Tues. Feb. 12

     You fancy yourself a real collector? Well, the Residents - the ethe eyeball and topped hat musical/performance troupe which comes to the Institute of Contemporary Art Tuesday Feb. 12 – has got something for you: A $100,000 package that includes 40 LPs, 50 CDs, dozens of singles, EPS, DVDS and CD-Roms plus a signature eyeball-with-top-hat mask. It’s packaged in a 28-cubic foot refrigerator. They are only making ten of these. Or you could plunk down a $35 and see them live

       The Residents are the longest-lasting, strangest cult band in existence – that is, if you want to call them a band. The group – known for the iconic giant eyeball heads they’ve worn (but no longer wear) – has remained anonymous for nearly 40 years and created some of the darkest, driest “rock” you can image. “The Commercial Album,” composed of 40 one-minute songs; “Third Reich ‘n’ Roll,” a pastiche of ‘60s rock with – ahem – a Nazi them (rock stars as Nazis? Something Pink Floyd later picked up on with “The Wall”). They’re video pioneers, video game pioneers, musical adventurers. Avant-jazz, synth music, tape loops, an album of spooky Elvis songs. Penn Jillette’s a big fan. He narrated their show for one tour – the show designed to fall apart as it progressed. Penn feigned anger with the crowd, the music grew chaotic, he ended up handcuffed to a wheelchair to deliver his last monologue.

       We talked to Hardy Fox (yep, that’s what he calls himself), a spokesman for the Residents who’s been in the fold since the early days. He’s part of their team, The Cryptic Corporation. But does not play music on stage or so he says. This talk was before their 2010 tour; we may be talking to Mr. Fox again in the near future, as they embark upon their “Wonder of Weird” tour, where they promise the music will review the raw soul of lead singer Randy Rose, who’s had 11 failed marriages and worked in the porn industry (disastrously). Longtime Residents fans may be shocked to hear they’ve named their singer (why do we suspect it might not be a real name and some of his past is somewhat fabricated?). They’ve also named to other members, Chuck and Bob. It’s the band’s 40^th Anniversary Tour.

JSInk: What is a Residents tour about?

Fox; This is an art tour. Performance rather than selling an album. I think what you’re going to find is a situation where the Residents are thinking about their own again and immortality. It’s a multi-media thing, not elaborately so, and it’s by far about music. Music is definitely oriented to story-esque aspects.

JSInk: The Residents are noted for dark tales and cynical stuff. I expect this show will include those elements …

Well, I think there are multiple angles you can approach that stuff with. Certainly the dark side is far more interesting than the light side. The Residents aren’t really that big on unicorns and rainbows. But at the same time, life ends with death, it’s the grand finale, and it’s a shared experience. Everybody does it. There’s plenty of reasons to reflect about that part of your life. Possibly it’s one of the most important things that happens to you. And the biggest question mark that you have. And it’s fascinating. It’s hard not to be interested in death. It doesn’t have to be morbid. It can be quite humorous and dark as well. And some people die while they’re still alive. So, I think the Residents really enjoy playing around with the darker aspects, probably because it’s more interesting and probably because it’s just so ripe for picking.

JSInk: Are the Residents cynical or just realistic? Are the glimmers of hope?

Oh, I think the band is cynical to some degree, but realistically cynical. And I think it does come back to the fact that people live and people die. It doesn’t really come from anywhere and doesn’t really go anywhere and that’s sort of cynical, but at the same time, there’s nothing cynical about that at all, it’s just reality. That’s just the way it is. There’s no reason to treat dying as any darker than being born. You don’t know where you came from and where you’re going. You just sort of pass through it. You try to do that a certain sense of humor, certain lightness. As far as a ray of hope goes, what are you hoping for? There’s no escape from it. If there’s any hope, it’s getting out of it what you can while you’re passing through. I think the Residents, by their actions, are getting the most of out their own.

JSInk: There’s a Steven Wright bit on existence being this long stretch of forever and you own life being this nano-second of a blip.

It’s not really dark or light or bad or good. It’s the way the system works. It’s something the Residents explore. It’s not necessarily them anymore than John Carpenter makes “Halloween” and is anyway associated with mass murder. It’s something he enjoys exploring as a theme. One thing I thought of when I was young I got into existentialism and all that. I suddenly realized a person who’s an existentialist would never write about existentialism, because it takes someone with more motivation to do something like that. So therefore you have to separate the person from the content. There’s expression of an idea – the person doing it and what they’re doing.

JSInk: Do you fear Residents are too difficult for newcomers? Because of their exhaustive and complicated history? Because of their mystique?

The way I have found it works is you don’t really get converts. People either get it or they don’t. If it clicks with people, then there’s a whole world they can dive into. If they don’t get it, if they don’t see themselves reflected in the material, well, the Residents never intended to appeal to everybody, never wanted to.

JSInk: They’re sort of the ultimate cult band for nearly 40 years. It’s amazing. I’m sure many fans have come and gone over time, and younger audiences are always curious.

Absolutely. The Residents tend to appeal to sort of a fringe element in society, the odd kids. And those odd kids, they’re universal. They’re everywhere and ever-present. They’re always there. Like you’ll always have the star football player or the cheerleader, you’re going to have the nerdy kids out there, looking for things they find interesting.

JSInk: The question of anonymity? Are you a Resident? I did ask you this some years ago when I interviewed you for the Boston Globe.

I’ll frame it a different way since you’ve asked me before. The way the Residents think of things: The term “Residents” in general means the people who are working on a project. You’re asking if I’m in the core, the core of this operation? From that point of view the answer is no. But from the Residents point of view, anyone who works on a project is a Resident. The Residents are not a band, like four people playing guitars and singing. It’s a concept, an idea which the core element organizes around. The people who put this together is a larger group, who all participate, become Residents. From that point of view, yes I am, part of this project. I’m not core, but I’m hardcore.)

And the people on stage, I assume that’s changed over the years. The folks sporting the eyeballs.

Well, first off, nobody’s worn eyeballs for ten years now. We did it for performance, but they haven’t been used since, mainly because they’re not practical for performance. Those eyeballs were intended to cover heads in 1979, and because of their popularity and us over here on the selling side said, “You really need an image to sell the Residents under.” We perpetrated that without the Residents permission.  

JSInk: If someone listened to the Residents in the ‘70s and somehow skipped decades and is coming back now, what would be the changes? What would they see?

They’d probably think it’s the greatest show they’d ever seen in their entire life. This show is so fan-driven, a really solid Residents show. The Residents are not trying to sell a product; they’re not trying to appeal to any mass market. They’ve gotten stranger and more abstract than ever in some ways. I think it’s exactly why people who love the Residents love the Residents. It’s about the most fun show they’ve every done.

Tix: $35-$31.50. Show: 7:30-9.

100 Northern Ave. 617-478-3103   www.icaboston.org