![]() ![]() What we tried to do with the film is make it easy to digest for new people. I think that a lot of your opinions on film or music come through your way into it. How do you think people will experience The Residents differently if they first meet them through your film?ĭon Hardy: That’s a great question. GALO: One of the goals of Theory of Obscurity is to introduce new people to The Residents, a band that is both notorious in the music industry and often misunderstood by popular media. ![]() ![]() Hardy talked about Theory of Obscurity, The Residents community, archival footage, and documenting the obscure. GALO recently spoke to Hardy just before his departure to Austin for SXSW, where the film would have several screenings accompanied by a concert by The Residents. Though the faces of The Residents are never revealed, Theory of Obscurity delves deeper into its subject than many music documentaries of the past have done with theirs, delivering this fantastical band to new audiences via the big screen. Hardy also explores The Residents’ extensive cultural impact, from their early adoption of the music video form to their recent admittance to MoMA’s permanent collection.īeyond the oddity and the intrigue that surround the band, Hardy hopes viewers will appreciate the core elements of the story: artistic perseverance, loyalty, and a do-it-yourself mentality. This includes footage from their 40 th anniversary tour, interviews with The Residents’ management company, The Cryptic Corporation, and discussions with famous figures influenced by the band. The Residents themselves do not give interviews, forcing the filmmaker to paint a picture of the band through a collage of related figures. Hardy traces these transformations in his new film, Theory of Obscurity: A Film About the Residents, which recently premiered at SXSW. But unlike these performers, The Residents’ disguises, and moreover their personas, have morphed over the years along with their muse of the moment. Some modern artists, such as Daft Punk or (the recently revealed) Who Is Fancy, have similarly adopted anonymity. Their most infamous getup consists of formalwear and giant eyeballs for heads, and this image has become synonymous with the band’s radical performances. The band members remain anonymous, donning complex disguises on stage and in all public appearances. But therein lies the crux of The Residents. When filmmaker Don Hardy heard friends describe The Residents exuberantly, he recognized the opportunity for a great documentary and wanted to learn more about this mysterious band. Devotees of The Residents pledge allegiance to the unsettling underbelly of art, to the fantastic and the troubling, and above all, to the obscure.īy broad definition, The Residents are an experimental band/avant-garde collective started in 1969 in San Francisco. Some listeners may turn away instinctively, but those who stay become members of a loyal, nearly obsessive fan base. The initiation process is both unnerving and rewarding. Upon first learning of this infamous group, one enters an uncompromising creative space where audience comfort and commercial popularity take a backseat to performative engagement with the indecorous and the macabre. The collective music, performance and art of The Residents is otherworldly. Look out for forthcoming 'American Composers', 'Cube-E', 'Freak Show' and 'Gingerbread Man' sets.The Residents’ classic photo in front of the Golden Gate Bridge. Remastered, expanded, and pREServed for future generations - this is The Residents as we've always wanted to hear them, and the latest in a series of archival reissues that will continue throughout 2020 and beyond. Now, over forty years after that saga unfolded, and produced using the original masters and multitrack tapes, this package explores and expands the classic album in unprecedented detail - Disc 2 reveals the original 1974 'X Is For Xtra (A Conclusion)' recordings which were adapted, edited, remixed and reprocessed into 'Not Available' by Ralph Records in 1978.įamiliar and recognisable in places, entirely unheard in others, this revelatory new material sheds paradigm-shifting light on a masterpiece of 20th Century pop culture. Among the band's extensive back catalogue, one record sits alone - composed in accordance with the group's infamous Theory Of Obscurity, 'Not Available', and the saga that surrounded its release, comprises perhaps the most truly 'Residential' work the group have yet produced, and remains their most intriguing album among fans and critics alike.
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