Molly Harvey

Harvey seen The Theory of Obscurity, 2015

**Molly Harvey** (born April 9th, 1972) is an American artist, singer, writer, and actress best known for her frequent collaborations with The Residents between 1994 and 2005. She occasionally performs with The Residents when they play in Georgia, but not otherwise.

Harvey remains active as a visual artist in Georgia and, in 2019, produced a 7" collaborative EP with Ostrich von Nipple titled *Harvey & Nipple*.

## Biography

### Early Life

Molly Harvey was born on April 9th, 1972, eight months prior to the release of Residents Uninc's *Santa Dog* EP, and two years before the public debut of The Residents. Growing up, Harvey was largely unfamiliar with The Residents, beyond the iconic image of an eyeball with a top hat, first used by the group in 1979, when Harvey was seven years old.

### Career with The Residents

Graduating from acting school in 1993, Harvey moved from central California to San Francisco after the unexpected death of her father. She landed a job at Elsie's coffee shop near *The Cryptic Corporation* offices. On her first day there, she met the Singing Resident and, "almost naturally," became good friends.

Over time, Harvey's learnt of her friend's occupation as a Resident, and had also become good friends with the group's producer Hardy Fox. One day, the Singing Resident asked Harvey if she could do an "old lady voice," for a song on their new album, Gingerbread Man. This lead to her first work with The Residents, providing lead vocals on the song "The Old Woman." She continued to work with the group and, in 1995, portrayed Dixie and Lottie in the group's CD-ROM video game *Bad Day on the Midway*, and appeared on the related studio album *Have a Bad Day*, notably taking lead vocals on "Lottie The Human Log."

#### Live Performances

In 1997, Molly joined The Residents on all 10 of the group's live shows performed that year, as The Residents eased themselves back into live performances; Molly sang lead vocals on "Would We Be Alive?" "Howard," "Bach is Dead," "Jack The Boneless Boy," as well as "The Old Woman" and "Lottie The Human Log." Harvey later recalled the confidence being asked to join them gave her - "If these guys believed I could sing, then I believed it too."  From this point on, Harvey became one of the group's primary collaborators, appearing with them as a lead vocalist in their live shows and on all their studio albums for a period. In 1998, she performed lead vocals on "How To Get a Head" and "Tent Peg in Temple" on The Residents' *Wormwood* album and appeared with the group throughout the 48-date Wormwood tour, performing lead vocals on not only "How To Get A Head," and "Tent Peg in Temple," but also "Dinah And The Unclean Skin," "Burn Baby Burn," which were sung by different vocalist in the original album. She also performed lead vocals on the new songs "Abraham," and "David's Dick." Additionally, in the 1998 preview performances of Wormwood, she performed lead vocals on "Picnic Boy."

Between 2000 and 2001, she appeared on the group's *Roadworms* and *Icky Flix* projects, performing lead vocals on "Kick a Picnic," "This is a Man's, Man's, Man's World," "Perfect Love," "Burn Baby Burn," and "Moisture" for the latter. She performed lead vocals all these songs on the group's 2001 world tour, plus "The Weaver."

In 2002, she released a book of stories and illustrations titled *He Cuts Hog* and appeared on The Residents' Demons Dance Alone album, performing lead vocals on "The Weatherman." She also appeared with the group throughout their 2002-2003 Demons Dance Alone tour, performing lead vocals on "Mickey Macaroni," "Caring," "The Beekeeper," "The Car Thief," "Ms. Wonderful," "From The Plains to Mexico," and "Golden Goat." After this, she worked with The Residents on their *Animal Lover* album, performing lead vocals on "Mother No More," "The Monkey Man," and "Inner Space." Her final work as a regular collaborator was The Way We Were tour, which played five dates in March of 2005, performing lead vocals on "Breath & Length," "Lizard Lady," "Picnic In The Jungle," "Golden Goat," "Eva's Warning," "Jelly Jack" "Amber," "Red Rider," "Burn Baby Burn," and "Teddy Bear."

Later in the year, Harvey relocated to Atlanta, Georgia, and became unable to collaborate with The Residents, who had always relied on local talent. On August 17th, 2008, Harvey and her husband, Francis Harlan, welcomed their son, Flynn Malcolm Harlan.

Harvey remains friendly with The Residents and has joined them onstage at their Georgia shows between 2010 and 2018. In 2016, Harvey was interviewed for the documentary film *Theory of Obscurity: A Film About The Residents*. In 2018, Secret Records released a double LP compilation album, *Loss of the Lizard Lady*, entirely focused on Harvey's work with the group.

Harvey's most recent musical project to date is a collaborative 7" EP with Ostrich von Nipple, *Harvey & Nipple*, released in 2019 by Psychofon Records. The duo also recorded a cover version of the Residents' song "Teddy," which appeared on the Hardy Fox memorial tribute album *The Godfather of Odd - A Hardy Fox Tribute* in the same year.

## Credits on Residents releases

* *Gingerbread Man* (1994, additional character voices on "The Old Woman")
* *Bad Day on the Midway* CD-ROM (1996)
* *Have A Bad Day* (1996, additional voices)
* *Disfigured Night!* VHS (1997)
* *Our Tired, Our Poor, Our Huddled Masses* (1997, voice actor on "Have A Bad Day Concentrate" and musician on "The Gingerbread Man Concentrate")
* *Wormwood (Curious Stories From The Bible)* (1998, additional vocals)
* *Roadworms (The Berlin Sessions)* (2000, vocals)
* *Icky Flix* DVD (2001, vocals on "Kick a Picnic" and "This Is A Man's Man's Man's World")
* *Icky Flix (Original Soundtrack Recording)* (2001)
* *Freak Show Special Edition* (2002, performer on "Benny Live - Icky Flix Tour")
* *Petting Zoo* (2002)
* *Demons Dance Alone* (2002, vocals)
* *Demons Dance Alone: Director's Cut* (2003)
* *Disfigured Night* DVD (2004)
* *The 12 Days of Brumalia* (2004)
* *The Residents Play Wormwood* DVD (2005)
* *Animal Lover* (2005)
* *Best Left Unspoken... Volume Three: For Elsie And Other Selections* (2007, vocals on "Lots of Knots")
* *Icky Flix Live* (2009)
* *Brava* (2010)
* *Lost In A Vacant Lot* (2010)
* *Randy's Ghost Stories* (2010, on '*Perchance To Dream*')
* *Bad Day On The Midway (Music From The Game Reconsidered)* (2012, voice)
* *Demonic! The Residents Live In Oslo!* (2012)
* *Triple Dub-Ya: The Way We Were Melbourne* (2012)
* *D\*ck S\*ab 35th Anniversary* (2012, guest on "Lizard Lady / Hello Skinny")
* "The Weatherman" (2013)
* "Boneless Boy (Jelly Jack)" (2014)
* "Manz Whirled" (2014)
* Snakefinger - *Live In Melbourne 1981* (2015, artwork)
* *dot.com* (2017, on "The Weatherman")
* *Loss Of The Lizard Lady* (2018)
* *The Godfather Of Odd - A Hardy Fox Tribute* (2019, performance on '*Teddy*')
* *Icky Flix (The Original Soundtrack Recording)* (2020, vocals on "Kick a Picnic" and "This Is A Man's Man's Man's World")
* *El Año Del Muerto* (2021)
* *Morning Music* ‎(2021)
* "Santa Dog '84" (2021, vocals on "Santa Dog '84 With Molly")
* *Wormwood Box* (2022, singing on "How To Get a Head" & "Tent Peg in Temple")
* *The Gatekeepers* (2022, vocals on "A Promising Direction")

## Credits on non-Residents releases

* The Scallions - *Agony Through Ceremony* XE (2013, vocals on "Goodbye")
* Ostrich Von Nipple - *Ostrich Von Nipple Quantifies Absurdity* (2014, vocals on "Upright Jerker")
* Ostrich Von Nipple ‎- *Ostrich Von Nipple Alternates Absurdity* (2014, vocals on "The Abstract Arms")
* *Harvey & Nipple* with Ostrich Von Nipple (2019)
* *42 Seconds #4* (2022, feature on "42 Segundos")

## External links and references

* Official Instagram page
* Molly Harvey on Discogs

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 Jordan Owen and Molly Harvey, "Q&A: Molly Harvey talks about time with experimental rockers The Residents and remembers Hardy Fox", Arts ATL, November 27th 2018
2. ↑ Molly Harvey Interview 5/10/21
3. ↑ "He Cuts Hog" by Molly Harvey on Amazon
4. ↑ Big Brother, "New human", The Residents Blog, August 117th 2007