Features
Residents Eye New Tour
With almost 30 years under their belts, the four anonymous musicians have plenty of material to commemorate.
Unlike recent tours where the group created a show around a single album or theme, the Residents will dig deep into the vault for a mix of old, new and rarely heard material – all performed in front of video footage projected above the stage.
The road trip commences February 13 in Falls Church, Va., and hits clubs and theatres in 10 cities on its first leg. Other stops include Philadelphia, New York City, Boston, Montreal, Toronto and Chicago.
West Coast and European jaunts are expected to be announced later.
The Residents have built a loyal cult following since their 1972 debut, despite the band’s best efforts to avoid the spotlight.
Favoring gigantic eyeball masks and top hats to conceal their faces and refusing to grant interviews, the Residents have managed to raise willful obscurity to an art form.
One album, 1974’s Not Available, was reportedly recorded with the intention of never being released. Only a contractual obligation forced it out of the vault in 1978.
Over the years, they’ve tackled seemingly dissonant themes by pairing songs by George Gershwin and James Brown (George and James) and John Philip Sousa and Hank Williams (Stars and Hank Forever).
In the 1990s, the Residents delved into interactive media, releasing Freak Show as a CD-ROM and providing the soundtrack to the CD-ROM game “Bad Day on the Midway.”
Most recently, the quirky foursome has focused on their own skewed interpretations of Bible stories, on Wormwood: Curious Stories from the Bible and Roadworms.