Striking a chord
Dugald Baird talks to Steve 'Lips' Kudlow, the frontman of Canadian heavy metal band Anvil, about the documentary Anvil! The Story of Anvil
Anvil! The Story of Anvil has been described as a "real-life Spinal Tap". But that's a bit misleading: this is a movie about a real band and their relationships over more than three decades.
The Canadian band was formed by two 14-year-old friends, Steve "Lips" Kudlow and Robb Reiner, in 1978 and made their mark on the heavy metal scene. The film opens with their triumphant appearance at the Super Rock Festival in Japan in 1984 alongside the likes of Anthrax, Metallica and Slayer. Dressed in bondage straps, Lips grins as he wields a dildo to play the guitar riff of their anthem Metal on Metal.
While all the other acts from the festival went on to become rock behemoths, Anvil somehow missed the boat, plagued by bad management.
The film cuts to more than 20 years later, when Lips is working for a children's catering company in Toronto, delivering meals to keep his family – and the band – going. It follows the veteran rockers' ups and downs as they tour in Europe, sometimes playing to near-empty venues. The band try to resurrect their career, borrowing money from Lips' sister to record their new album.
The band's struggles are laced with poignant humour, as Lips remains relentlessly upbeat despite the difficulties they face. There are touching moments as the two old friends fall out and make up with each other. But what ultimately emerges from the film is something more inspiring: their integrity, self-belief, and the fact that have stuck with their dream for more than 30 years.
Director Sacha Gervasi had met the band in 1982 when he was a teenager, and ended up going on tour with them. He got in touch years later after he had made it as screenwriter of films such as Stephen Speilberg's The Terminal. "When he came back into the fold and saw this incredible story of tenacity and dedication and friendship, he was inspired, and that's why he made the movie," says Lips. "It's not Paramount Pictures, it's not a big conglomerate, it's our dear friend Sacha who did this with his own money and in his own time and taking all the risks."
It may have taken decades for the band to get to this point, but Lips sees the film as the legacy of the songs they have written, the history they have accumulated. "It took 30 years for all this to culminate, so there's a lot of incredible kismet," he says.
"That's in the things that were captured in the recording – and also in the message of the movie during a time in our history when the economy's on the brink of disaster, when people need an example of perseverance. I think that's a really good message at the moment and it's struck a chord at a global level."
The film seems to have crossed over to a mainstream audience – not just the heavy metal fans Anvil's music attracts. Why does Lips think this is? "It's reached a lot of people because of the purity of life and human emotion," he says. "People are bowled over because it's real. By accepting my music and buying a CD or a T-shirt, they're being involved in my destiny, they're becoming part of the epilogue of the movie."
Thirteen albums into their career, and with a new set, Juggernaut of Justice, ready for release, where does Lips want to go next? "It's all about the next song, the next tour," he says. "The job remains the same."
That job has recently included new ways of bringing the band to the public. "We've been doing this thing called the Anvil Experience when we play in cinemas immediately after the movie," says Lips. "I come out down the aisle playing my guitar. We've done it in 40 or so cinemas so far – it brings the roof down, it's absolute pandemonium.
"At that moment after being so connected and involved with the people that we are, there's an instantaneous realisation of all that the audience has seen. There really is an outpouring of emotion – people know me as a human being through the movie, they have been rooting for the band and there's such a warmth. It's so many levels deeper than going out in a rock concert situation."
But Anvil are also sticking with the traditional rock circuit. They recently played the Download Festival in Donington, are supporting AC/DC next month and have joined the lineup for the Rocklahoma festival. What can fans expect from them live? "We're the same as always – we've got lots of piss and vinegar and we're ready to rock," says Lips.
"I'm always talking up issues on stage. There's Computer Drone, which is about addiction to the internet, and I talk about all these websites.
"I'm a typical heterosexual guy with a dirty sense of humour, so there's a lot of ridiculous innuendo in the lyrics. In Man Over Broad, I talk about a man 'Casting with his fishing rod/Looking for a bite/Catch a meal tonight'. It's in the song titles too – we have songs like Butter-Bust Jerky, Hair Pie and March of the Crabs."
So will he be whipping out a dildo to play his guitar once more? "No," laughs Lips. "I've given up doing that. Some of the promoters didn't like it, and the dildos were hard to explain to airport security."
• Anvil! The Story of Anvil is released on DVD and Blu-ray on Monday 15 June