You might have heard of this new documentary called "Anvil: The Story of Anvil" and thought that a film about an obscure metal band from the 80's would be of zero interest to you. I thought the same way, but let me tell you, it would be a mistake to let this film pass you by. It is one of the finest rock documentaries that you will ever see. After being a big hit on the film festival circuit last year, this movie has already set a box office record as the highest grossing rock doc of all time in the UK. The hard luck tale of the two founders and leaders of the group, Steve "Lips" Kudlow and Robb Reiner is a surprisingly powerful and emotional ride that you don't want to miss.
Anvil is a metal band from Toronto, Canada, formed in 1978, who made some waves in the early 80's as a band that were among the earliest progenitors of speed and thrash metal. They are considered a group who laid the ground work for the thrash movement and were an influence on bands like Metallica, Slayer and Anthrax. At the outset of the movie, members of all three bands testify to the band's significance. Robb Reiner's jazz-trained drum style in particular is singled out for its excellence. The band's first three albums on a small Canadian label called Attic are considered significant artifacts of the era, a time when thrash style metal was in its early days and was just as underground and indie as punk. Their output had a small following ,they did play on the same bill as metal titans such as Iron Maiden and Motorhead, and footage at the beginning of the film shows them playing a metal festival in Japan on the same bill as Bon Jovi and Whitesnake.Lips was a distinctive front man whose big gimic was to play his guitar with a vibrator. He was also the lyricist behind such Anvil gems as, "Metal on Metal", "Show Me Your Tits", "Mattress Mambo"and "Five Knuckle Shuffle". However, by the late 80's they had been left in the dust by the bands who were influenced by them, missing out on the fame and fortune that those bands achieved as this kind of music went mainstream.
And that, really should have been that. But the band refused to pack it in and just soldiered on year after year and album after album to nothing more than a small cult of followers. Director Sacha Gervasi, who once roadied for the band in the 80's and who has gone on to become a successful screenwriter, picks up their story in 2006 as Lips and Robb are now in their early 50s, married, and working menial 9 to 5 jobs in construction and school lunch delivery. Yet they still have a version of Anvil that they perform with in whatever sports bar or small club will have them and have long-time fans with names like Cut Loose who like to drink beer through their nostril. Despite their current status, Lips and Robb still cling to the dream that they are going to make it and become rock stars.
The heart of the film is the symbiotic relationship between Lips and Robb, two guys who have been playing music together since junior high school, in all over 30 years together in bands. Lips is outgoing, frenetic and emotional, while Robb is stoic and level-headed. While they are far from dumb guys, they are regular Joe kind of guys who, because they are still in a rock and roll band, live in that state of mind where at least part of them is forever a teenager. You immediately get the sense that the pursuit of the dream is the only thing that brings any sense, meaning or joy to their lives.
This film is being promoted as sort of a real life "This is Spinal Tap", the 1984 comedy directed by Rob Reiner about a buffoonish English metal band who go on a disastrous US tour. This is certainly a valid comparison as the similarities between Anvil and the fictitious Spinal Tap are numerous and uncanny. Such as:
They embark on a disastrous, shoe-string budget European tour, organised incompetently by the girlfriend of one of the other band members. The bookings are bad, the travel plans are screwed up and they find out they are not even scheduled to perform at some shows and at others the promoter refuses to pay. They play many shows in Eastern Europe, including something called the Transylvanian Metal Festival where a 10,000 seat hockey arena is booked and only 175 people show up.
Anvil is a metal band from Toronto, Canada, formed in 1978, who made some waves in the early 80's as a band that were among the earliest progenitors of speed and thrash metal. They are considered a group who laid the ground work for the thrash movement and were an influence on bands like Metallica, Slayer and Anthrax. At the outset of the movie, members of all three bands testify to the band's significance. Robb Reiner's jazz-trained drum style in particular is singled out for its excellence. The band's first three albums on a small Canadian label called Attic are considered significant artifacts of the era, a time when thrash style metal was in its early days and was just as underground and indie as punk. Their output had a small following ,they did play on the same bill as metal titans such as Iron Maiden and Motorhead, and footage at the beginning of the film shows them playing a metal festival in Japan on the same bill as Bon Jovi and Whitesnake.Lips was a distinctive front man whose big gimic was to play his guitar with a vibrator. He was also the lyricist behind such Anvil gems as, "Metal on Metal", "Show Me Your Tits", "Mattress Mambo"and "Five Knuckle Shuffle". However, by the late 80's they had been left in the dust by the bands who were influenced by them, missing out on the fame and fortune that those bands achieved as this kind of music went mainstream.
And that, really should have been that. But the band refused to pack it in and just soldiered on year after year and album after album to nothing more than a small cult of followers. Director Sacha Gervasi, who once roadied for the band in the 80's and who has gone on to become a successful screenwriter, picks up their story in 2006 as Lips and Robb are now in their early 50s, married, and working menial 9 to 5 jobs in construction and school lunch delivery. Yet they still have a version of Anvil that they perform with in whatever sports bar or small club will have them and have long-time fans with names like Cut Loose who like to drink beer through their nostril. Despite their current status, Lips and Robb still cling to the dream that they are going to make it and become rock stars.
The heart of the film is the symbiotic relationship between Lips and Robb, two guys who have been playing music together since junior high school, in all over 30 years together in bands. Lips is outgoing, frenetic and emotional, while Robb is stoic and level-headed. While they are far from dumb guys, they are regular Joe kind of guys who, because they are still in a rock and roll band, live in that state of mind where at least part of them is forever a teenager. You immediately get the sense that the pursuit of the dream is the only thing that brings any sense, meaning or joy to their lives.
This film is being promoted as sort of a real life "This is Spinal Tap", the 1984 comedy directed by Rob Reiner about a buffoonish English metal band who go on a disastrous US tour. This is certainly a valid comparison as the similarities between Anvil and the fictitious Spinal Tap are numerous and uncanny. Such as:
They embark on a disastrous, shoe-string budget European tour, organised incompetently by the girlfriend of one of the other band members. The bookings are bad, the travel plans are screwed up and they find out they are not even scheduled to perform at some shows and at others the promoter refuses to pay. They play many shows in Eastern Europe, including something called the Transylvanian Metal Festival where a 10,000 seat hockey arena is booked and only 175 people show up.
They meet up with former contemporaries from the 80's ( like Michael Shenker and members of Whitesnake) at a Swedish Metal Festival who don't seem to remember them.
The ridiculous and ridiculously literal album cover art, every one featuring an anvil.
Stupid, sexist songs like "Hair Pie" and "Tease Me, Please Me".
They visit Stonehenge!
The falling out and eventual reconciliation between Lips and Robb.
They are offered a gig in Japan and make a triumphant return there.
While all of this is great fun, a strange shift happens about half the way through the movie--aided by the back story about their upbringing-- in that you begin to really care for these guys and hope that they can perhaps make it. After the ill-fated tour, the action shifts to the guys wanting to record their 13th album, to be entitled most brilliantly "This is Thirteen". They are currently without a label deal, yet they have secured the interest of one of their old 80's record producers, the famous metal producer Chris Tsangarides. The band then must try and raise the money it will cost to record the album with Tsangarides in England. After failed attempts at earning money with second jobs, Lips older sister fronts the money for the album to be recorded.
Not only has the world seemingly passed the band by, but the world they are trying to be a part of is almost a thing of the past. In their mind they are going to be signed by a major label, get some radio play, have a video on 'Headbanger's Ball' and the kids will rush to the record store and buy their album. Does anything sound wrong here? Anything just slightly outdated? These days it is all about DIY and the internet.
They even naively believe that a record company A&R man might come to one of their European shows and sign them. Once you see the sh*tholes they are playing in places like Croatia, you will understand how foolish a notion that is. However, even this band begins to "get it" that they won't be signed because they are old and seen as has-beens and it might make more sense to self -release their album and sell directly to fans, cutting out the record label middle man.
Ultimately you admire their sheer pluck and determination in the face of a world,that for the most part, is indifferent. This film really shows what drives people to create--even if we may find that expression not to our taste--and to doggedly pursue a dream despite the seemingly insurmountable odds. My only quibbles with the film is that it really tries hard to pluck the sentimental heartstrings towards the end, though it sure is effective at it. I also question if the finale in Japan in 100% legit, but I wasn't there so I guess I just have to give them the benefit of the doubt.
At the end of the film I didn't find myself liking Anvil's music any better than I did at the start of the film, in fact, I pretty much hate it. However, I definitely love these slightly dopey guys and I am inspired by their story of perseverance. I am sure anyone who sees it will come out of the theater feeling the same way.
While all of this is great fun, a strange shift happens about half the way through the movie--aided by the back story about their upbringing-- in that you begin to really care for these guys and hope that they can perhaps make it. After the ill-fated tour, the action shifts to the guys wanting to record their 13th album, to be entitled most brilliantly "This is Thirteen". They are currently without a label deal, yet they have secured the interest of one of their old 80's record producers, the famous metal producer Chris Tsangarides. The band then must try and raise the money it will cost to record the album with Tsangarides in England. After failed attempts at earning money with second jobs, Lips older sister fronts the money for the album to be recorded.
Not only has the world seemingly passed the band by, but the world they are trying to be a part of is almost a thing of the past. In their mind they are going to be signed by a major label, get some radio play, have a video on 'Headbanger's Ball' and the kids will rush to the record store and buy their album. Does anything sound wrong here? Anything just slightly outdated? These days it is all about DIY and the internet.
They even naively believe that a record company A&R man might come to one of their European shows and sign them. Once you see the sh*tholes they are playing in places like Croatia, you will understand how foolish a notion that is. However, even this band begins to "get it" that they won't be signed because they are old and seen as has-beens and it might make more sense to self -release their album and sell directly to fans, cutting out the record label middle man.
Ultimately you admire their sheer pluck and determination in the face of a world,that for the most part, is indifferent. This film really shows what drives people to create--even if we may find that expression not to our taste--and to doggedly pursue a dream despite the seemingly insurmountable odds. My only quibbles with the film is that it really tries hard to pluck the sentimental heartstrings towards the end, though it sure is effective at it. I also question if the finale in Japan in 100% legit, but I wasn't there so I guess I just have to give them the benefit of the doubt.
At the end of the film I didn't find myself liking Anvil's music any better than I did at the start of the film, in fact, I pretty much hate it. However, I definitely love these slightly dopey guys and I am inspired by their story of perseverance. I am sure anyone who sees it will come out of the theater feeling the same way.
