Interview - Steve Lips Kudlow, Robb Reiner
Sacha Gervasi's Anvil! The Story of Anvil Chronicles Canadian Band
Apr 2, 2009
In the early 80's, Anvil were a band to watch. Their 1982 disc Metal on Metal influenced the nascent thrash-metal movement and they were touring the world with acts like The Scorpions, Bon Jovi and Whitesnake.
Fast forward 25 years, and founding members Steve 'Lips' Kudlow and Robb Reiner are working dead-end day jobs while booking tours during their vacations. Now in their 50's, the two are still trying for the brass ring of rock stardom and rocking out like it's still 1984.
Last year, fan and former roadie Sacha Gervasi documented Anvil's highs and lows in his new film, Anvil! The Story of Anvil, which is currently playing in Canadian theatres.
In this exclusive interview, Kudlow and Reiner talked about they reconnected with Gervasi and offered their theories on why Anvil never lived up to its promise. Here, Kudlow and Reiner talk about their feelings about having their life on film, and the doc's real message.
S101: When you watched the movie, were you seeing stuff where you said, ‘Oh no!’
Lips: "Yeah, you relive it the moment, it brings back all the memories of what you were feeling. But eventually I became immune to it, to the point that when it goes down and everybody is like shocked and we’re cracking up!
"In that one scene, when you can see I’ve lost all composure, I’m slobbering . . . it makes me laugh! Maybe it’s out of being uncomfortable, I don’t know but I go ‘Look at that fool!’
Robb: "The first time I saw it, I thought ‘What did (Sacha) do here?’ I was the last guy to see this thing."
Lips: "The movie is still playing 6 weeks into its release in England, and the theatres are packed. It’s exemplifying (sic) as it’s going."
But some of the situations: obviously the big fight between you guys during the recording session, when Michael Schenker blanked you out –
Robb: "Well Schenker’s pretty blanked out anyways. He’s not really all there."
Lips: "You can see by the look on his face that . . . he’s blank. I don’t think it was malicious. I’m actually quite shocked that he was that out to lunch.
"We were managed by the same manager; that’s how we met him to begin with. He was with us on Super Rock ’84 (show in Japan). His name didn’t come up at the beginning of the movie, I don’t know why that happened. He was ahead on the bill over The Scorpions (Writer's note: guitar hero Michael Schenker was briefly a member of the German band founded by his brother Rudolf)."
Robb: "He was with (the Michael Schenker Group)."
Lips: "It was actually Whitesnake, MSG, Scorpions, Bon Jovi and us, that’s how the bill was."
There have been a lot of rockumentaries: This is Spinal Tap, Metallica’s Some Kind of Monster –
Robb: "Which, we can say, the Anvil movie has broken Some Kind of Monster’s UK record for box office."
Lips: "It’s like half a million dollars ahead. And it’s still growing. It’s actually quite fascinating: the reputation of the movie was ‘It’s about a heavy metal band.’ But it’s gone beyond that because the movie’s way, way broader than that. The demographics are not just fans of heavy metal."
Why do you think that is?
Lips: "Because it’s not really about heavy metal, it’s about Rob and I’s friendship for 45 years –"
Robb: "It’s about staying dedicated to the friendship, to the music, to not giving up through hard times. It’s a slice of life thing: family supporting, believing in you. That’s what’s resonating with people."
Lips: "It’s the things that make us the same, it’s not the things that make us different."
Robb: "We're turning many people on to heavy metal. People who never would have liked heavy metal are now buying CD’s –"
Lips: "And we’ve completely shattered the stereotype of what heavy metal is about."
What was the stereotype, and how have you shattered it?
Lips: "Drug addicted, deadbeat noise . . ."
Robb: "It’s a racket, talentless . . . all those type of things. Many people are finding out that it’s nothing like that. We’re showing that example, that we’re decent fellas, down-to-earth guys. We’re for real: humble, no egos."
Okay, take a 15-year-old metalhead who listens to bands like Children of Bodom or Opeth. Why would he want to check out Anvil?
Robb: "Because he’ll learn that Anvil has all the real ingredients that those bands have since put in their sound. Because the real roots of metal stem from Anvil, he’ll feel cheated when he hears those other bands again."
Lips: "Because those guys totally ripped us off. Like our song “666” is the blueprint for half those bands that came after us, from Slayer on."
Robb: "And a lot of kids don’t know that We got lots of young kids discovering Anvil for the first time. We don’t sound like those other bands: we are Anvil. When it comes to metal, we are real. We’re the real deal; everybody else is synthetic."
Have you listened to any younger bands?
Robb: "Off and on, but it doesn’t really stick because nobody’s brought up anything worthy to me. Everybody’s waiting for the next new thing, but I think it’s going to be something from the past."
(Click here to for more about Anvil: what it's like to be an independent band, and why their next record will pioneer a new style of music)
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