Icky Flix (DVD)

## Icky Flix

### Directed by

The Residents, Jim Judtke, Graeme Whifler, Lon McQuillin, Doug Carney & John Payson

### Written by

The Residents, James Brown, John P. Sousa, Renaldo & The Loaf

### Release date

January 2001

***Icky Flix*** is a DVD video compilation by The Residents, originally released in 2001 via MVD, East Side Digital and Euro Ralph.

Part of a wide-ranging retrospective multimedia project which also included a soundtrack album and a live tour, the *Icky Flix* DVD allows the viewer the option of watching The Residents' videos either with their original soundtracks, or newly recorded soundtracks created by the group specifically for the project.

## History

*Icky Flix* was conceived as a celebration of the 30th anniversary of the official beginning of The Residents. The *Icky Flix* DVD features 17 short films and music videos by The Residents, dating from their earliest video recordings until the present day. Each track includes an optional alternative soundtrack newly recorded by the group; these new recordings were released separately as a soundtrack album at the same time.

*Icky Flix* supplants the earlier releases *Video Voodoo Volume I* and *Twenty Twisted Questions* as the most comprehensive compilation of The Residents' video works to date. While most segments had previously been released in multiple forms, some were new animations created by Jim Ludtke, H-GUN, Bill Domonkos, and others, including The Residents themselves.

The DVD is also notable for featuring a 17-minute long "concentrate" version of the group's notoriously unfinished film project *Vileness Fats*. This DVD is the only digital release by the group to date which features substantial footage from this project (although some newly digitized footage and outtakes can be seen in the documentary film *Theory of Obscurity: A Film About The Residents*).

### Production

Shortly after the release of Wormwood, The Residents began to wonder what their next big project should be. One of their mutual friends suggested they compile their old videos into a DVD, which was only a few years old at the time. The group were disgusted by this idea, but Mr. Blue suggested it would be a great idea to re-record all the classic hits and give the viewers the option between the new recordings or the old ones. Knowing this would undoubtedly piss off fans, Mr. Skull agreed. So amidst touring and side projects, The Residents got to work on re-arrangements of their classic music video content. At the same time, the group began to work on new music videos to bulk out the DVD to feature-length. For this, they created animated music videos for Constantinople, He Also Serves & Burn Baby Burn. Still not satisfied with the length, the group hired some of their friends to create videos based on their back catalogue. The Residents hired Jim Ludtke to create a music video based on 'Bad Day On The Midway'; a video game Ludtke had worked on with The Residents. Bill Domonkos created a video based on *Kick a Picnic* from The Residents' 20th Anniversary Album '*Our Finest Flowers**',* and Doug Carney made a now-iconic music video based on their Gingerbread Man album.

In August of 2000, Ralph American announced that a Vileness Fats DVD would be released and that The Residents had booked out a professional recording studio for 30 hours. The Vileness Fats DVD was downsized to a 15-minute re-edit of the movie included with Icky Flix, and the 30 hours of recording time were likely for the album's soundtrack. They were joined in the studio by their regular collaborator Molly Harvey, who performed vocals on Kick a Picnic. The Icky Flix DVD was annoucned one week later, and was available to pre-order by December before its release in January of 2001.

## Clips

All songs written by The Residents except where noted

* The Third Reich 'N' Roll (Dr. The Residents)
* Constantinople (Dr. The Residents)
* One Minute Movies (Dr. The Residents & Graeme Whifler)
	+ Moisture
	+ The Act of Being Polite
	+ Perfect Love
	+ The Simple Song
* Kick A Picnic (Ft. Molly Harvey) (Dr. Bill Domonkos)
* Songs For Swinging Larvae (Renaldo/Loaf) (Dr. Graeme Whifler)
	+ Lime Jelly Grass
	+ Spratt’s Medium
	+ Melvyn’s Repose
* He Also Serves (Dr. The Residents)
* This Is A Man's Man's Man's World (Brown) (Dr. The Residents)
* Harry The Head (Dr. Jim Judtke)
* The Gingerbread Man (Concentrate) (Dr. Doug Carney)
	+ The Weaver
	+ The Dying Oilman
	+ The Sold Out Artist
	+ The Aging Musician
	+ The Old Woman
* Jelly Jack The Boneless Boy (Dr. Jim Judtke)
* Just For You (Disfigured Night Part 7) (Dr. John Payson)
* Stars And Stripes Forever (Sousa) (Dr. Jim Ludtke)
* Where Is She? (Dr. The Residents)
* Burn Baby Burn (Dr. The Residents)
* Hello Skinny (Dr. Graeme Whifler)
* Bad Day On The Midway (Concentrate) (Dr. Jim Ludtke)
* Vileness Fats (Concentrate) (Dr. The Residents)

## Soundtrack album

A soundtrack album of the same name was released concurrently with the DVD, featuring a number of the newly recorded versions of songs which accompany the videos on the DVD (though not all of them).

Further *Icky Flix* versions of classic Residents tracks would see release over the years to follow, notably appearing as "ephemera" on a number of pREServed reissues in 2018 and onwards.

## Tour

*Icky Flix Live* was a touring performance by The Residents, beginning in February 2001 and continuing until October of that year, in support of the concurrent DVD and CD releases.

The live show also featured the group's long-time collaborator Molly Harvey, and a further live album and DVD were released following the end of the tour.

## Abandoned sequel

Shortly after the release cycle of the *Icky Flix* DVD and its soundtrack, The Residents briefly began working on a proposed sequel to the DVD, creating at least one video (a homoerotic, S&M-themed music video for the song "Teddy") before abandoning the project.

The video for "Teddy" was "pushed off into a corner", until it was rediscovered in the summer of 2003, and included as a bonus feature on the "Golden Goat" DVD single.

## Credits

* **Composer**: The Residents, James Brown, Renaldo & The Loaf & John P. Sousa
* **Designer**: The Residents, Graeme Whifler, Jim Ludtke, Bill Domonkos, Steve Cerio & Doug Carney
* **Producer**: The Cryptic Corporation, Guido Randzio, Sharon Ludtke & Starr Sutherland
* **Music:** The Residents
* **Dolby Digital Producer**: Ron MacLeod
* **Dolby Digital Mix**: Ron MacLeod / The Residents
* **Audio Recording Engineer**: Kevin Ink
* **Audio Mastering Facility:** Outpost Film Centre
* **Audio Mastering**: Dave Nelson
* **Interface Design & Animation**: Jim Ludtke
* **Director**: The Residents, Graeme Whifler, Jon Mquillin, Jim Ludtke, Bill Domonkos, John Payson, Doug Carney / H-Gun
* **Animation**: The Residents, Jim Ludtke & Bill Domonkos
* **Crucial, Life-Saving Animation**: Adrian Diamond, Aidan Fraser, Amy Meadow, Chris O'dowd, Patrick Siemer & John Tissavary
* **Vocal By**: Molly Harvey
* **Music Publishing**: Pale Pachyderm Publishing (BMI), except where noted
* **DVD Authoring Facility:** Bitsweet / Video Arts San Francisco
* **DVD Producer**: David O. Weissman
* **Project Lead**: Simon Pargeter
* **Lead Technical Advisor**: Don Steele
* **Authorists**: Michael Endlich, Simon Pargeter, Jesse Spencer & Richard Winter
* **Compressionist / Video Editor**: Bob Johns
* **DVD Consultant**: David Blum
* **Digital Restoration**: Rand Wetherwax
* **Original Story**: The Residents
* **Additional 3-D Modeling:** Phill Simon **/** Thalia Georgopolis
* **Contributing Artists**: Steve Cerio, Poe Dismuke, Leigh Barbier & Georganne Deen
* **Graphic Assistance**: Jenny Doll & Steven Kloman

## Liner notes

Near the end of the last so-called "Millennium," someone suggested that The Residents release a DVD compilation of their many award-winning music videos. The anonymous group's response was a swift and unanimous "YUKKKK!!! HOW ICKY!"

More specifically, Mr Skull, sometimes known as the Black Hole of the group, replied, "I'd rather eat dog doo and die!"

It seems that the group saw the idea of creating a collection of their visual work, some of it almost 30 years old, as a task more fitting to bean counters than semi-famous artistes.

But then Mr Blue, a less volatile type, remarked, "But with a DVD we could record all the music again and let people have a choice of which soundtrack to play." "Hmmm...," replied the contrary Skull. "That would completely enrage our fans giving them nothing to complain about. Let's do it!"

So they did. And in the process. The Residents, with the help of their friends, crammed the disc full of newly created material: 4 never-before-seen music videos, video versions of their CD-ROMs and a newly restored edit of Vileness Fats, their first-ever video 'experiment' - and that's in addition to recording new music for the 100 minute long disc.

As usual, The Residents have created a great version of an Icky Idea: THE RESIDENTS' ICKY FLIX.

- The Cryptic Corporation

## See also

* *Mole Show/Whatever Happened To Vileness Fats?*
* *Video Voodoo Volume I*
* *Twenty Twisted Questions*
* *Commercial DVD*
* *Eskimo* (DVD)

## External links and references

* *Icky Flix*on The Residents Historical

1. ↑ https://web.archive.org/web/20000815055645/http://www.residents.com:80/
2. ↑ https://web.archive.org/web/20000823071557/http://ralphamerica.com:80/ralph.html
3. ↑ https://web.archive.org/web/20001213203800/http://www.ralphamerica.com:80/ralph.html
4. ↑ https://web.archive.org/web/20010114150700/http://ralphamerica.com:80/ralph.html
5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 Big Brother, "'PICKLE' to be available on tour", The Residents' Official News Blog and Website Wrapper, August 26th 2003