stuffed Trigger", "Baby Sex", and The Warner Bros. Album.
Throughout this point, the group had been manipulating old tapes they had collected and regularly recording jam sessions, and these recordings eventually became the group's debut full-length album, "Meet The Residents", which was released in 1974 on Ralph. To aid in promoting the group, Reinhardt was given 50 of the first 1,000 copies of "Meet the Residents". Some were sent to friends, listeners and critics, and two dozen were left for sale on consignment at the Music Millennium record store, where they sat unsold for months. KBOO DJ Barry Schwam (Schwump, who also recorded with the Residents) promoted them on his program as well. Eventually, KBOO airplay attracted a cult following.Following the release of Meet The Residents, the group began working on a follow up entitled 'Not Available' following N. Senada's theory of obscurity. The LP would be recorded and compiled completely in private. Initially the project was not scheduled for release, but in 1978 Ralph Records released the LP without the groups permission. This, along with its followup 'The Third Reich 'n Roll' are notable for featuring the first synthesizers featured on a Residents project, using a borrowed Moog from Patrick Gleeson. The Third Reich 'n Roll, recorded in two months from October 1974 to October 1975, was the groups first project to feature a music video, created by syncing an old video of the group performing with an edited version of 'Swastikas On Parade'.
After the Third Reich 'n Roll's release, a group of enterprising friends and collaborators from their early days in San Mateo; Homer Flynn, Hardy Fox, Jay Clem and John Kennedy, also joined the group in San Francisco, forming what became The Cryptic Corporation to manage and represent the band. Clem became the band's spokesman, Fox edited, produced and compiled the band's increasingly prolific output, Flynn was already handling the group's cover design and promotional art under the banner of Porno-Graphics, and Kennedy took the role of "President" (admittedly a fairly empty title, as overall responsibilities were handled more or less equally by the four). The Cryptic Corporation took over the day-to-day operations of Ralph Records, and provided the band with an improved public relations platform.
Shortly after the introduction of The Cryptic Corporation The Residents recorded their Satisfaction single, the B-Side of which featured The Residents first work with the ARP Odyssey, the first synthesizer owned by the group, purchased by The Cryptics. The Satisfaction single would feature 'Bye Bye Residents Uninc!' handwritten in the sleeve, symbolizing the introduction of The Cryptic Corporation.
'Eskimo', 'Fingerprince', 'Duck Stab, & Rise in popularity (1976–1979).
Following "Satisfaction" the group began recording Eskimo in April 1976, a concept album based upon the Theory Of Phonetic Organisation that suggests that music should not be confined to chords and structures, but instead should simply be a collection of fascinating noises. The album would feature acoustic soundscapes inspired by Inuit culture, whilst parodying American ignorance of other cultures. The Eskimo sessions would last many years, and feature many divergences, the first of which, in November 1976, resulting in "Fingerprince", a collection of unused recordings from The Third Reich 'n Roll, Not Available, and Eskimo sessions.
"Fingerprince" received considerable coverage in the British Press, and was the first LP by the group to receive any critical attention when Jon Savage reviewed the album and its two predecessors favorably for the December 31st issue of Sounds Magazine. This review gained the group considerable attention, with many of their previously unsold mail order items being sold seemingly overnight. The sudden success of Fingerprince and its predecessors caused the group to briefly half production on their Avant Garde "Eskimo" album, to create something more appealing to the newer audience.
The Residents followed up "Fingerprince" with their "Duck Stab!" EP – their most accessible release up to that point. This EP got the band some attention from the press (namely "NME", "Sounds" and "Melody Maker"), and was followed in 1978 by the "Duck Stab/Buster & Glen" album, which paired the EP with a similar, concurrently recorded EP which had not been released separately. The group continued work on their most ambitious recording project yet – "Eskimo", containing music composed largely of non-musical sounds, percussion, and wordless voices. Claiming inspiration from tapes of arctic wind sent to them by N. Senada, the band worked on this album between 1976 and 1979, a difficult production noted by many conflicts between management and band, which led to a number of delays in the release date.
The sudden attention afforded to them by the success of the "Duck Stab!" EP and "Satisfaction" single required an album release as soon as possible to help fund the band's spiraling recording costs. This forced the release in 1978 of the band's long-shelved "second album" "Not Available". The Residents were not bothered by this deviation from the original plan not to release this album as the 1978 release ultimately did not affect the philosophical conditions under which it was originally recorded.
"Eskimo" was finally released in 1979 to much acclaim, even making it to the final list for nominations for a Grammy award in 1980. Though the album did not end up being nominated, the group were invited to the ceremony and shared a table with Donna Summer. Rather than being songs in the orthodox sense, the compositions on "Eskimo" sounded like "live-action stories" without dialogue. Fearing that they were now taking themselves too seriously, The Residents remixed the "songs" in disco style, the results of which appeared on the EP "Diskomo". The cover art of "Eskimo" also presents the first instance of the group wearing eyeball masks and tuxedos, which was later considered by many to be the group's signature costume. The Residents had only intended to wear these costumes for the cover of Eskimo, but adopted the costumes in the longer term as it provided them with a unique and recognisable image. "Eskimo" was reissued in surround sound in 2003 and released on DVD, featuring a slideshow of still images conveying the album's narratives.
The group followed "Eskimo" with "Commercial Album" in 1980. "Commercial Album" featured 40 songs, each one minute in length and consisting of a verse and a chorus. The songs were a pastiche of the composition of advertising jingles; the album's liner notes state that the songs should each be repeated three times in a row to form a complete "pop song". To promote the album, The Residents purchased 40 one-minute advertising slots on San Francisco's most popular Top-40 radio station at the time, KFRC, such that the station played each track of their album over three days. This prompted an editorial in Billboard magazine questioning whether the act was art or advertising.
"Commercial Album" also led to the creation of "One Minute Movies", a short film by the group with collaborator Graeme Whifler consisting of music videos for four tracks from the album. Created at a time when MTV (and what later became known as "music video" in general) was its infancy, the group's videos were in heavy rotation since they were among the few music videos available to broadcasters.
1981–1990: New technology and live performances.
Mark of The Mole & The Mole Show (1981–1983).
"Commercial Album" received a relatively lukewarm reception from the new wave music press. Feeling betrayed by the once embracing music press, The Residents set about composing an album which told the story of a culture driven from their homes by a storm and forced into a confrontation with another people. "Mark of the Mole" was the first part of a projected trilogy of concept albums, which later developed into a tetralogy, with another three albums focusing on the music of the Mole and Chub cultures.
Shortly after the release of "Mark of The Mole", The Residents purchased one of the first ever E-Mu Emulator Samplers, number #00005 specifically. The instrument was revolutionary for the band, as the sampling capacities of the keyboard not only allowed them to recreate instruments the members were not able to play, but also gave them the opportunity to create their meticulously crafted studio sound in a live setting. The first album the band recorded using the emulator was "The Tunes of Two Cities," the second part of The Mole Trilogy, which was nearly entirely recorded using the emulator, aside from live saxophone, guitar & vocals recorded by Norman Salant, Snakefinger & Nessie Lessons, respectively.
Following the release of Cities, The Residents dove into lengthy live rehearsals, during which the band attempted to work out live arrangements that would be easy to perform and faithful to the studio versions. Eventually deciding against the 'greatest hits' feel of typical rock concerts, the band decided to create something more theatrical in nature, an extended recreation of their "Mark of The Mole" album. The band debuted the show with a test performance, on April 10th, 1982, before a tour of California in October, and a European tour throughout mid 1983. The show, although not the test performance, featured Penn Jillete as the narrator, playing a similar role as he did with the Ralph Records 10th Anniversary Radio Special. 
A third leg, featuring dates in New York, was booked, but had to be cancelled after one performance due to lack of funding. Following the Mole Show, the band was broke, and as such attempted to recoup some of their losses with several archival releases, a collection of outtakes called "Residue" in 1983, and a collection of Mole Show rehearsal recordings titled "Assorted Secrets" in 1984, released alongside a VHS containing Mole Show and Vileness Fats footage.
The American Composers Series and 13th Anniversary Show (1984–1986).
Deciding to take a break from work on part three of the Mole Trilogy, The Residents began a new multi-album project, entitled "The American Composers Series," a planned series of 10 albums, which would pair up both pop artists, with instrumental composers. They immediately began working on George & James', which paired up pianist George Gerswhin, with singer James Brown. Side one would be entirely instrumental covers of Gerswhin pieces, whilst Side Two would be a abridged cover of Brown's classic Live At The Apollo"' album. "Following the release of George & James, The Residents decided to finally abandon part three of The Mole Trilogy, and instead began work on Part Four, entitled . The Big Bubble expanded on the ideas presented in The Tunes of Two Cities, which featured songs from both Mole & Chub cultures. The Big Bubble took these established sounds, and combined them to make a cross.
When The Big Bubble was released in Japan by "Wave Records," it was an unquestioned success, with its popularity resulting in Wave funding a two week tour of Japan for the group in October of 1985. The shows were a success for the band, and re-ignited the group's interest in creating live performances. As a result, they undertook a three month long '13th Anniversary Tour' of the USA from December 1985 to February 1986, funded by Ralph Records. 
Backstage at the Hollywood Palace show on December 26th, 1985, one member's eyeball mask was stolen. Distraught, the band replaced it with a giant skull mask to represent grief. It was actually stolen by someone who found a backstage pass on the wall and threw it into a dumpster outside the venue through an open window. A few weeks later an avid fan in Cerritos California who attended the palace show also went to a New Year's Eve party where he overheard someone bragging about having Mr. Red Eye. He called Ralph Records and spoke to representative Sheena Timony and asked if it was true about the eye being stolen. She was inquisitive with him and proceeded to tell him that there was a curse on the eye and that there was a police report out on it. He said he wanted to get it back because he loved the band so much and it was the right thing to do. She told him the Residents were going to Georgia in a few weeks and that it needed to be retrieved as soon as possible. With her help she called the thief to tell him they knew he had it and that reps for Ralph were on their way. The thief was so rattled that he gave it back to some friends of the fan who posed as Ralph employees. The three of them immediately traveled by car to San Francisco, and went to Ralph Records in Folsom Street at that time. The Eye was returned but was in bad condition from being thrown around and the Residents decided that it was a superfluous shell of its former self. This is when they decided to replace the eye with “Mr Skull”. They continued the 13th-anniversary tour and handed out memorial black armbands with the missing eyeball on it. The Residents later were interviewed on MTV where they told the story of it being stolen.
In August, they toured Australia & New Zealand (financed by AIM Records), and then in October, Europe, (Financed by Torso). The European leg ran into logistics issues, resulting the band's equipment not arriving for at the legs debut performance in Tromso, Norway. According to Homer Flynn, the band "had to borrow equipment from people there in the town" including instruments and costumes to make the performance. The final performance of the tour was a one off show at The Warfield theatre, featuring Penn & Teller. The tour featured The Residents performing with Snakefinger all-throughout. 
"God in Three Persons" and Cube E (1987–1990).
In 1987, The Residents were in the initial stages of preparing their new concept piece "God in Three Persons", when they received the news that their friend and long-time collaborator Philip "Snakefinger" Lithman had died of a sudden heart attack. The Residents performed at his wake, and this performance was later re-recorded in the studio and released in a limited edition as "The Snakey Wake". Despite this unanticipated tragedy, the band continued to work on "God in Three Persons", despite not having been able to record Snakefinger's guitar parts for the album as planned.
"God in Three Persons", a lengthy poetic fable in a clear narrative format, tells the story of a colonel who visits a carnival and becomes entranced by a pair of mysterious and androgynous Siamese twins. Musically, it features a recurring motif based on "Double Shot (Of My Baby's Love)" by The Swinging Medallions (earlier included in "The Third Reich 'n Roll"). The album was finished and released in 1988 as their first album to be designed specifically for compact disc.
In 1989, The Residents premiered their third tour, Cube-E, a three-act performance covering the history of American music. It was a step up from previous shows, featuring more elaborate dance numbers and sets. It was also the first show composed exclusively of music written specifically for the show. The show was almost entirely backlit, with blacklights highlighting the fluorescent costumes and set design. The first part of this show was recorded in the studio and released as the "Buckaroo Blues" EP, and the third part became 1989's "The King & Eye", a surreal biography of Elvis Presley consisting entirely of covers of classic Presley singles. In a first-time departure from the usual procedure, "The King & Eye" was recorded externally from The Residents' private studio, with the band choosing instead to record at Different Fur Studios as an experiment.
1990–1997: Multimedia projects.
"Freak Show" and "Our Finest Flowers" (1990–1993).
In 1990, The Residents turned their attention to emerging computer technology, beginning to make the majority of their music with MIDI devices, which defined their sound during this time. With these new instruments, they recorded and released "Freak Show"; a concept album in which each track offers an insight to the character of a circus freak.
The "Freak Show" CD-ROM was released in January 1994 by the Voyager Company, in his first of several collaborations with The Residents.
1992 saw The Residents celebrate their 20th anniversary, which they celebrated with the release of "Our Finest Flowers", an album which consists of new tracks made from elements of tracks from their entire discography, intended as a novel alternative to a retrospective "greatest hits" style release.
"The Gingerbread Man", "Bad Day on the Midway" and the "missing year" (1994–1997).
In 1994, The Residents released "Gingerbread Man (album)", featuring their first foray into computer graphics. The "Gingerbread Man" CD was "enhanced" with additional CD-ROM content, marking the beginning of a series of experiments by the group with the potential of this new format, which also saw them revisit the "Freak Show" album for a CD-ROM by Voyager in the same year.
The Residents' CD-ROM works were primarily designed and animated by artist Jim Ludtke. In a review of the "Freak Show" CD-ROM by Ty Burr for Entertainment Weekly from the time of its release, he commented: "Designer Jim Ludtke (not a member of the band) is the star here: His renderings literally glow with colors you've never considered before. If "Xplora 1" chases you off with dutiful enlightenment. "Freak Show" sucks you in with its hypnotic sympathy for the damned." 
In 1995, The Residents released their final complete experiment with the CD-ROM format, the immersive game "Bad Day on the Midway". This game was accompanied by a soundtrack album, "Have A Bad Day", the following year. At this time, The Residents were also working on an album entitled "That Slab Called Night", which was later abandoned and reconstituted into the soundtrack to the Discovery Channel series "Hunters: The World of Predators and Prey". In November 1995, Freak Show was also developed into a stage performance by a theater company at the Archa Theater in Prague. This performance differed from the band's previous tours and shows in that they did not actually perform – rather, the "Freak Show Orchestra" consisted primarily of the band Už Jsme Doma.
1997 is considered "the missing year" in Residents history, as the band worked on a number of new projects but saw no new releases. During this time, however, the band created a new live performance piece entitled "Disfigured Night", which was performed a handful of times throughout the year, culminating in their performance at the Fillmore. The Residents made one more attempt at a CD-ROM game, "I Murdered Mommy!", in 1998, but left this effort unfinished and unreleased, instead moving onto another new concept.
1997 Tribute?
The Residents performed "Pollex Christi" as a tribute to N. Senada on what would have been his 90th birthday. The holes in the piece were filled with a variety of works, such as the television theme from "Star Trek". The recording was distributed in two editions of 400 before being deleted.
1998–2009: The "Storyteller" era.
"Wormwood" (1998–2000).
"" was released in 1998. "Wormwood" saw the group telling (often violent or explicit) stories from the Bible through song. Regular collaborators Molly Harvey (vocals) and Nolan Cook (guitar) featured on the album and during its associated tour, "Wormwood Live", which saw The Residents departing from pre-programmed music and once again using a live band. The Residents wore ecclesiastical robes and performed in a brightly lit fluorescent cave. Act one consisted of one-off stories about individual Bible characters. Act 2 focused on suites of songs about Bible figures such as Abraham, Moses, and King David. During a performance in Athens, Greece, Cook had to leave the stage after taking a rock to the head from an audience member.
"Demons Dance Alone" and "Animal Lover" (2001–2005).
In 2002, as a response to the September 11 attacks, The Residents recorded the album "Demons Dance Alone" and followed this with a tour of the same name. In an unusual move, the album handed almost half of the vocal duties to Harvey, who had begun as a Ralph Records employee but by this point had contributed to virtually all of the group's many projects for most of the preceding decade.
In February 2005, The Residents toured Australia as part of the What is Music? festival for their "33rd Anniversary", performing a two-hour retrospective set entitled "The Way We Were". These shows saw a fairly minimal band; three eyeball-headed Residents (one on guitar and two laptop/sample operators), a "stage hand" performer, and a male and female vocalist in costumes reminiscent of the "Wormwood" tour. Video projections and unusual flexible screens were added to the stage set, creating an unsettling ambiance. The performances on "The Way We Were" tour were recorded and were released on CD and DVD in 2005, as well as the band's album "Animal Lover", which tells a series of stories as seen from the perspective of animals.
"The River of Crime", "Tweedles!" and "The Bunny Boy" (2006–2009).
In 2006, The Residents released a hardboiled crime fiction podcast series, The River of Crime – their first project with Warner Music Group's Cordless label. Following the success of the podcast, The Residents launched a weekly video series on YouTube featuring Timmy, the lead character from the "Bad Day On The Midway" CD-ROM. Around this time, the group were invited by a friend to record in Romania – these sessions produced the album "Tweedles!", which they released on Halloween 2006. "Tweedles!" is a concept album, telling the story of an "emotional vampire" from a first-person perspective.
In 2007 they created the soundtrack for the documentary "Strange Culture" and also released a double instrumental album, "Night of the Hunters", derived from the "That Slab Called Night" recording sessions which eventually became the soundtrack for the 1995 documentary series "Hunters". In October 2007, the new album "The Voice of Midnight" (inspired by E.T.A. Hoffmann's story "Der Sandmann"), was released on Mute Records.
In 2008, the group released "The Bunny Boy", an album with a detailed meta-fictional concept which the group elaborated upon throughout their first North American tour since "Demons Dance Alone", as well as a YouTube video series of the same name, which was later compiled and released on DVD as "Is Anybody Out There?" in 2009.
2009 saw the release of "The UGHS!" – a mostly instrumental album made up of music composed earlier in the band's career, which had then again been completely reworked as background music for "The Voice of Midnight"; and also "Ten Little Piggies" – a "futurist compilation", featuring ten songs from projects which may or may not be released in the future.
2010–2017: "Randy, Chuck and Bob" and "The Ghost of Hope".
"Talking Light" and "Sam's Enchanted Evening" (2010–2012).
In January 2010, The Residents began a tour entitled "Talking Light", with dates in North America and Europe. During the tour, which lasted until April 2011, The Residents appeared as a trio, and adapted new identities and costumes – Randy Rose, Charles "Chuck" Bobuck and Bob, with reference to a fourth member named Carlos, who had decided prior to the tour that "the rock 'n' roll life style wasn't for him after all" and left the band for Mexico to care for his elderly mother. The singer, Randy, wore an old man mask, and the other two Residents, keyboardist Chuck and guitarist Bob, wore dreadlock wigs and illuminated optical gear over their faces. The songs were stories about various characters' obsessions with ghosts, imaginary people, and supernatural phenomena. One of these performances was featured as part of the edition of the All Tomorrow's Parties festival curated by Matt Groening in May 2010 in Minehead, England, UK. The band released several albums related to the "Talking Light" concept during this time, including the instrumental albums "Dollar General" and "Chuck's Ghost Music", live album "Bimbo's Talking Light", and studio album "Lonely Teenager".
In October 2010, Randy performed a set of thirteen Residents tracks at the Olomouc Moravian Theatre with the band Už Jsme Doma and musical arrangements by Miroslav Wanek, who had previously been involved with the "Freak Show Live" performance in 1995. In late 2011, The Residents presented a new performance piece at The Marsh in Berkeley, California, entitled "Sam's Enchanted Evening". A new version of "Sam's Enchanted Evening" was subsequently performed in March 2012 at Henry Street Settlement in at Henry Street Settlement in New York City in a production directed by Travis Chamberlain, co-starring Joshua Raoul Brody and Jibz Cameron (aka Dynasty Handbag).
"The Wonder of Weird" and "Theory of Obscurity" (2012–2015).
In January 2012, the Residents released the album "Coochie Brake"; it focused on an ambient, slightly ethnic sound, with lyrics in Spanish performed by, apparently, a new singer. Over the course of the year the band celebrated their 40th anniversary with a new tour (the second in the "Randy, Chuck and Bob" trilogy) entitled "The Wonder of Weird". In December, the band began celebrating the upcoming 40th anniversary of their first release, the "Santa Dog" EP, and released an "infomercial" starring Randy Rose promoting the release of "The Residents' Ultimate Box Set" – a 28-cubic-foot refrigerator containing the first pressings of every Residents release to date, as well as other ephemera (such as an eyeball mask and top hat). The Cryptic Corporation advised in a press release that the intended audience for this project was the realm of fine art and, accordingly, the price of the set was set at $100,000. Only one of these "Ultimate Box Set"s was sold to a paying customer; the other was donated by the band to the Museum of Modern Art.
In 2014, the Residents began collaborating with director Don Hardy on a video series starring Randy, entitled "In My Room", as well as a feature-length documentary film with producers Barton Bishoff and Josh Keppel covering the history of the group, entitled "Theory of Obscurity: A Film About the Residents". The production of this film involved the digital transfer of the group's many years of archived video, film and tape, including the production materials shot for "Vileness Fats" between 1972 and 1976. "Theory of Obscurity" was completed in 2015 and premiered at SXSW Film Festival.
"Shadowland", the departure of Charles Bobuck, and "The Ghost of Hope" (2015–2016).
In May 2016, the end of the "Randy, Bob, and Chuck" trilogy was announced, with the final installment being their "Shadowland" tour. During the "Shadowland" tour, the member known as Charles Bobuck announced that he would no longer be performing live with the group due to increasingly poor health, and ultimately, retired from the band altogether to release a series of solo albums. Onstage and in the studio, Bobuck was replaced by a new addition to the band, "Rico". The band signed to Cherry Red Records, and in September announced their next studio album, "The Ghost of Hope", and a related single, "Rushing Like A Banshee". In November 2016, the group released a video featuring Randy, announcing a new film project in collaboration with Don Hardy entitled "Double Trouble", which would incorporate the footage from the unfinished "Vileness Fats" into an entirely new story.
2017–present: "The Real Residents" and "pREServed" series.
In March 2017, the group released their first studio album since "Coochie Brake", entitled "The Ghost of Hope." The album, based around historical train wrecks from the late 19th century and early 20th century, featured collaborators such as Eric Drew Feldman and Nolan Cook, as well as the final songwriting and performance contributions from the recently retired Bobuck.
In October 2017, the group's new tour, entitled "In Between Dreams", kicked off in Copenhagen, Denmark (after earlier preview shows in Japan, and cancelled dates at the Safe as Milk festival in Wales earlier in the year). "In Between Dreams" discarded the "Randy, Rico and Bob" personas which the band had been using since the beginning of the decade, and instead introduced "The Real Residents"; "Tyrone" the singer, "Eekie" the guitarist, "Erkie" the keyboardist, and a new member, percussionist "Cha Cha". The decoration of the show consisted of a blue and white checkered backdrop, dynamic lighting effects, and the same giant ball screen from the "Shadowland" tour for displaying short animated clips between songs. The videos consisted of various well-known figures recalling dreams; Richard Nixon's dream about being a blues singer, John Wayne's nightmare about a lone ballerina that disappears when he attempts to approach her, and Mother Teresa's dream about a train wreck. "In Between Dreams" ran through Europe from late October to the end of November 2017, and later in the United States, from April to early May 2018.
At the beginning of 2018, The Residents launched their "pREServed" remaster series – each original Residents studio album, completely remastered and presented with contemporary bonus tracks as well as a great deal of previously unheard and unknown material from the group's archives. The series was launched in January with the re-issue of "Meet The Residents", and "The Third Reich 'N Roll", which were followed in March with "Fingerprince" and "Duck Stab!/Buster & Glen", and as a Record Store Day limited vinyl edition in April, the debut official release of the 1970 demo tape "The Warner Bros. Album".
Around the same time, the group began taking submissions for a new project, to be entitled "I Am A Resident!", which would include fan-made covers of classic Residents tracks. The Residents were ultimately overwhelmed by the volume of submissions (which vastly exceeded their expectations) and rather than whittling the track list down to only their favorites, chose to turn the submissions into a "mashup" in the style of "The Third Reich 'N Roll". "I Am A Resident!" was completed and released in May 2018. In July, The Residents released their first novel, entitled "The Brick-Eaters", described as "an absurdist buddy movie story featuring a very tall internet content screener teaming up with an aging career criminal whose primary companions are an oxygen bottle and a .44 Magnum".
As well as continuing to examine their voluminous archives for the ongoing "pREServed" series, the group have also been working on album releases – "Intruders" was released in October 2018, and "Metal, Meat & Bone", the "blues" album previewed during the "In Between Dreams" tour, was released in July 2020.
Identity.
In the group's early days, many rumors circulated about its membership. As the cover art of "Meet the Residents" was a parody of The Beatles' 1964 North American release, "Meet the Beatles!", rumors circulated that The Residents were actually The Beatles, even specifically naming George Harrison. Many other rumors have come and gone over the years, one being that '60s experimental band Cromagnon shared members with the band. Les Claypool, frontman of rock band Primus, and Gerald Casale of new wave band Devo claimed to have been accused of being members of the band; and Mark Mothersbaugh is alleged to have played keyboards during the band's 13th-anniversary tour.
Since the late 1970s, much of the speculation about the members' identities has involved the group's management team, The Cryptic Corporation. It was formed in 1976 as a corporation in California by Jay Clem, Homer Flynn, Hardy W. Fox, and John Kennedy, all of whom denied having been band members. Clem and Kennedy left the Corporation in 1982, to the chagrin of fans. The Residents members do not grant interviews, although Flynn, Fox, and Clem have conducted interviews on behalf of the group.
Nolan Cook, a prominent collaborator in the band's live and studio work (and a live member of I Am Spoonbender) denied in an interview that Fox and Flynn were The Residents. However, some consider Cook himself a member of the band, as he is known to wear the same head coverings as the group in live shows, and wore the trademark eyeball mask on the Wormwood Tour. He also played the part of "Bob" during the "Randy", "Chuck", and "Bob" trilogy of shows.
William Poundstone, author of the Big Secrets books, compared voiceprints of a Flynn lecture with those of spoken word segments from the Residents discography in his book "Biggest Secrets". He concluded, "The similarities in the spectograms second the convincing subjective impression that the voices are identical", and that "it is possible that the creative core of the Residents is the duo of Flynn and Fox." A subset of that belief is that Flynn is the lyricist and that Fox writes the music. The online database of the performance rights organization BMI (of which The Residents and their publishing company, Pale Pachyderm Publishing [Warner-Chappell] have been members for their entire careers) lists Flynn and Fox as the composers of all original Residents songs, including pre-1974 songs from the "Residents Unincorporated" years.
Simon Reynolds wrote in his book "Rip It Up and Start Again: Postpunk 1978–1984" that "the Residents and their representatives were one and the same," and elaborated further on one of his blogs, stating that "this was something that anybody who had any direct dealings with Ralph figured out sooner rather than later." Reynolds quotes Helios Creed, who identifies the Residents as a keyboardist named "H," a singer named "Homer," and "this other guy called John." Peter Principle of Tuxedomoon claimed that he and others "eventually figured out that the guy doing the graphics and the engineer in the studio were, in fact, the Residents."Cryptic openly admits the group's artwork is done by Flynn (among others) under various names that, put together, become "Pornographics", but the pseudonym is rarely spelled the same way twice (examples: Porno Graphics, Pore No Graphix, Pore-Know Graphics); and that Fox is the sound engineer – meaning that he is the main producer, engineer, mixer, and editor of all their recordings. (Since 1976, all of The Residents' recordings have listed their producer as the Cryptic Corporation, presumably meaning Fox in particular.)
From 2010 to 2016, The Residents referred to themselves in concert as the characters "Randy", "Chuck", and "Bob", and referred to a former member of the band, "Carlos", who left the group following a disagreement with "Randy". There is speculation that "Carlos" is Carlos Cadona. Better known by his stage name, "6025," Cadona was in the original lineup of the Dead Kennedys and appears on a live album by Snakefinger. "Carlos" may also refer to Carla Fabrizio, a touring member of The Residents from 1998 to 2008.
"Bob" is speculated to be guitarist and longtime collaborator Nolan Cook. Cook is often the only credited collaborator on the "Randy, Chuck, & Bob" era albums, such as "Lonely Teenager", "Talking Light: Bimbo's", and "Shadowland".
A synopsis for The Residents' 2012 stage production "Sam's Enchanted Evening" provides the name "Randy Rose" as that of The Residents' lead singer. "Chuck", or "Charles Bobuck", was the group's primary songwriter, and released a series of solo albums (or "contraptions") under this name during the "Randy, Chuck and Bob" era. The member known as Chuck retired from live performance due to ill health in 2015, and ultimately retired from The Residents altogether following the release of the "Theory of Obscurity" documentary film. Eric Drew Feldman replaced him and performed under the name "Rico" from 2015 to 2016.
In the liner notes to Philip Perkins' 2020 reissue of "King Of The World," Perkins confirms that he was a member of The Residents from 1982 to 1983, playing live on the Mole Show. He was previously credited as the lighting designer on the Mole Show LP, and as engineer on original versions of "Stars & Hank Forever", and reissues of "The Tune of Two Cities" and "The Snakey Wake".
Hardy Fox.
In October 2017, former manager for The Residents, Hardy Fox identified himself as both the anonymous primary composer and producer for the Residents as well as the pseudonymous Charles Bobuck. Fox was born in Longview, Texas, where his father worked in the oil industry; his mother was a nurse. The family moved several times, and Fox graduated from Rayville High School in Louisiana in 1963. He then studied art and business at Louisiana Tech University, where he met Homer Flynn, and graduated in 1967.
In September 2018 Fox added to his website the dates "1945–2018", although he was known to be alive (but unwell) after the dates were published. Fox died on October 30, 2018, from brain cancer, aged 73. He was identified in obituaries as the co-founder and primary composer of the Residents. On December 14, 2018, the official Residents mailing list acknowledged Fox as "engineer, producer and sometime composer of much of the Residents’ best-loved work".
Frequent collaborators.
Since their inception, The Residents have had a number of credited collaborators. These collaborators, despite not being anonymous, can be considered by some definition, Residents.
1971 - 1975.
During the band's formative years, its main members consisted of The Singing Resident, Hardy Fox, jazz pianist James Whittaker, and bassist Bob Tagney, the later two of which are credited as writers on the 2018 LP release of The Warner Brothers album. This lineup, along with Snakefinger who would join the group in late 1971, are credited as the 'core' members of the group on the 2013 early demos compilation, "'The Delta Nudes Greatest Hiss"'. Bob Tagney and James Whittaker are also two of the only credited collaborators on the band's debut album, "Meet The Residents," Whittaker, as the pianist on 'Spotted Pinto Bean', and Tagney as the co-bassist on 'Infant Tango'. Female vocalist Pamela Zeibak was also one of The Residents frequent collaborators during this time, with credits on "The Delta Nudes Greatest Hiss, Meet The Residents," "The Third Reich 'n Roll," "& Fingerprince."
Joshua Roul Brody began working with The Residents in the mid-1970s, when he was invited to the set of their film Vileness Fats. Shortly after this he worked with the group anonymously by arranging the backing vocals on their 'Satisfaction' single. Throughout the 1980s, Roul began to receive credit for his work with The Residents under the pseudonym "'Raoul N. Di Seimbote"', but by 1987, was using his birth name. Joshua most recently worked with The Residents on their 2020 God In Three Persons live show.
1976 - 1983.
In early 1976, Snakefinger returned to the US, and continued his collaborations with The Residents, and was credited on a majority of The Residents' major releases up until his death in 1987. At the same time, drummer Don Jakovich started working with the band, making credited appearances on "Satisfaction", "Fingeprince", Snakefinger's "Chewing Hides The Sound", & "The Commercial Album." He also performed with them in costume as part of their June 1976 live debut.
Following the demise of "Henry Cow", former members Chris Cutler, and Fred Frith"," began making appearances on Residents material as drummer and guitarist respectively. Frith first appeared with The Residents on the Subterranean Modern anthology, and Cutler on the Eskimo album. The following year both featured on The Commercial Album, with Frith receiving the credit of 'Extra Hard Working Guest Musician'
Nessie Lessons, the wife of Hardy Fox, began to make appearances on Residents releases between 1980 and 1983 initially as an un-credited female vocalist. Nessie was first credited on "The Tunes of Two Cities," toured with the band from 1982-1983, and acted as the group's spokesperson when Penn Jillette was unavailable. Her final work as a regular collaborator was on the song "HellNo," for the soundtrack to the 1984 film The Census Taker.
For The Mole Show, The Residents also undertook the assistance of dancers, "Kathleen French, Carol Werner LeMaitre, Sarah McLennan Walker & Chris Van Ralte." Carol LeMaitre & Sarah McLennan went on to portray The Residents on stage during the 13th Anniversary Show, and the dancers in Cube-E.
1987 - 1993.
Starting in 1987, The Residents began working with female vocalist Laurie Amat, who went on to become The Residents' primary female vocalist for much of the 1990s. Her final role as a regular collaborator was on the 1998 "" album. Another female vocalist from this period was Diane Alden, who first appeared on the Freak Show album, she once again worked with the group up until Wormwood. Tony Janssen, who was first credited as an engineer on the band's Cube-E album, eventually became a male vocalist for the band and provided the voice of Tex the Barker in their Freak Show projects.
1994 - 2014.
During recording of their Gingerbread Man album, The Singing Resident met future singer Molly Harvey at a coffee store, and invited her to record vocals for the song 'The Old Woman'. Following this she became a core member of The Residents' team of collaborators, and appeared on all of their mainline albums and live shows until 2005's "Animal Lover". Also appearing for the first time on Gingerbread Man was "Isabelle Barbier," a young actress who would make occasional appearances with The Residents up until "The Ghost of Hope" in 2017. 
The Residents' 1998 - 2000 "" project introduced three important figures in Residents history, Carla Fabrizio, Nolan Cook and Toby Dammit. Dammit briefly played with The Residents live from 1999 to 2003, and performed on the "Demons Dance Alone" album. Carla played with The Residents in concert until the 2008 Bunny Boy tour, and has worked with the band on their studio albums as recently as 2020. Nolan Cook acted as The Residents' lead guitarist both in concert and in the studio for over twenty years, most recently appearing on their 2020 God In Three Persons live project.
In the years following Molly Harvey"s departure, professional voice actress Gerri Lawlor began to make regular appearances on The Residents spoken-word projects, "Tweedles", "The River of Crime", "The Voice Of Midnight" and "Lonely Teenager". Corey Rosen also began working with The Residents during this time, on The River of Crime, The Voice of Midnight, and The Bunny Boy web series.
2015 - Present.
Following the departure of Hardy Fox in 2015, Eric Drew Feldman was asked to help with some of the duties previously undertaken by him. Along with Feldman, performers Laurie Hall and Peter Whitehead began appearing on Residents releases, starting with The Ghost of Hope. Hall stopped working with them following the release of Inturders, which introduced Sivan Lioncub.
The lineup of collaborators as featured on The Residents' latest album, "Metal Meat & Bone," includes "Eric Drew Feldman", "Carla Fabrizio", "Nolan Cook", "Peter Whitehead" & "Sivan Lioncub".