MUSIC INTERVIEW: - STEVEN 'LIPS' KUDROW'

Anvil! Rocker On Capturing The Best Metal Movie of All Time

By: Daniel Schweiger

April 5, 2009

If Frank Capra happened to make This is Spinal Tap as a true story, then the heartwarming, rocking results would be very much like Anvil! The Story of Anvil. While Steven “Lips” Kudlow might not be anyone’s idea of George Bailey, the aging guitarist’s dogged, decades-long pursuit to claim his band’s long-deserved metal fame is just as moving as anything in It’s A Wonderful Life. Now, thanks to a teen fan-turned-adult director, Sacha Gervasi (who also happened to write Spielberg’s Terminal), Kudlow and his lifelong drummer buddy Robb Reiner (no relation) have seen the music of their relatively unknown if highly respected Canadian band reach new, appreciative fans on our shores and screens.

It’s only taken about thirty years. While the band should have gone Metallica thirty years ago, Lips is found working a day gig delivering food to school cafeterias, after which he and Robb play for appreciative fans at night gigs. But when a call comes that Anvil is big in Europe, Lips and Reiner embark on a tour that shows just how rough and tumble the international rock world is — especially when Kudlow and Reiner (not to mention their families) pour everything into a last shot album that would be a monetary bat of the money eye to the likes of Whitesnake, but amounts to a fortune for Anvil. While the effort might end up with seemingly disappointing results in the film, you can be sure that a great movie’s power to rebirth careers is now ensuring long overdue recognition for Anvil…and Lips in particular.

Daniel Schweiger: Like a lot of people, I was unfamiliar with Anvil. Because of that, it took me almost fifteen minutes to realize that I wasn’t watching a rock mockumentary and that you guys were real.

Lips: It’s our Trojan horse to be compared to Spinal Tap and for everyone to get a chuckle out that. But remember, once the horse enters the city, the army comes out and they attack! And Anvil! has a lot of surprises that take people off-guard. From the middle of laughing, you can find yourself crying. The film is actually quite remarkable in that way.

DS: How do you think this movie dispels the kind of “metalhead” stereotypes that Spinal Tap had fun with?

Lips: It totally dispels them because Anvil! is a human story that’s not about how we’re all different, but about the things that make us the same. That’s the underlying theme. A lot of people think metal musicians are deadbeats and shit like that, which is completely untrue, so this is a good story for the metal community in many different ways, which makes me happy and proud of the film.

DS: Because Anvil! was directed by a fan, do you think there’s a lot of sympathy for you in it?

Lips: It’s not a question of sympathy; it’s a matter of truth. This isn’t a movie company that came in and did this, or someone from the corporate world — it’s a fan, which makes the film so round and perfect. It’s a full circle of how a band inspires a fan, and how a fan can come back and inspire a band.

DS: What do you think sets the music of Anvil apart from other metal bands?

Lips: We started something that everyone copied, so how do you answer that?

DS: In that case, do you think there’s anything that sets Canadian metal apart?

Lips: Metal is a universal language. It doesn’t matter what country you’re from — it transcends that. I think that’s the big surprise that people seem to have — that we’re a metal band from Canada. Well, there are metal bands from Poland, for Christ’s sake! There are metal bands in India. So it doesn’t matter where the band comes from — it’s a universal language that’s not a trend, it’s a lifestyle.

DS: People are unaware of how brutal it can be to play in the clubs, let alone get money for doing it. Anvil! exposes that world with a lot of humor, especially when it comes to your European tour.

Lips: It’s really the way it is, because there’s no difference if you’re a big or small band. There are an insurmountable amount of problems that you encounter when you’re out on the road, and it’s just all the different levels of them. For a major band, you can run into poor attendance as well. So Anvil! says volumes about what you have to go through.

DS: When you watch your deepest, darkest moments in this film, what’s the stuff you want to go back and change?

Lips: There’s nothing there to change. You can’t contemplate it. That’s what really transpired, and that’s the way it is. I have no shame or insecurities about it. Anvil! shows the people that Robb and I are. So be it.

DS: How do you compare yourself to the bigger metal groups that Anvil played with at the beginning?

Lips: It would be like comparing your privately owned little hardware store to Home Depot. You don’t go to the little guy and tell him to close his shop because there’s a Home Depot. We’re that independent hardware store that’s carried on for thirty years, so it’s not like we haven’t been successful. We don’t sell millions of dollars worth of product, but we certainly sell hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of it. Hopefully Anvil! will change our little private business into a Home Depot! We’re a couple of pyramid builders who are taking that last block up to the top now. But the thing that’s unbelievable about it is that the audience of this movie and of the band is going to help us. They’re going to write the epilogue, which is a very rare thing. In fact, it might be the first of its kind. You’ve got a story and you don’t know how it ends, so it’s up to the audience who’s watching it to make that ending happen. They become part of Anvil’s story.

DS: Are the doors that were closed to you in the film now opening because of it?

Lips: Oh, absolutely! This is our first attempt at gaining an American audience. We’ve been virtually unheard of in your country, so this film represents the opportunity of a lifetime. It’s our shot at the American Dream.

DS: Is there distribution to the album that Anvil! shows you creating?

Lips: No. We’re still holding all the rights ourselves. Fans can go to Anvilmetal.com to buy it.

DS: Are you still working the same job or concentrating on your music?

Lips: I haven’t been working at all because there’s absolutely no time because of what’s happened with the movie. We’re in constant need to be paying attention to it.

DS: What do you want people who see Anvil! to realize about you as a human being and your musical talent?

Lips: That I never give up, that tomorrow the sun will always come out and there’s opportunity. So there’s no reason to be insecure or proud of yourself, because you should always be hungry to attain your dream. Anvil! is all about that spirit of hopefulness, optimism, love, dedication and perseverance.

DS: What are some of the new opportunities that have come your way because of Anvil!?

Lips: Management, tours, recognition, a lot of fun, happiness and fulfillment on many different levels… It’s a movie about my thirty years of dedication to the music and my friend Robb. One of the biggest aspects of it is that it’s all done on our own terms. Robb and I have been friends since we were fourteen years old. It was music that got us together and music that’s going to take us there. It’s something to be utterly proud of.

Special thanks for this article to Nancy Bishop and Venice Magazine.