Anvil

The band’s latest record, Hope In Hell, has some pretty clear messages. “When you write lyrics, your state of mind always seems to reveal itself, whether you want it to or not,” explains singer/guitarist Steve ‘Lips’ Kudlow. “My surroundings at the time ended up being conveyed throughout. It’s about making your dreams come true, believing in yourself and going after something with a vengeance.”

Kudlow has no time for negativity, delivering a clear message to his doubters in light of the 2009 film Anvil! The Story Of Anvil. “Of course with the onset of the movie there were a lot of naysayers that told us it wouldn’t last ten minutes. ‘Enjoy your 15 minutes while it lasts,’ those kind of sentiments. Creating songs like ‘Eat Your Words’ or ‘Shut The Fuck Up’, that’s who it was directed at.”

Indeed, Anvil’s notoriety skyrocketed following the film, a Spinal Tap-esque rockumentary about their rise, fall and semi-rise-again.

“We certainly didn’t win the millions of fans that our good friends in AC/DC got, but people know who I am nonetheless,” says Kudlow. “Are they going to buy an Anvil record because they know who I am? Probably not.”

The unfaltering commitment and positivity displayed by Kudlow and the boys gave the band and the movie so much appeal, and meant Anvil could connect with a broad spectrum of new fans. “Some of the demographics of people that liked the movie are off the charts,” the singer says. “We were standing outside a fast food restaurant in Chicago a couple of years ago and a limousine pulls over to the side of the road and this rich lawyer pulls out his camera and starts taking pictures of Robb [Reiner] and me and then asking for an autograph. Five minutes later a garbage truck pulls over and a 200-pound black guy gets out from behind the wheel with his cell phone going, ‘Can I take a picture, dude?’ and we’re going, ‘How does that work?’”

Kudlow’s friendship with his drummer and best mate Reiner was laid bare in the movie, offering an intimate picture of two personalities that complete one another.

“We really take our friendship for granted. Not in a negative way, but we just kind of think that everybody’s got a buddy that they spend their life with. It wasn’t till really after the movie that we came to realise that we’re not that common. We look at it as a gift, and we definitely have a deeper appreciation for what we have.”

Anvil will always be known as the band that should have made it but never did, and having played together since 1978, they’ve been lauded as the inspiration for metal bands from Anthrax to Slayer.

“The first letdown and failure was after our third record,” says Kudlow. “We created a record that was 20 years ahead of its time. All the labels should have been interested but we were not really at the right place at the right time and they passed.”

Anvil’s lifeblood and reason for being has always been playing live for their diehard fans. “It is addictive. The endorphins that are released in your bloodstream from the excitement and the feeling that you’re in a room full of people that love you is overwhelming. Those are the moments I am most alive – that and when I’m having sex with my wife. It’s hard to say which is more enjoyable.”