Digital Rollout
Although never released as such, The 12 Days of Brumalia has been described by Residents spokesman Homer Flynn and biographer Ian Shirley as a Hardy Fox solo project attributed to The Residents. [2]
The project launched on December 24, 2003, [6] three months after the conclusion of the group's Demons Dance Alone tour, which ran from October 25, 2002 to September 28, 2003. [7] Hardy Fox, who had performed with the group since their earliest shows, was notably absent from the Demons tour, with his typical duties being performed by Eric Drew Feldman. [8]
Lasting until January 5, 2004, thirteen downloadable MP3s to Residents.com were released part of The Residents' 'Brumalia' celebrations, The Residents' interpretation of a 13 day festive holiday season, inspired by "The Twelve Days of Christmas." "Big Hand," was later revisited for the Tweedles album. [6] Each download would be accompanied by an image incorporating various religious imagery and water, drawing attention to many different faiths which celebrate the winter solstice. The album was later covered on the Grandpa Gio blog, supposedly written contemporary to each Residents release it reviewed and which was promoted on The Reisdents' website throughout the 2010s. Gio it was compared to the group's Santa Dog series, which had also been free holiday releases which "announce [The Residents'] new perspective." [9]
Physical Release
On April 27, 2004, it was announced through Residents.com that a re-mixed The 12 Days of Brumalia CD would be available from Ralph America, The Residents' mail order / online purchase label. [10] The CD was officially available to purchase on June 10, [11] and featured a surprise bonus track "The True Meaning of Brumalia." [6] The CD was a limited edition of 1,000 numbered copies, although the first 475 featured misprinted covers, and un-numbered versions were made available as replacements. [4] Although the download versions of the songs were titled uniquely, physical releases name each track "Day 1," "Day 2," etc.
MVD Audio re-released the CD for its 10th anniversary in 2014, making 12 Days of Brumalia widely available for the first time. This version features bonus tracks from The Residents' 1993 Prelude To The Teds EP, and a recent remix of "Jack The Boneless Boy" from Freak Show , [6] despite these additions, the original CD's closing track, "The Feast Of Epiphany," is absent.
Brumalia is considered by Homer Flynn and Ian Shirley to be a pre-cursor to Hardy Fox's 'Charles Bobuck' solo albums several years later.
"Charles Bobuck – has more creative energy and has been prolific in creating more music than can fit into The Residents format. So there have always been things like the Brumalia series that Chuck has done that got labeled as Residents." - Homer Flynn, 2015 [2]
