TRIO of talents
The Sweet Remains bring 2 concerts and a movie to Phoenix
The Sweet Remains are a Spotify success story. The trio offers smart, slyly-engaging coffeehouse pop, overflowing with toasty harmonies that are both breathtaking yet somehow seem strangely effortless. In the past 11 years, through songs like “Dance With Me” and “Moving in Slow Motion,” the band has racked up more than 30 million plays on Spotify. Other artists may gripe about the streaming platform, but it’s been a positive relationship for the Sweet Remains. “For a small, independent band like us, those kind of plays add up,” member Greg Naughton says. “It’s managed to keep us afloat in an environment where small bands can’t usually make it work. We can go into all kinds of new markets, and it’s been a great help into getting us into a whole new echelon of venues.”
The venues could be getting bigger. Beginning with February’s “Music Fills the Spaces,” the group – which features Rich Price and Valley resident Brian Chartrand – plan to release monthly singles in 2019, culminating with a full album at the end of the year. It will be their first long-player since 2015’s outstanding “Night Songs.”
Often in conjunction with their concerts, they are doing a series of special sneak-preview screenings of “The Independents,” a winsome comedy-drama written and directed by Naughton and starring the band. For example, the film will screen at the Harkins Scottsdale 101 on Saturday, Feb. 9, followed by two concerts at the Musical Instrument Museum in Phoenix.
‘The Independents’
The film follows the three guys – playing characters named Rich, Greg and Brian – as members of a band called RGB struggling to make a living in music. It debuted at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival last year and earned a love-letter review from the Hollywood Reporter: “Naughton deserves credit for an unconventional, sharply written script,” Stephen Farber writes in the trade publication, saying the film “deserves to find an audience beyond the festival circuit.”
“I’m very pleased with the response,” Naughton says with chuckle. “I’d love for it to maybe make some money. That’s my next big concern, but so far so good.”
The film has brought some new eyes to the Sweet Remains, although that was never Naughton’s goal.
“I don’t want the film to be a P.R. tool for the band, but it’s definitely a very effective one, it seems,” Naughton says. “It’s pretty gratifying how people react to hearing live music after they’ve engaged in the movie and engaged with the characters – I hope we can find a way to harness that.”
Reality vs. fiction
The Sweet Remains were briefly known as RGB early in the band’s life, Naughton confirms. And though the the film’s soundtrack is filled with tunes familiar to Sweet Remains fans, the group is never referred to by their actual name onscreen.
“There was a time when we debated calling it ‘The Sweet Remains,’ but I wanted it to be clear that this wasn’t just a vanity project to promote the band,” Naughton says. “I wanted it to be taken seriously as its own story and film.”
Even though they may share names, the guys only have a tangential relationship to the characters they’re playing. Onscreen, Greg works as a tree-trimmer; in reality, Naughton is a licensed arborist. Chartrand’s character initially appears as a long-haired “neo-hippie” who hitches a ride from Greg and Rich.
“Brian is not a homeless dude,” Naughton clarifies with a laugh. “To a pretty good extent, I sort of exaggerated all of our natural traits, our different functions in this relationship.”
The film is anchored by Price’s character, a grad student with dreams of pursuing a musical career. He does not like to curse, a trait he has in common with the real Price.
“We exaggerated that a bit, but he rarely curses,” Naughton says. “Rich is the guy that all the wives think is the nicest guy in the group.”
The film is a bit of a road trip, as we see the guys engage in some offbeat encounters on the path to a possible career-making gig in Los Angeles. It’s an endearing tale that works even if you’ve never heard a single recording by the Sweet Remains. One reason is the affection and shared dream between the three main characters, who are firmly in middle age. There’s humor, but also genuine emotional resonance.
“I wanted to write this movie almost as an homage to the relationship I have with Rich and Brian,” Naughton says. “We’re kind of like brothers at this point. It’s the most interesting and unusual relationship I’ve had with two other grown men in my adult life, and it’s sort of fascinating to me. There’s always negotiations and egos. We can definitely drive each other nuts and fight like brothers, but there’s a profound understanding and allegiance we all feel toward each other. We just sort of dig that.”
Looking ahead
Unlike his bandmates, Naughton’s background is in theater. In the ‘90s, he founded New York’s acclaimed Blue Light Theater Company. He comes from a family with a vibrant theatrical history. His dad is two-time Tony winner James Naughton; his wife is Tony winner Kelli O’Hara; and his uncle is David Naughton of “An American Werewolf in London” fame.
Making “The Independents” not only reignited Naughton’s passion for acting and directing, but it has given him a newfound appreciation of band life.
“The film is so much about the band, it’s only heightened my enthusiasm and affection for being in it,” he says. “At the same time, I thoroughly loved the process and the ability to work with a much bigger palette. The frustration I sometimes feel as a songwriter is that 3 1⁄2 minutes is a pretty small palette to be working on. It can be great, but I really enjoyed looking at a much bigger story and having 90 minutes to explore a whole world.”