This Is Anvil: Legendary Metal Band And Documentary Subject To Perform At Frankie’s

Anvil was the band that never took “no” for an answer.

The Canadian speed-metal pioneers, who directly influenced everyone from Guns ‘N Roses to Metallica, thanks to such classic thrash albums as “Metal On Metal” and “Forged In Fire” labored in obscurity for years, until filmmaker Sacha Gervasi filmed one of the best music documentaries of all time with his 2008 film “Anvil! The Story of Anvil.”

The award-winning film captured a band that refused to give up on their rock-n-roll dreams despite encroaching old age, disastrous tours and disinterested record labels. Anvil, led by Steve “Lips” Kudrow and Robb Reiner, provides a blueprint for any artist or creative who is toiling for their big break.

The elder statesmen of metal will be performing at Frankie’s on July 11, mostly playing selections from their first three albums.

Toledo City Paper got Lips and Robb on the phone while the pair were driving to a gig to discuss their life-changing documentary film and what advice they have to other creatives.

Lips: It took us from total obscurity to being famous all over the world. We haven’t stopped working and putting out music since the movie came out. We’re getting ready to go in and record our twenty-first album at the end of August. We’re always touring, doing at least 100 shows a year and we do Europe as well. So we were extremely busy. We haven’t worked a day job in almost 20 years.

Lips: We were at the Marquee in London, England in 1982. We were in the club about to do soundcheck, and there was a knock at the door of the change room, and this 15-year-old comes in and starts telling us everything that he knows about Anvil. We were completely shocked, because of course, it was our first time overseas, and here was a 15-year-old kid that knew everything about us as if he lived next door. We were pretty astonished by it.  He showed us around London and told us that he had relatives where we come from in Toronto, and that maybe one day he’ll come and visit. About a year later, there’s a knock at my door and there he was. So, we went out on the road, and we introduced him to the rock ‘n’ roll life. His parents let him come with us on the road and he him being a drummer, he was looking after Robb’s drum set. So, it was a real life-changing experience for him.  We kind of lost touch with each other and we hadn’t seen him for about 25, 30 years.

The next thing I know, I’m getting an email from him in early 2005, and I’m like “Holy shit!” I haven’t heard from this guy since since the early ’80s and here he is. So, what actually ended up happening is he invited me to come down to Los Angeles. I had no idea what he was up to, but all of a sudden, I’ve got a knock at my door, and it’s FedEx with airline tickets for me to come to Los Angeles. So, you can imagine, I’m like, “Dude, what happened to this guy? Where has he got money to send me airline tickets?” I get out to Los Angeles, and I’m at the terminal waiting for him to show up, and he pulls up in a Jaguar that was originally owned by Sean Connery. I get in and I’m like “What the hell? What’s going on?” And then he goes, “Lips, I’m a screenwriter. I wrote a movie for Steven Spielberg.” (Ed.– The movie Gervasi wrote was the 2004 feature “The Terminal”). And I went, “Oh, okay;” that explains everything, doesn’t it? So we reconnected and it was an awesome weekend that I spent down there. We ended up going to the house of a very close friend of his who was actually one of the screenwriters for Schindler’s List, a guy named Steve Zaillian. Sacha and Steve are getting coffee in the kitchen, and they have a conversation and they’re looking out in the backyard where I’m sitting watching Steve’s wife watch the dog, and he goes, “Who did you bring to my house?” And Sacha starts telling him “That’s Lips from the band Anvil. They’ve been together for, you know, 30, 40 years, man, and they’re still working on trying to make it.” And the guy looks at Sacha right in the eye and goes, “That’s your next movie, dude.” And that’s basically how it happened. I got home from that weekend, and I was not expecting much to happen, but I got a phone call from Sacha, and he says, “I’m coming up to Toronto to visit my Uncle Marty. Come and get me at the airport.” Of course, I knew where Uncle Marty lived, because that’s where we used to go pick up Sacha when he used to come to Toronto years ago. So I go and meet him over at Uncle Marty’s and he tells me in the living room he’s going to make a movie about Anvil and my experiences.

I broke into tears because I realized instantly what that meant. We’re not talking about some guy with a video camera. We’re talking about somebody that works with Steven Spielberg is gonna make a movie about Anvil. I saw the success instantly, and that’s why I burst out crying. I came to realize all my trials and tribulations and everything I’d been through had actually been for a reason. My failures were a contribution to my success later. That was the way that I saw it, and that’s exactly what it turned out to be.

Lips: Ultimately what any artist needs to be doing is something that is completely original. That’s paramount. If you don’t come up with something unique, you’re never really going to get anywhere. If you’re doing something that sounds like everything else out there, you’ll just be treated as a sound alike, and you’ll be maybe a quick flash in the pan. because you’re doing something that’s copying somebody else.  So, you got to become something really unique. That’s what it’s really about.

Robb: For me, it’s probably when he’s talking about the app going to 11.

Lips: I like the part where they can’t find the door to the stage. That really happens. And we’re in Cleveland right now. “Hello, Cleveland!”

Anvil was the band that never took “no” for an answer.

The Canadian speed-metal pioneers, who directly influenced everyone from Guns ‘N Roses to Metallica, thanks to such classic thrash albums as “Metal On Metal” and “Forged In Fire” labored in obscurity for years, until filmmaker Sacha Gervasi filmed one of the best music documentaries of all time with his 2008 film “Anvil! The Story of Anvil.”

The award-winning film captured a band that refused to give up on their rock-n-roll dreams despite encroaching old age, disastrous tours and disinterested record labels. Anvil, led by Steve “Lips” Kudrow and Robb Reiner, provides a blueprint for any artist or creative who is toiling for their big break.

The elder statesmen of metal will be performing at Frankie’s on July 11, mostly playing selections from their first three albums.

Toledo City Paper got Lips and Robb on the phone while the pair were driving to a gig to discuss their life-changing documentary film and what advice they have to other creatives.

Lips: It took us from total obscurity to being famous all over the world. We haven’t stopped working and putting out music since the movie came out. We’re getting ready to go in and record our twenty-first album at the end of August. We’re always touring, doing at least 100 shows a year and we do Europe as well. So we were extremely busy. We haven’t worked a day job in almost 20 years.

Lips: We were at the Marquee in London, England in 1982. We were in the club about to do soundcheck, and there was a knock at the door of the change room, and this 15-year-old comes in and starts telling us everything that he knows about Anvil. We were completely shocked, because of course, it was our first time overseas, and here was a 15-year-old kid that knew everything about us as if he lived next door. We were pretty astonished by it.  He showed us around London and told us that he had relatives where we come from in Toronto, and that maybe one day he’ll come and visit. About a year later, there’s a knock at my door and there he was. So, we went out on the road, and we introduced him to the rock ‘n’ roll life. His parents let him come with us on the road and he him being a drummer, he was looking after Robb’s drum set. So, it was a real life-changing experience for him.  We kind of lost touch with each other and we hadn’t seen him for about 25, 30 years.

The next thing I know, I’m getting an email from him in early 2005, and I’m like “Holy shit!” I haven’t heard from this guy since since the early ’80s and here he is. So, what actually ended up happening is he invited me to come down to Los Angeles. I had no idea what he was up to, but all of a sudden, I’ve got a knock at my door, and it’s FedEx with airline tickets for me to come to Los Angeles. So, you can imagine, I’m like, “Dude, what happened to this guy? Where has he got money to send me airline tickets?” I get out to Los Angeles, and I’m at the terminal waiting for him to show up, and he pulls up in a Jaguar that was originally owned by Sean Connery. I get in and I’m like “What the hell? What’s going on?” And then he goes, “Lips, I’m a screenwriter. I wrote a movie for Steven Spielberg.” (Ed.– The movie Gervasi wrote was the 2004 feature “The Terminal”). And I went, “Oh, okay;” that explains everything, doesn’t it? So we reconnected and it was an awesome weekend that I spent down there. We ended up going to the house of a very close friend of his who was actually one of the screenwriters for Schindler’s List, a guy named Steve Zaillian. Sacha and Steve are getting coffee in the kitchen, and they have a conversation and they’re looking out in the backyard where I’m sitting watching Steve’s wife watch the dog, and he goes, “Who did you bring to my house?” And Sacha starts telling him “That’s Lips from the band Anvil. They’ve been together for, you know, 30, 40 years, man, and they’re still working on trying to make it.” And the guy looks at Sacha right in the eye and goes, “That’s your next movie, dude.” And that’s basically how it happened. I got home from that weekend, and I was not expecting much to happen, but I got a phone call from Sacha, and he says, “I’m coming up to Toronto to visit my Uncle Marty. Come and get me at the airport.” Of course, I knew where Uncle Marty lived, because that’s where we used to go pick up Sacha when he used to come to Toronto years ago. So I go and meet him over at Uncle Marty’s and he tells me in the living room he’s going to make a movie about Anvil and my experiences.

I broke into tears because I realized instantly what that meant. We’re not talking about some guy with a video camera. We’re talking about somebody that works with Steven Spielberg is gonna make a movie about Anvil. I saw the success instantly, and that’s why I burst out crying. I came to realize all my trials and tribulations and everything I’d been through had actually been for a reason. My failures were a contribution to my success later. That was the way that I saw it, and that’s exactly what it turned out to be.

Lips: Ultimately what any artist needs to be doing is something that is completely original. That’s paramount. If you don’t come up with something unique, you’re never really going to get anywhere. If you’re doing something that sounds like everything else out there, you’ll just be treated as a sound alike, and you’ll be maybe a quick flash in the pan. because you’re doing something that’s copying somebody else.  So, you got to become something really unique. That’s what it’s really about.

Robb: For me, it’s probably when he’s talking about the app going to 11.

Lips: I like the part where they can’t find the door to the stage. That really happens. And we’re in Cleveland right now. “Hello, Cleveland!”