In a new interview with The Joel Martin Mastery Podcast, ANVIL frontman Steve “Lips” Kudlow spoke about how the band’s acclaimed documentary “Anvil! The Story Of Anvil”, which came out more than a decade and a half ago, served as a promotional tool for the Canadian metal legends’ music. He said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): “Yeah, it worked brilliantly, ’cause here we are, almost 20 years after the fact, and I haven’t stopped working and putting records out. So it made a difference, no question about it. I don’t have a regular job. My job at Choice Children’s Catering [in Ontario] is long over. [Laughs] I haven’t been there in 20 years now, so [it’s] pretty commendable that ANVIL is my… I made it, in a certain sense. I’m making a living from my music. That’s making it.”
When podcast host Joel Martin noted that the documentary “appealed to so many people because it’s about the human spirit and dreams and friendship,” Lips concurred. “The movie appealed to far, far larger of an audience than just the metal audience,” he said. “The metal audience is only a small fraction, actually, to be really truthful about it. The movie has been seen by millions of people worldwide. Millions, man. No question about it.”
Lips also talked about the fact that he and drummer Robb Reiner never lost their passion and unwavering belief for ANVIL even after more than half a century of trying to break onto main stages.
“It’s not like I’m impervious to the pain that it caused me,” Lips said in part. “I felt bad a lot of times, man. It was not easy. Did I feel like quitting? It quit me many times. You know what I mean? Disappointed me over and over and over again. Still does. What makes me wanna go? I don’t even know. I can’t answer it. It’s what I love to do. It’s who I am. It’s how I get along in my life. It’s what makes my life worthwhile existing. That’s why I’m here. It doesn’t matter how many [records] I sell. It’s whether I created the music and got it recorded. That’s the success. The success is not the monetary or how many it sold or what place you’re playing this week. It’s about that you are here this week, you are playing this week, you are recording another album, you are existing. It’s about that. And continuation. And it’s another day. And tomorrow will be another one. And that’s more about the way it is. And it’s my existence that we’re talking about. Why would I stop wanting to exist? You wanna exist. That’s what you do. And the things that give you happiness in your life, in a general sense — I get a lot of satisfaction and enjoyment out of playing my instrument and being ANVIL, making that sound, being responsible for it. And to a great degree — and there’s a good word, ‘responsible’. So I’m responsible for its lack of success as well as all of its success. But I’m responsible for all of it. And it’s a good place to be. What are you gonna say? If I make a shitty album, I made a shitty album. Oh, well. We’ll make a better one next time. And that’s really the way to look at it, because the job never stops. You never stop being a creator of music. It’s what you do. It’s like living and breathing and a heart beating. That’s what you do. It’s not like there’s a choice. At least I don’t see that there’s a choice. And I aimed and directed my life so that I could do it. And that’s what most people just don’t wanna do. They don’t wanna sacrifice things. They look for money. That’s the biggest mistake that you have if you’re an artist — if you’re doing it to make money, go do something else that does make money. Why would you pick something that’s so difficult to make money on? Even painting a picture or drawing or singing — they’re all art. There’s billions and billions of people that do that. You don’t make money from it. And it’s competitive. So why worry about it? Why think about it in that terms? ‘I’m gonna write a song that’s gonna make millions of dollars.’ No, you’re not. And even if you did, how are you gonna get people to listen to it?”
“Anvil! The Story of Anvil” was named one of 2009’s best documentaries by a slew of film critics associations across the continent, including critics in Chicago, San Francisco, Toronto, and Las Vegas, as well as the International Documentary Association, the Online Film Critics Society, and the National Society of Film Critics. It also made the year-end Top 10 lists in publications such as the New York Times, Washington Post, Newsweek, and Village Voice.
“Anvil! The Story of Anvil” was the directorial debut of screenwriter Gervasi and was produced by Yeldham (“The Kite Runner” and “The Motorcycle Diaries”). The film follows Kudlow and Reiner and their band, ANVIL, which released one of the heaviest albums in metal history, 1982’s “Metal on Metal”. The album influenced an entire musical generation of rock bands, including METALLICA, SLAYER, and ANTHRAX, who all went on to sell millions of records. ANVIL, on the other hand, took a different path — straight to obscurity. The film was both entertaining and touching as it followed their last-ditch quest for the fame and fortune that has been so elusive to them.
Back in April 2022, Lips said that he didn’t expect the proposed follow-up to “Anvil! The Story Of Anvil” to ever see the light of day. He told Friday 13th Metal: “I don’t suspect there will be [another movie], because I think it’s a little late on. There’s really no point at this point. To a great degree, the people who knew about the movie knew about it, and today it’s kind of faded back; it’s not as prominent today. That could change. You never know.”
As for what he attributed the film’s overwhelming success to, Lips said: “It’s hard to compete with reality, isn’t it? People try to make documentaries, but it’s not the same as actually filming things in real time. It’s not the same, man. You can do a retrospective and show pictures of the band in the old days and all that — talk about the old days, the old days, the old days — but everybody’s seen the old days. What about tomorrow? What are we gonna film tomorrow? What are you doing tomorrow? What do you hope to happen tomorrow? How are you gonna make what’s gonna happen tomorrow, put it into motions so we can see it happen? That’s what the ANVIL movie did. It’s off the hook in that regard. You can’t beat the spontaneity. I mean, there’s pure spontaneity — as things are going on. You can’t make shit like that up.”
Back in 2017, Lips said that there was “forty minutes of probably good footage” already shot for a follow-up ANVIL film, but he didn’t “really expect anything to ever come of it.” He explained: “[Gervasi] paid for that movie [‘Anvil! The Story of Anvil’] himself. He doesn’t wanna do that again… You never make back all your money. But what it did for his career… like what he did for our career — same thing. He’s got a career, and then some. But it’s just a question of, will a movie company wanna buy it, wanna finance it? And it’s not cheap. It won’t be like a blockbuster — it’s not gonna cost three hundred million dollars. You’re talking about probably less than a million to make a documentary. I don’t get paid. Documentary subjects never get paid. I’m not an actor. And it’s doing my career such a huge favor, I haven’t really got the right to go, ‘Hey, why don’t you pay me too? You’re making the biggest advertising campaign that ever existed? Now why don’t you pay me?’ It’s, like, that doesn’t make sense. And he’d say ‘no’ and I wouldn’t get the movie made.”
Lips added: “So that’s the big question: will there or will there not be? Who knows? I’m not gonna discount it. I’m not gonna say ‘no.’ I don’t know enough. I’m not in that stream of the business, so I really don’t know how to answer it. Now, having said that, the ANVIL movie did extraordinarily well, so it would be in their best interest [to finance the movie]. And it’s, like, if you guys are lacking stories out there and storytellers and writers, here’s something that’s a natural, living, breathing fucking story. Why not continue it? You’ve got an automatic audience from all the people that saw it the first time. So it’s got all those positive aspects going for it. But it’s just a question of who’s gonna open their wallet. [Laughs]”
ANVIL released its 20th studio album “One And Only”, in June 2024 via AFM Records.
