The All-For-Nots series finale aired last week. The show is a “Spinal Tap meets the Monkees for the Facebook generation” and follows the on-tour, indie stylings of a band out of Tall Bikes, Brooklyn.
The self-described “Synth-Pop Indie-Electro-Folk-Emo-Dance-Gazer-Punk-Americana-Pop Prog-Rock-Emo” group is real in that they play real shows (I was at their first) with real music, but fake in that their origins are inorganic – they were studio-constructed especially for the web by Michael Eisner’s Vuguru and Kathleen Grace and Thom Woodley of Dinosaur Diorama Productions.
For 24 episodes the docu-comedy has taken audiences along for a roadtrip across America to finally end up Hollywood, where Larry books the band a spot on Letterman (not to be confused with The All-For-Nots real-world appearance on Kimmel). Johnny, Caleb, Paul, Shirley, and Farrah make it out to LA for their big break into rock ‘n roll celebritydom, but two problems arise: Letterman is filmed in New York City and Larry’s booked the wrong gig.
(Don’t worry, though, there’s a resolution worthy of a feel-good Disney flick that makes everything okay.)
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But now that the series is over, what about the band? Will the The All-For-Nots make a “transition from ‘faux’ band funded by real money to ‘real’ band funded by no money”? I spoke with co-creator and co-star, Thom Woodley (he plays Paul in the show) to find out what happens from here:
Tilzy.TV: How’s it feel to be done with the series?
Thom Woodley: Weird to be done with AFN. I am back and forth on whether or not it was a success artistically. It is very different than I had originally wanted. But doing it was an amazing experience. I have learned a ton about what to do and what not to do on a lot of levels. I’m overall proud of it and glad it’s done and I hope it continues to grow in popularity as people discover it or catch up.
Tilzy.TV: Where’s the band go from here?
Thom: The band is figuring it out. We all want to do it, show or no show. The band has actually turned out quite well and we’d like to keep going.
How i’m describing the band to people now is it’s a fake band that decided to be real, faking their way through and suddenly hit by reality. We’re well aware of our inner shillness and fakeness as a band so now we are at a crossroads on whether to embrace it or depart from it.
That said, a ton of ‘real’ bands were made under just as false / inorganic pretenses as ours. It’s just, now we’ve got no money behind us, so how much do we want to continue laboring as The All-For-Nots when Tornante owns rights to the songs, the name, and ultimately decides whether or not to continue the show? If the band is there primarily to promote the show, which has just ended, then there’s a rapidly diminishing point. If the band is something different, which we all seem to think it is, then how the hell do we keep it going, and where to?
That’s what we’re trying to solve now. Although for the time being, we’re kind of slacking off while other projects pop up.
Tilzy.TV: What’s up next for Dinosaur Diorama?
Thom: Dino Diorama is doing a vlog about AFN and putting together several pitches for different projects and distributors – I think people saw that AFN was more succesful and accessible than the burg and we have a lot of interest.
You can catch The All-For-Nots at least one more time at Glasslands in Brooklyn on September 26 at 9PM.
