Doctor Dark

Doctor Dark (alternatively stylized as Dr Dark or Dr. Dark) is an upcoming studio album and "modern theater piece/opera" by The Residents,Homer Flynn (interviewed by Bob Lee), "LA Beat Interview: The Residents", The Los Angeles Beat, June 9th 2022 scheduled for release on CD and vinyl on February 28th 2025 by Cherry Red Records, MVD Audio and New Ralph Too,"Greetings from Dookietown, fellow Eyeballers!", Cherry Red Residents newsletter, October 26th 2024 with two limited vinyl editions also expected from Psychofon Records.Andreas Mathews, post in The Residents unofficial Facebook group, December 22nd 2024 
The three-act opera is described as "a journey into the greasy world of euthanasia, drug abuse and an unhealthy obsession with heavy metal", revolving around "a couple of heavy metal kids (Maggot and Mark) and an insomniac Russian physician (Dr. Anastasia Dark)"."Greetings Eyeballers!", Cherry Red Residents newsletter, July 28th 2024 It was inspired by an unsuccessful 1990 civil action in which heavy metal band Judas Priest were sued by the family of James Vance, a teenager who had attempted suicide by shotgun after listening to the band's music, coupled with the life of Armenian-American pathologist and euthanasia activist Jack Kevorkian.Homer Flynn (interviewed by Allan Macinnis), "Faceless Forever at 50: The Residents, 'Triple Trouble', and a Setlist to Die, Die, Die For: A Homer Flynn Interview", Stereo Embers, March 25th 2023
The Residents had wanted to use the Vance story as the basis for a project for thirty years, and began actively developing the concept in 2021. By June 2022, The Residents had recorded "about an hour's worth" of demo material, developing the project with co-producer/conductor Edwin Outwater and the San Francisco Conservatory of Music."The Residents right now are working on a new album. They have connected with a guy who is a classical conductor, and he is the musical director for the San Francisco Conservatory, and... you probably heard about this concert of Metallica and the San Francisco Symphony, and so he's the guy that was behind that. So... anyway, he's going to be involved in the new album..." Homer Flynn, "EP168: Homer Flynn / The Residents", Electronically Yours with Martyn Ware, November 3rd 2023 The album was completed by October 2024, and pre-orders were announced in December. 
Following the release of the album, The Residents and their management company The Cryptic Corporation are hoping to secure funding to create a theatrical adaptation.
== History ==
=== Background ===
==== James Vance and Jack Kevorkian ====
The Doctor Dark project was first inspired in the early 1990s when The Residents saw the documentary film Dream Deceivers, which tells the story of James Vance, a young man in Reno, Nevada, who had attempted suicide with a 12-gauge shotgun in December 1985 after drinking heavily, smoking marijuana and listening to the English heavy metal band Judas Priest. Vance survived the attempt; horribly disfigured by the shotgun blast to his face, he died three years later.Noud Jansen, "50 Years of The Residents", Humo, December 27th 2021"Man Who Sued Rock Group Over Suicide Attempt Dies", Los Angeles Times, December 1st 1988
In 1990 the incident became the subject of an unsuccessful (and now infamous) civil action brought against Judas Priest and their record label CBS by the families of Vance and Belknap, which alleged that the band had hidden subliminal messages (such as "try suicide", "do it" and "let's be dead") in the song "Better By You, Better Than Me" on their 1978 album Stained Class.Kory Grow, "Judas Priest's Subliminal Message Trial: Rob Halford Looks Back", Rolling Stone, August 24th 2015 The suit was ultimately dismissed, however the case cost Judas Priest $250,000 in legal fees, and CBS were made to pay $40,000 to the plaintiffs' attorneys. 
The Residents had wanted to do "a piece" based on the story for the three decades after having first seen footage of the disfigured Vance in Dream Deceivers, which Homer Flynn of The Cryptic Corporation compared to "a train wreck that you can't take your eyes off of". However, they felt the story needed "another angle".Jonathan Thornton, "Homer Flynn: The Outsideleft Interview", Outsideleft, February 9th 2025
The project finally came together when one of The Residents suggested the idea of combining the Dream Deceivers story with the life of Jack Kevorkian, an Armenian-American pathologist and proponent of physician-assisted euthanasia. Kevorkian is said to have assisted in the deaths of 130 terminally ill people between 1990 and 1998, through the use of self-devised euthanasia machines, which allowed users to administer fatal drugs, chemicals or gases to themselves. Between May 1994 and June 1997, Kevorkian was tried four times for assisting suicides; as his notoriety grew in the media, Kevorkian was often referred to as "Dr. Death".
=== Development ===
In December 2020, Homer Flynn noted that ideas developed by The Residents while recording the soundtrack for their feature film Triple Trouble had "opened up a door for what they might want to do with the next album"."Homer Flynn Interview 12/17/20", Esoterica the Podcast, YouTube, January 21st 2021 
By December 2021, The Residents were developing the opera with classical composer and conductor Edwin Outwater, a "huge Residents fan" and musical director of the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, who had considered working with The Residents one of his primary goals since moving to San Francisco at the start of the decade.[Edwin Outwater] lived here several years ago, moved away, went different places... and then moved back about, I don't know, three years ago, something like that. [...] And he's a huge Residents fan, and when he came back... one of his primary goals was to collaborate with The Residents." Homer Flynn, "EP168: Homer Flynn / The Residents", Electronically Yours with Martyn Ware, November 3rd 2023
By June 2022, The Residents had recorded approximately one hour of demo material and backing tracks for the project, with Flynn stating that the material would "almost undoubtedly" form the basis for their next album, as well as a "modern theater piece/opera", planned to premiere in 2024 or 2025.
=== Recording ===
In June 2023, The Residents were reportedly "working out and spending hours in the gym in preparation" for the album's upcoming recording sessions, with "producers and collaborators [having] been assigned their official identification numbers","Greetings Eyeball Fans!", Cherry Red Residents newsletter, June 16th 2023 including the San Francisco Conservatory of Music and producer/conductor Edwin Outwater, and several as-yet-unspecified "familiar guests and collaborators", bringing "fresh energy and more perspective in terms of the different parts" of the album. 
By the end of 2023, Doctor Dark was said to be to be in post-production,"Greetings Eyeballers!", Cherry Red Residents newsletter, December 1st 2023 with an anticipated release in the summer or fall 2024.Justin Jackley, "The Residents | Homer Flynn | Interview", It's Psychedelic Baby Magazine, February 22nd 2024 While many assumed that recording had been completed, this period of "post-production" instead became the beginning of a "brief break" in the sessions, apparently to "accommodate various schedules and extra long lie-ins"."Greetings Eyeballers!", Cherry Red Residents newsletter, May 5th 2024 During this time, The Residents secretly recorded a separate and conceptually unrelated EP titled Dookietown, which was "in the can" by June 2024,"Demons Dance For Free!", Cherry Red Residents newsletter, June 29th 2024 and was released in November as an "election day souvenir" (and which would ultimately precede the release of Doctor Dark).
The Residents had resumed work on Doctor Dark by February 2024."Greetings Eyeballers!", Cherry Red Residents newsletter, February 2nd 2024 By the end of June, "orchestral arrangements [had] been arranged and recorded", with a choral accompaniment also being prepared. By late July, The Residents had booked "final recording sessions" for Doctor Dark, with the group planning to "get this fucker finally finished" over the summer. In October 2024, Cherry Red Records announced that The Residents had completed the album, and that pre-orders would be announced the following month.
== Concept and style ==
“The Buddha said that life is misery. For the terminally ill, dying in pain, life is misery compounded - but what comes next? Is there a heaven, a nirvana, a paradise with 72 virgins for every martyr? No one knows, but what is known is that nothing makes humans more uncomfortable than death - the ultimate unknown, the other side of zero, the everlasting void. But maybe death is nothing more than a warm feeling, after a lifetime of whatever misery we choose to embrace, suggesting that nothing is quite so satisfying as one more dip into a lovely river, endlessly flowing into forever. Maybe it is possible to die happily ever after...”
- The Residents
Doctor Dark is described as an "extended narrative" project, in the form of a three-act "modern theater piece/opera", which revolves around three primary characters,"The Residents are playing... with two different music forms on this. It has... two primary characters, or... really, three characters. But part of it is kind of punk-ish, and part of it is kind of classical-ish. So you have those... two different forms... in a way kind of clashing with each other. It's just a part of the idea of the album." Homer Flynn, "EP168: Homer Flynn / The Residents", Electronically Yours with Martyn Ware, November 3rd 2023 "a couple of heavy metal kids (Maggot and Mark) and an insomniac Russian physician (Dr. Anastasia Dark)", a "disgraced visionary who offers those who need it THE GIFT". The "eclectic song cycle", said to feature "more songs about guns than the average Residents album", will be accompanied by a libretto.
The album is said to "[veer] from blissed out electronica to thrash metal as only The Residents can"; Homer Flynn of The Cryptic Corporation has described the album's style thus: "part of it is kind of punk-ish, and part of it is kind of classical-ish. So you have those... two different forms... in a way kind of clashing with each other", as "part of the idea of the album".
== Cover art ==
Doctor Dark's cover art and promotional graphics were created by Homer Flynn of The Residents' long-time graphic design company, Pore Know Graphics. Flynn revealed in February 2024 that he used generative artificial intelligence to create visual representations of the album's three lead characters, claiming that he had been "pretty successful with it."
Doctor Dark will be the fourth Residents release (and first full-length studio album) to prominently feature AI-generated artwork, following the compilation Leftovers Again?! AGAIN?!, the EP Dookietown, and the "Duck Sauce Refried" dubplate/object d'art, all released in 2024. Flynn has also used the technology to generate designs for art prints and t-shirts.
== Release ==
Doctor Dark, The Residents' first all-new studio album in "four years or more","Meet Maggot, Mark and Doctor Anastasia Dark..." Cherry Red Residents newsletter, December 6th 2024 was officially announced on December 6th 2024, with the album becoming available for pre-order on the same day. The upcoming release was further outlined in the December 2024 issue of Cherry Red Records' Residents email newsletter, which described the album as "a wonderful thing" and "a true labour of love".
The album is scheduled for release on CD and double vinyl LP via Cherry Red, MVD Audio and New Ralph Too on February 28th 2025. Both the CD and vinyl edition include a "read-along libretto", with listeners encouraged to read as they listen to the album. The libretto included with the vinyl edition of the album is A4 size. Copies ordered from the Cherry Red website optionally include one of two Residents beer mats (the design of which is exclusive to each format of the album).
Advance review copies were sent to press outlets on January 2nd 2025."the advance press review copies were sent out yesterday morning..." Comment by The Organ in The Residents unofficial Facebook group, January 3rd 2025 Four tracks from the album, "Prelude / Metal Madness", "Tension", "Contemplation" and "A Choice?", premiered January 7th 2025 on Australian independent radio station 2BOB Radio;Post by Hamish MacKenzie in The Residents unofficial Facebook group, January 5th 2025 "Prelude / Metal Madness" later aired on London radio station Resonance FM on January 19th.Post by Marina Organ in The Residents unofficial Facebook group, January 21st 2025 A seven-minute "concentrate"-style sampler track featuring excerpts from the album,"There'll be an album-promo-sampler-concentrate-single-thing coming soon to the mailing list. Subscribe or die!" Richard Anderson, comment in The Residents unofficial Facebook group, January 10th 2025 "Doctor Dark's Gift", was released to subscribers of Cherry Red's Residents mailing list on February 1st.
In December 2024, Psychofon Records announced that they will be releasing two limited vinyl editions of the album; a "special collectors' edition" and a "Die Hard" edition for "the inclined hardcore collector". Further details of these editions are yet to be confirmed.
== Theatrical adaptation ==
Having composed Doctor Dark as a "modern opera", and feeling that a "touring show really can't do [Doctor Dark] justice", The Residents do not intend to tour in support of the album, and are instead planning to follow its release with a live tour based on their 1979 album Eskimo.
The Residents are hoping to perform Doctor Dark in a "more theatrical context" in the future, with "higher production values" and in "different venues". However, as The Cryptic Corporation currently "doesn't have the resources to make that happen", this will ultimately depend on whether or not Cryptic can find a production company willing to finance a theatrical adaptation.
== Reception ==
In the album's first published review, Sean Worrall of The Organ considered Doctor Dark to be a "rather brilliant" and "massively theatrical... concept album" which is "dark in places, beautiful when it wants to be, powerfully quiet when it needs to be", and likened it to classic rock operas such as The Wall and The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway.Sean Worrall, "A first listen to the new album from The Residents", The Organ, January 3rd 2025
Awarding the album 8/10, music website Electric Eye described Doctor Dark as "a work of profound complexity" and "a testament to The Residents' fearless versatility", praising the "poignant horns and... strings that oscillate between intimate whispers and grandiose crescendos", and noting the album's "ability to balance its sprawling concept with genuine emotional resonance"."Album Review: The Residents - Doctor Dark", Electric Eye, January 21st 2025
== Track listing ==
=== CD edition ===
# Prelude / Metal Madness
# White Guys With Guns
# Maggot Remembers
# Tension
# She Was Never Lovelier
# The Gift
# Remembering Mother
# Contemplation
# Survived
# Calm Before
# Circle of Horns
# Unchanged
# The Gift Keeps Giving
# A Choice?
# Ol' Man River
# Take Me to the River
=== Vinyl edition ===
==== Disc One ====
===== Side A =====
# Prelude / Metal Madness
# White Guys With Guns
# Maggot Remembers
# Tension
===== Side B =====
# She Was Never Lovelier
# The Gift
# Remembering Mother
# Contemplation
==== Disc Two ====
===== Side C =====
# Survived
# Calm Before
# Circle of Horns
# Unchanged
===== Side D =====
# The Gift Keeps Giving
# A Choice?
# Ol' Man River
# Take Me to the River
== See also ==
* James Vance
* Jack Kevorkian
* Triple Trouble (album)
* Edwin Outwater
* San Francisco Conservatory of Music
* 50th Anniversary secret show
* Dookietown
== Buy Or Die! ==
* Doctor Dark CD edition at Cherry Red Records (UK/EU)
* Doctor Dark vinyl edition at Cherry Red Records (UK/EU)
== External links and references ==
* The Judas Priest subliminal message trial at Wikipedia
* Dream Deceivers: The Story Behind James Vance vs. Judas Priest at IMDb
* Jack Kevorkian at Wikipedia
Category:Doctor Dark
Category:Operas
Category:San Francisco Conservatory of Music