Probably the coolest concept of any of the films of NaFF could be found in Don’t Quit Your Daydream, a documentary by and about LA-based band The Good Listeners. They took a month-long cross-country trip to 11 different cities, where they stopped for one day, met a random artist or musician and collaborated with them on an original song. The result was a very realistic portrayal of the often financially unfulfilling lifestyle of destitution that seems to be the price to pay in exchange for the pursuit of a daydream as a career. It was also an attempt to explain why band members Nathan Khyber and Clark Stiles (and so many others) do what they do. The duo kindly sat down with me once they had finished playing the NaFF closing party with Sam and Ruby. I learned that the film was initially intended as an attempt at a new direction for their music. I also learned from them the sacrficies they are still willing to make for a career in music.

Said the band about their approach to music these days, "[I]t’s a new era….It’s such a difficult environment for musicians that you gotta do whatever you can. We want to come and play Nashville, but we can’t afford a band. Do we want to do acoustic? No. It’s a snoozefest. Let’s fuckin’ have video that’s in a suitcase that we can bring on the plane so we can actually have full production. We would rather have a band, but you have to make these decisions. It’s pragmatism in tough times…."

Before The Good Listeners were influenced and inspired by complete strangers, their sound was comparable to The Beatles, Beck, Radiohead and Pink Floyd. After recording in places such as a horse barn, a streamline trailer park and an extra-terrestrial center, with characters as varied as Entourage’s Adrien Grenier, Daddy Mack and a drunk man who wandered onto the set, it would be nearly impossible to predict what a Good Listener album would sound like. Curious?

Initially, listening to Don’t Quit Your Daydream was like being in a trance, but once you watch the movie and see how each song is created – and the nonsense that accompanied those songs – you are presented with an entirely new set of ears and an altered state of mind. Upon listening to the album once more, you’ll feast upon a musical mad lib of experimental, almost psychedelic, indie pop/rock, while reminiscing over the shenanigans you witnessed in the film. If you are a musician, or an artist, or someone who has ever attempted to make a living via creative endeavors, you might even taste a bit of bittersweet nostalgia.

Thanks to their tenacity and their ingenuity, it looks like sweet success is all The Good Listeners will be tasting for a while. The boys are going to continue playing live shows at film festivals around the country to promote the documentary. They also have plans for a new record, another film-related idea and day jobs as independent contractors if they end up deciding that they want to quit their daydreams. From the looks of things, though, that won’t be necessary. –Erin Manning