Without Nirvana, a lot of current rock bands wouldn't be around.

But without The Replacements, we may have never heard Nirvana. Or a lot of other bands.

Formed in 1979 in Minneapolis, The Replacements — Paul Westerberg, Bob Stinson, Tommy Stinson and Chris Mars — were pioneers of alternative rock and paved the way for groups such as Nirvana, The Goo Goo Dolls, Green Day and more.

But the band, nicknamed "The Mats," didn't last. Shows from the band — often drunk — were just as likely to be terrible as wonderful. And despite eventually signing with a major label, commercial success eluded them.

Filmmaker Gorman Bechard wanted to tell their story. But he wanted to do it through others' stories about the band.

In "Color Me Obsessed: A Film About The Replacements... the potentially true story of the last best band," Bechard interviews dozens affected by the band and its music and documents the legends surrounding the group.

Interview subjects are diverse and include musicians Colin Meloy of The Decemberists, Patrick Stickles of Titus Andronicus, The Goo Goo Dolls and actors and comedians such as Tom Arnold, Dave Foley and George Wendt (yeah, Norm from "Cheers" is a fan of The Mats).

It's also a unique film in that he doesn't interview any of the surviving members (Bob Stinson died in 1995) or use any of the band's music.

Bechard will be at a screening of the film on Wednesday at Slowdown, which will include a Q&A and Replacements songs played by local bands.

We caught up with him to talk about his film and the band that inspired it.

Q. What was the inspiration for this film?

A. I had always wanted to do a doc, to be honest, but I knew it had to be something I was really, really passionate about. When you do a film, you spend two to three years of your life on it.

I thought it had to be The Replacements or The Archers Of Loaf, New Haven pizza or dogs. I had a bunch of friends who work for the Humane Society, but I don't want to spend three years watching animal abuse. I can't emotionally deal with that.

Anyway, I watch a lot of movies and, honestly, in 52 years, I can't remember a music doc made after the band broke up that I actually love.

With The Replacements, the heart and soul of the band, Bob (Stinson), is long gone. In my movie, I didn't want to have other people speaking to Bob. I really fell in love with this thing where the band wouldn't be seen, wouldn't be heard.

When it comes to religion, I tell people, "I don't believe in God but I do believe in The Replacements." People believe in God because of these stories in the Bible, so I wanted to never show them, never hear them, but get people to believe in these crazy stories.

Q. What have people thought about that approach?

A. My favorite quotes are from people who knew nothing about The Replacements. This move gives you all the ammunition. If you know the band and love the band, you don't need the music. You know the music. For those that don't know the music, I'm arming them with ammunition to go and discover the band.

Besides, If I had put music in the film, it wouldn't be the songs you put in the film. It's a better way to discover the band, I think.Some of the best things I've heard are from people who say, "I don't like The Replacements, but this is the way I feel about Nirvana or R.E.M." Music is so much about how a band becomes a family member. There are these bands that we fell in love with 15 years ago that we still buy their records even though they suck now. You still stick with it. A lot of us do that.

We keep buying R.E.M. albums and what have they done that's been that good in years? Nothing. Have I loved an Elvis Costello record since "King Of America?" No. But the music speaks to us

Q. Have you heard from anyone in the band?

A. Only (Peter) Jespersen (former Replacements manager), who's like the fifth Beatle. He actually gave me the info on record sales and things like that. We all went to dinner and one of my favorite stories is that he cried the first time he watched the movie. That made me feel really, really happy.

He was there. If it wasn't for Jespersen taking that tape from Westerberg or holding their hand on the road for so long, there wouldn't be The Replacements.

Q. Who were your favorite people to interview?

A. We had everyone from Johnny Rzeznick (of the Goo Goo Dolls) to Craig Finn (of The Hold Steady). Grant Hart (of Hüsker Dü) was fantastic.

But my all-time favorite is Robert Voedisch. He's this farm boy from northern Minnesota who fell in love with the band when he was 14. He saw them on the cover of "Creem" for an interview for "Please To Meet Me." He said, "I used to have imaginary conversations with Tommy on how to dress or how to talk to this girl" and stuff like that.

This guy just laid himself naked on the table for us. Not literally, obviously (Laughs). He just spoke about how this band was oxygen. He said, "I don't even know sometimes if I like the band, but it's like Minnesota or my parents or oxygen." He can't even separate himself from them sometimes.

Q. Do you have a lot of extra stuff for the DVD?

A. We're definitely gonna do the entire Grant Hart interview because it's so damn good. We have five hours of extras that we've culled and cut down. We'll do two different DVD releases: One with just the regular movie and another with a second DVD with all the extras.

Q. Was there anyone you wish you could have interviewed?

A. There were people we couldn't get to. The one person I would've killed to have gotten was Pat Sajak (host of Wheel of Fortune). I just wanted him to be on the screen. It would have been a really funny moment, but we could never arrange our schedules.

Q. Anyone you were surprised by?

A. I was honestly impressed by the Goo Goo Dolls. They've gotten so much crap over the years for ripping off The Replacements. Johnny Rzeznick says straight out, "I can't believe how bad we ripped that band off." Whether or not you like that band's music, you have to respect them for that.

Q. A lot of people don't realize how influential the band was.

A. Absolutely. My feeling is that every band that picked up a guitar after 1984 owes their right arm to The Replacements and their left arm to Hüsker Dü.

Seriously. There's no Seattle scene without those two bands. Nirvana's manager says to me, "90 percent of Nirvana is The Replacements and Hüsker Dü in a blender."

The ones that don't know The Replacements are like the African-American baseball players who don't know who Jackie Robinson is. I hope that some bands know some history of music, not just what's playing on the radio. That would be pathetic.

Q. What are some interesting questions you've gotten during these screenings?

A. "Why the Replacements?" I've been doing these for awhile and it took until I got to Barcelona to be asked, "Why The Replacements?" The more interesting questions were, "What would you have done with more money?" I would have paid my crew more. None of us got really paid. My last two movies have given out royalty checks. I don't believe that money solves problems in a film. If you want to get something to work, you get it to work. Throwing money at it is the Hollywood way.

Q. You funded it partially through Kickstarter, right?

A. Yep, Kickstarter (a funding platform for creative projects) and credit cards. Kickstarter is the godsend for independent artists. If you have fans who like your stuff, it's the great way to get funding.

I've raised money for films before. You have to get lawyers who are familiar with SEC regulations. That's not cheap. If you're looking to raise a couple hundred thousand and spend 50k to do it, it doesn't make sense.

Q. What else are you working on?

A. I have four films in development. One is a documentary on the three famous pizza places of New Haven, Conn. People wait in line for up to three hours at these places. When presidents come back to Yale, they go to get pizza. When Spielberg's son got married, he flew a jet to pick up 50 pizzas. I went with two New Yorkers and a guy from Chicago and they all agreed it was the best pizza they'd ever had.

I'm also editing The Archers Of Loaf concert film. They're probably my second favorite band and they got back together this year, and I talked them into letting me film their show at Cat's Cradle down in North Carolina. It's a really in-your-face film, like your TV is sweating.

Then, "You Are Alone" was a dark drama I did a couple years ago. I love the theme of it: loneliness and escaping from loneliness, so I wanted to make it a trilogy.

"One Night Stand" is a very sick horror film. And then there's "A Broken Side Of Time," which is a road trip movie.