Canada is pretty awesome. We invented basketball, lacrosse and hockey; we gave the world Leonard Cohen, Joni Mitchell and Neil Young (not to mention the newly famed Justin Beber, there are, after all, a lot of lonely girls…); not many are aware of it, but Led Zeppelin did indeed get their start in a cabin in Tofino and we also invented heavy metal.
We’re pretty dope.
"Anvil", for those who have been living under a rock (no pun intended) with the rest of the world, is a heavy metal band from Toronto. They got their start in 1973 when some high school friends started playing music together. Initially, they were called “Lips” (after lead singer/guitarist Steve “Lips” Kudlow) but after signing a deal with Attic Records in 1983, they changed their name to Anvil. These guys are the real deal. They have been credited as being the actual
founders of heavy metal and Metalica, Slayer and Anthrax, among others, have all cited them as being their biggest influence.
Anvil toured the world in 1983 with one of the most epic rock lineups, and while all other bands on the tour (including Whitesnake and Bon Jovi) reaped fame and glory and sold millions of records, Anvil came out with nothing. Maybe it was bad luck, who knows, but Anvil has
never received the credit they deserved; that is until 2008 when film maker and former Anvil roadie Sacha Gervasi (who has credits like The Big Tease and The Terminal under his belt) directed a documentary on the rockers and a recent flop of a European tour. The movie follows them through Europe where they get lost, miss trains and play to nearly empty stadiums. These guys have hit rock bottom more times than Amy Winehouse, only to get back up and try again. The fact that, after nearly fourty years of playing together, they have not sold out is astounding, and more shocking still is the fact that they are still trying. They are the
exact definition of persistence and finally, since the release of the documentary titled
Anvil! The Story of Anvil, in April 2009, said persistence has paid off. With their so-called second coming, they’ve embarked on a new tour dubbed
The Anvil Experience, in which they are showing the movie and then the 50-something year old rockers will grace the stage to prove they’ve still got it.
Anvil will be playing in Vancouver at Venue on Saturday, February 13th. Tickets are somewhere around the twenty five bone mark, and I recommend that everyone should go be you a metal fan or not. Their movie has won critical acclaim nationwide being cited as "better than Spinal Tap" and these guys, more than anyone, deserve your support. I know I will be there in top form with my leather pants and jean vest (just kidding, I don’t have a jean vest) rocking out with Tara and Dill Hare and I’m curious to see what kind of crowd these guys will bring in. Hopefully the kind of crowd that has you in it.
ROCK ON!
