OFF: The Residents

[Douglas Pearson]

On Tue, 13 Feb 2001 22:25:41 +0000, Nick Medford <nick at HERMIT0.DEMON.CO.UK>
wrote:
>Seeing there's all this interest in the Residents here, and given that
>lots of people here like Gong, perhaps I can put a question to the
>assembled sages of boc-l ...

Guilty on both counts!  Although I've only seen the Residents once, on
their "Cube E" (American blues/country roots music & Elvis tunes) tour ...
I remember I picked up a copy of the 'Subterranean Modern' LP at the show,
with (as-of-then) otherwise-unreleased tracks by the Residents, MX-80
Sound, Tuxedomoon and Chrome (with one of their best-ever songs, "Meet You
In The Subway").

>On the cassette release of Planet Gong "Floating Anarchy '91" (note: '91
>not '77),

Hmm ... I've never heard (or heard of) this one ...

>Daevid Allen says at one point- "now you may have heard about
>this band called the Residents, well we've had our connections with them
>over the years, and we're ready to be influenced by them.." - the band then
>play a song called "Teeth" which I think may be a cover of a song off "Mark
>of the Mole" (one of the few Residents albums I've never heard).  I'd like
>to know if this really is a Residents song,

Probably "Smack Your Lips (Clap your Teeth)" from the second album of
the "Mole" trilogy, 'Tunes of Two Cities'.

>but what I REALLY want to know
>is: what are the 'connections' that D.A. refers to?

I'm sure there are many.  One thing about the Residents is that half the
original lineup left the band after the "Mole" tour in the early 80's, and
all subsequent Residents tours have used numerous guest musicians.  None of
the guest musicians whose identities I'm aware of have worked directly with
Daevid Allen AFAIK, they can be closely related to folks who have.

>I can think of one connection: Chris Cutler appears on the NY Gong
>album, also on Daevid's "N'Existe Pas", and he's done some stuff with the
>R's, but that's pretty tenuous and one feels there's something a bit more
>substantial being hinted at. Anybody?

Snakefinger worked with the Residents and a ton of other people, but I
can't think of a direct connection to Allen/Gong.  I could probably arrange
to ask Daevid next time he's in SF (but last time was only a couple months
ago, so who know when the next will be?).

>Also: a further mystery- on the inside back cover of the "Our Poor, Our
>Tired, Our Huddled Masses" CD booklet, there's a small pic of the eye-guys,
>plus a bearded man who's sporting an impressive pair of breasts (really). I
>recognise this hermaphrodite image: it's taken from the Aphex Twin's
>"Windowlicker" video. Which implies there's some connection there as well.
>Any ideas?

Could be, but I've seen plenty of instances of the same graphic
coincidentally being used for album art by different, completely unrelated
bands.  But I'd be pretty surprised if mr. James isn't well aware of the
Residents.

>Perhaps this is all part of the enduring (and endearing) enigma of the
>Residents, which I have no desire to see undermined, but I can't help being
>curious...

More information on the eyeballed ones can be found at:

http://www.residents.com/

    -Doug
     ceres at sirius.com