Talk:Identities of The Residents

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Notes From Ralph

"I think in the early times, maybe their humor was more blatant, and they kind of felt like they were getting labelled as the "Spike Jones of rock and roll" or whatever. And they weren't really like that, they just felt like that element was being singled out too much in a way that they didn't really relate to. And so I think consequently their humor became more subtle, but nonetheless it's definitely there."

"...on one hand, they were so unskilled musically, they kind of felt like 'well, nobody's going to take us that seriously anyway,' you know, in terms of like a record label, 'so we really have to do this ourselves'. And in retrospect, there's a lot of plus to that, and there's a certain downside too... Well, unfortunately you have to do it all, but at the same time there can be a certain advantage to having bigger companies with more resources invested in your product. That can give it more exposure and that can give it more longevity, so it's not like working with a big company is necessarily a bad thing."

- Homer Flynn, Industry Tactics with Friendly Rich, "Ep. 145 - Homer Flynn", February 13th 2022

"Everybody has their own interpretations of The Residents, and The Residents invite those interpretations."

"Sometimes The Residents are very charmed by the interpretations that people come up with. And they certainly don't invalidate those interpretations. You know, everybody interprets the world however they see it, and you know, you may not agree with somebody's interpretation, but you can't necessarily deny it is reality for them."

"Things change over time, and as things change people's values change, and I think for them they like to look at their own material and, you know, some of it they like better than others, but at the same time they like to feel like they can approach it freshly, and bring new values or new insights to that material. And particularly they like to take stuff and perform them, that they didn't perform originally, because they feel like the act of performance infuses a very different energy into the material than recording in the studio. I mean a lot of times they feel like things that they have done in performance, they actually like better than the original studio version, because they were able to find new things in the material that they didn't necessarily see or feel when they recorded it in the studio."

- Homer Flynn, Cacophony Podcast - Obscure Music for Obscure People, Episode 1 - "Homer Flynn on The Residents and Duck Stab", January 13th 2022

"I mean, realistically, The Residents have only been to Finland once. And, and, um... you're getting pretty remote in Finland. And, you know, they liked it, they have no problem going back, but at the same time, a lot of people don't really understand that where The Residents play has a lot more to do with their agent, and their agent's relationship with promoters, than it does with their desires of where they want to play or where they don't want to play. I mean, if there's some place that they've been that they hate, well, they'll say 'no, we don't want to do that again'. But, you know, book... booking a tour is a big puzzle. And, uh... and a lot of things come out because of... you know, relationships and connections that people have."

"I mean, The Residents are not programmers. They certainly have ideas in that direction. But a lot of what happens, happens because of relationships and connections. And, um... they made a relationship or a connection with a guy, back in the early 90s, named Ty Roberts. And Ty Roberts, who now is a tech guy at, uh... Universal. Um... but Ty was a really early supporter of the connection between music and... and computers. And he was also involved with Todd Rundgren in the same way, uh, he was also involved, I think with... maybe Eno in the same way. So, um... once again, once they sort of connected with him, I mean he's the one that's responsible for their Gingerbread Man CD-ROM... and... you know, like I said, once they connected with him, they also connected with this artist, uh, Jim Ludtke, and all of a sudden, doors started opening, and made these things, uh, happen. Um... but, once again, you know, if you don't know how to do it yourself, until you find somebody who can open that door and get you through it, well, you know, you can [...] wish forever, but nothing's gonna happen."

- Homer Flynn, Classic Gamer 74, Episode 61, February 23rd 2019

ImaginaryJacques _(Admin) 💀 (talk) 08:13, 18 February 2023 (UTC)

"I think probably [The Residents would consider themselves to be] a band, probably an art collective, you know, artists, you know... Like I said, they weren't really... a rock 'n' roll band... but they always thought of themselves as a band, so... I can't really speak for them, but you know, just me seeing them, I mean, you know... they weren't a band, they weren't artists, they were everything, you know. And it was just very interesting."

"I mean, they went through the sixties, so they were sixties children who came to the summoning of San Francisco, and just... you know, they weren't your traditional hippies, they were from the South. So... they brought sort of different customs than, you know, other people from New York or something would have brought... So, you know, they took their values out of that southern thing, and then put it together with all this mish-mash of music, and then... that "Southern singing sound guy"... that was very unique to me."

"They were always... you know, not afraid to invest our money in... whatever technology could advance them. And that was another great thing that I learned from them... I'm not a technological guy, but you know... All the things that they did, I mean, they were always advanced... always the first one there, and stuff. Which sometimes, it's not the best thing to do, but they were so weird it really didn't matter to them, it was just... to me, it was a great thing."

"Of course, people sort of know... what was what, nobody for the most part ever blabbed, or anything. I don't think it was ever a serious, serious thing to, like, find out who they were, because anybody could find out who they were if they wanted to. I'm not going to tell you how, but... you know... there's definitely ways that you could do that... it's not about anonymity and this and that, it's about making interesting music, and trying to get people... slap 'em across the face or something, I don't know... it's like... the painters from the '30s and '40s who were doing very avant-garde things... just a slap in the face. Andy Warhol, slap in the face... it's the same kind of stuff."

- Tom Timony, "Ep 137: Ralph Records with Tom Timony", The Vinyl Guide, September 10th 2018

ImaginaryJacques _(Admin) 💀 (talk) 17:40, 23 June 2023 (UTC)