The Graveyard
THE GRAVEYARD with Zombies (projects that grew out of the original)
The ideas that never quite made it, and their resulting byproducts
Vileness Fats
Planned to be a full-length underground art musical film. Shot for four years before being shut down.Zombies:
Whatever Happened to Vileness Fats: video and soundtrack album
Icky Flix: DVD and soundtrack album
I Murdered Mommy
Planned to be a major CD-Rom game following in the footsteps of Freak Show CD-Rom and Bad Day on the Midway CD-Rom.Zombies:
I Murdered Mommy [an overview]
The Eskimo Opera
Planned to be a major opera style production to be performed at European festivals.(no Zombies)
(Below: designs for the opera by Ronald M. Davis)
Man
After the success of the Man's World single, The Residents started work on a new album to embrace and expand upon the general concept of "maleness." After a few sketches, this idea was retired and a more extreme project was launched, The Big Bubble.
Zombies:
For Elsie
Bad Day on the Midway - TV Series
The Bad Day CD-ROM game was optioned by Ron Howard at Imagine Television for a proposed series to be directed by David Lynch. After two years of meetings with Lynch, the project was dropped because a script was never agreed upon. Of note is that, if the project had happened, The Residents would have not been creatively involved as their contract only gave them consulting roles in the pilot (the first show.)
(no Zombies)
That Slab Called Night
The album was absorbed by a offer to score an epic 10 hour TV series. So the album was never made. It was to be a concept project based on the effect darkness has on perception, the world of shadow.
Zombies:
Night of the Hunters
Freak Show DVD
When technological changes made the Freak Show CD-ROM obsolete, The Residents sought to replace it with a new project working with the more substantial DVD technology. Once again designer Jim Ludtke was fashioning the look. Unfortunately Jim died during creation of the project and the DVD work was stopped. A bonus DVD came with the Mute release of the Freak Show album that is not to be confused with the Freak Show DVD project. The Mute bonus DVD collected work from various Freak Show related projects over the years and does include some of the Jim Ludtke work that would have been on the Freak Show DVD.
Zombies
Freak Show with special bonus DVD (Mute)
Mark of the Mole game for the ATARI 2600
This was a music game that Atari designer Greg Easter was working on, based on the Residents 1981 album of the same name.
Greg described Mark of the Mole's fundamental these as thus: "First a line of music plays (one of the songs from the Residents' Mark of the Mole record) - you are a mole with a hammer who travels down into a cave and taps on walls with a hammer. Different parts of the cave make different musical notes, and when you find the next note you need to complete the line of music which was just played. You are building a song note by note, and you have to remember the tone of the next note you need in order to get it right. Each time you play the caves are different, so you can't just remember where to go. The game actually teaches you what is called 'perfect pitch' in music - the ability to hear notes and know where they are on the staff."
(no Zombies)
Chaos is not just a theory
This was conceived as an aural art piece to accompany the release party for The Residents toy figures designed by Steve Cerio. The original music was conceived to utilize two DVD players that were programmed to randomly play abstract bits of music. They would play 5.1 surround audio and each would play different things. The project (which required 12 speakers placed in a circle around the gallery) was entitled Chaos is Not a Theory.
As these kinds of things go, it never quite worked out. The gallery never agreed to provide the sound system and some people felt it would be unpleasant for attending guests (correct) so by the time the toy release actually happened (there were several lengthy delays) The Residents had lost interest and had moved into other projects which did not allow them to even attend the toy release opening.
Zombies:
Hades
2009 Album
This was conceived as the follow-up album to 2008’s The Bunny Boy. Similar in style to its predecessor, the work on the album was eventually judged as no longer representational of the musical interest. The Residents started experimenting with a new sound that led to the Talking Light.
Zombies:
Arkansas
Ozan
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