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The Moles (fan group)

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The Moles were an unofficial Residents fan collective, active from 1999 to 2006. Primarily based in the United Kingdom, the Moles were best known for their website The Mole Pages (formerly Vinnie's Eyeball Pages),[1] and managing an active online community of Residents fans.[2]

Consisting of Vince "Vinnie" Coulman, Keith Nuttall, Rock Wilson, Krister Andersson, Paul Wilson, Jan Laursen and Michael Arnoldt,[3] the Moles operated an online Residents Smartgroup community, organized fan events ("The Residents Café") in London, and privately released a CD-R, Worm Pizza, in 2003, featuring contributions from Paulie Kraynak and Brian Poole of Renaldo & The Loaf.

The Moles organized several events in London to coincide with Residents concerts and collaborated with Mute Records to host listening parties for the label's campaign of Residents reissues and new releases such as Animal Lover, even producing (with permission from Mute) several CD and DVD releases specifically for these events.

The Moles closed their chat group and website in 2006, following a decline in "chat group quality" and collective loss of interest.[4] Although The Mole Pages website has been inactive since, a small portion of the site's content remains available online at theresidents.co.uk.[5]

History

The Moles were founded by Rock Wilson, Keith Nuttall and Vince "Vinnie" Coulman; the collective grew, and they started an online “Smartgroups” community in 2000, positioning themselves as an alternative to the Smelly Tongues mailing list, the primary Residents discussion group on the internet at the time. The Moles' Residents Smartgroup community quickly became very active; the Moles policed the community "as little as possible - mostly for readability and relevance".[2]

Around this time, the Moles also became the administrators of Coulman's ”Vinnie’s Eyeball Pages” website, renaming it “The Mole Pages”, gathering content and expanding it significantly.[1] In 2003, members of the group created a Residents tribute album, Worm Pizza, featuring contributions from Brian Poole of Renaldo & The Loaf and Residents uber-fan Paulie Kraynak. It was released privately as a limited edition of 20 CD-Rs housed in miniature pizza boxes, and later in an on-demand pressing of CD-Rs in standard jewel cases, retitled Worm Pizza (Re-heated).

When The Residents resumed regular touring, The Moles began arranging fan meet-up events in London, as well as new release listening events; known as "The Residents Café", the events were held at the Horse Hospital in Bloomsbury, and featured projections, guest speakers, competitions and (of course) Residents music, and were often well-attended, usually attracting around a hundred fans.[6] The Moles also arranged listening parties for The Residents' new releases and reissues, in collaboration with the group's (then) label Mute Records, and produced a number of limited CD and DVD releases specifically for these events (including The Mole Show Revisited and Animal Lover Listening Party DVDs).

Around 2005 and 2006, The Moles began to lose interest in the group following a decline in chat quality; they decided to pull the plug on the Smartgroup community when a small number of active users were offered management of the group, and refused.[4] Most of The Mole Pages website was taken down, but some sections were left (and remain) online, in respect of the level of fan involvement in their creation.[5] Most of The Moles remain in touch occasionally to this day, despite having lost some members in the years since the end of their online presence.[7]

In 2019, Worm Pizza (Re-heated) was released digitally via Bandcamp.

Members

  • Vince Coulman
  • Keith Nuttall
  • Rock Wilson
  • Krister Andersson
  • Paul Wilson[3]
  • Jan Laursen
  • Michael Arnoldt[3]

Honorary Moles

Discography

  • Worm Pizza (2003)
    • reissued as Worm Pizza (Re-heated) in June 2003 and 2019

See also

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 "The Moles website was started a few years previously by Vinnie, and he offered it to the Moles, who gathered content and expanded it significantly over the years. It really was quite big by the time we finished." Keith Nuttall, email to The Mysterious Spanish Ladies, October 2nd 2024
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 "The Residents Smartgroup(s) soon became very active, and the Moles policed it as little as possible - mostly for readability and relevance." Keith Nuttall, email to The Mysterious Spanish Ladies, October 2nd 2024
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 "No list of Moles is complete without Paul Wilson and Michael Arnoldt. They're even in the photo." Keith Nuttall, email to The Mysterious Spanish Ladies, October 2nd 2024
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 "We stopped enjoying the thing around 2005-6. The chat group quality was dropping. I asked a few active users if they wanted to take on the management, and when they all refused, we decided to just pull the plug on the whole thing instead of let it get any worse." Keith Nuttall, email to The Mysterious Spanish Ladies, October 2nd 2024
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 "The website you see now is only a small fraction of what was once there, and those specific sections were left because of the size of fan involvement." Keith Nuttall, email to The Mysterious Spanish Ladies, October 2nd 2024
  6. ↑ "The London events came with the resumption of regular touring, and we even organised new release listening events too, always at the Horse Hospital in Bloomsbury. The events were well-attended, usually attracting around 100 people, and involved projections, speakers, competitions and of course the music. But the main event was the chance to meet fellow Residents fans." Keith Nuttall, email to The Mysterious Spanish Ladies, October 2nd 2024
  7. ↑ "We lost some of our group since, but we still stay in touch from time to time." Keith Nuttall, email to The Mysterious Spanish Ladies, October 2nd 2024
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