Avant-garde band The Residents have spent the last five decades anonymously creating music that is at times unsettling, goofy, bizarre, and always pushes the boundaries of music. Even the very idea that The Residents are a band is up for debate. They are more of an art collective that pretends to be a band. And though they prolifically create music, they are perhaps best known for the imagery they’ve put out into the world, specifically the photo of the four band members with eyeball-heads, who are wearing fancy top hats. 

But it makes sense for The Residents, who are pioneers in the realm of multimedia entertainment. The visuals are a critical element of their music. They are even music video innovators. And have always explored art in a way that challenges and often confuses their audience. 

Since the identities of The Residents are unknown, we couldn’t bring them on the show. Instead, we spoke with Homer Flynn, the president of the Cryptic Corporation, and public relations for The Residents. We asked him all of our many Residents questions, like how they recorded their bizarre Eskimo album and who exactly were the offbeat individuals in their music videos? He did his best to answer them. We even threw the big question at him: Do The Residents like ska? In all the years that Homer has been speaking on behalf of The Residents, I’m pretty sure this is the first time anyone has ever asked Homer this question. 

If you’d like to support us and listen to early access, ad-free episodes with bonus content, check out our Patreon! 

If you like our theme song, go download the EP Lives by Slow Gherkin. They wrote the opening and closing songs for our podcast. You can get both tunes from their Lives EP. Also, check out Dan P and the Bricks two LPs. They provided the mid-roll ad transition music. 

Support the In Defense host Aaron Carnes by purchasing a copy of his book, In Defense of Ska. The 2nd, expanded edition of In Defense of Ska will release in Oct 2024. 

Co-host Adam Davis has a band called Omnigone. Their latest record, Against The Rest released on March 31, 2023. 

The In Defense of Ska editor Chris Reeves runs a record label called Ska Punk International. They have new releases coming out all the time.

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