W.E.I.R.D. (1978-81)

W.E.I.R.D. was the first Residents fan club. It was founded in June, 1978, by Phil Culp and Mimi King and quickly grew to 500 members. The club's membership package was very elaborate: in addition to a member's card, you received a copy of The Official W.E.I.R.D. Book Of The Residents with cover art by Gary Panter and containing The True Story of The Residents by music journalist Matt Groening (later famous for his Life in Hell and The Simpsons).

Once it was established the club had a contest to figure out just what W.E.I.R.D. stood for. The club eventually settled on "We Endorse Immediate Residents Deification".

While the club was in operation, they made art prints by Panter and Savage Pencil available to members, as well as odd Residential souvenirs such as 6" segments of the original Eskimo master tape. The club's slogan, "Ignorance of your culture is not considered cool," was taken from a Duck Stab promotional poster.

At its peak the club had over a thousand members, but it was plagued by late newsletters and ate up too much of the organizers' time. It shut down in 1981, sending out specially pressed copies of the Babyfingers single with new art by Pore Know Graphics, as a final gift to all members.



UWEB (1988-1992)

UWEB was "Uncle Willie's Eyeball Buddies," the official fan club for the Eyeballed Ones.

Unlike most band fan clubs, UWEB actively produced and released CDs of music by the band, most of it available only through the club.

Uncle Willie released material to club members that no-one else ever saw. The Residents even recorded tracks specially for UWEB releases. The club released a quarterly newsletter which announced the latest Residential goings-on, explored the technology behind the music, and generally examined the Residential world.



Smelly Tongues and The Moles

The traditional fan club structure became outdated as the world wide web gained popularity. Two groups that operated as fan forums in the late 1990s were Smelly Tongues and The Moles. Both provided places where fans could virtually meet and discuss their love for The Residents. Nowadays this kind of service is distributed throughout many sites such as Facebook and Twitter.