I love the movie Anvil: The Story of Anvil. It is such a great, heart warming film. Heavy metal fan or not, you have got to love the spirit of these guys who have been friends for 30 years, trying to make it big.
Lips, the lead singer is my new hero, he is a fighter, a man from which hope springe eternal. Nothing is going to stop him from his goal.
Anybody else feel the same way?
Here are some excerpts from interviews with Lips since the success of the movie.
Rock on Anvil, you're message of never say die is one we all need to hear.
When director Sascha Gervasi suggested making a film about you, what difference did you think it would make to your career?
Steve ‘Lips’ Kudlow: I knew that it would make us extraordinarily famous. That was my first impression. It was the chance of not only a lifetime, but a million lifetimes. This is a really serious Cinderella story. You meet a kid at 15 years old and he grows up to be a screenwriter. The band that he grew up with and was such a massive influence on him as a kid, he comes back and makes a movie about them. All the things had to be in place for this to work: a band that not everyone has heard of and is somewhat obscure and yet not obscure enough that they didn’t get to do records. To us, we made it. We made it a long time ago. Making it to us is having the ability to be able to write songs and the ability to exist as a band for as long as our hearts desire. That’s success – to keep making records, to keep touring, to keep active. That’s part of the reason why we’re going to be successful, we’re always ready.
Lips: From the onset of it, I’ve been like, “This is going to be huge! Don’t you see?” Even to Sascha I’m going: “Don’t you know what you’ve made?” and he’s going: (adopts stereotypical cockney accent) “Relax mate, it’s just you guys.” He always looked at things with a very hopeful and optimistic view, but with caution. He’d say: “Do you realise how many things have to fall in place for this thing to be successful? This isn’t 20th Century Fox or MGN or Paramount, it’s just us.” I had these visions of everything I could see happening. The real truth is that I guess that infectiousness and my optimism was spread out from day one.
It’s obvious that you two have a very strong bond, is there anything that could crack that or come between you?
Robb: Sure, you never know. Who knows? We’re people, but I hope not.
Lips: We’ll see if fame will do it. Certainly lack of fame didn’t, but we’re willing to try it. Let’s see if money and fame will break up our friendship… (rising laughter from both) we’ve never tried it!
Lips: This is somewhat of a unique situation because you don’t see the merging of the two worlds very often. And when you do it’s rarely as compelling as this story. It was our fan who was 15 years old who did this movie. That’s extraordinary. And this 15 year old grew up to be a Spielberg screenwriter. All these little components that built up for this to happen is nothing short of miraculous.
Is that the one piece of advice you’d give to new bands starting out today?
Lips: Yes, it’s randomness. The only way you can win in a state of randomness is to keep existing your whole life. Because if you don’t, you’ll miss the opportunity when it comes. You’ve got to keep doing it and stay active and keep doing it with all your heart. That’s the only way you have a chance to make it. Some make it sooner, some make it later, but the bottom line is that if you keep your band together and the dream alive, you have a chance. As soon as you stop, you have no more chance. Quitters never win.
Steve “Lips” Kudlow: I expected everything that has happened. It’s as simple as that. I did from the first moment that Sacha told me he was going to make a movie. I couldn’t help but feel that way because that’s the kind of person I am.
Your CD This Is Thirteen has finally gotten a proper release through VH-1 Classic Records. What has the response been?
It’s going very well. I’m keeping very hopeful, like I usually do. I find it comical when you put out an album, and people immediately ask, “what’s next?” I get a good chuckle out of that because it’s the way that I have felt since the day the faders came down on the mixing board. I’ve got to write another song quick!
Having songs used in video games like that can really have a big impact on a band’s album sales.
Let’s hope so! (laughs) So far I can only smell the money. I haven’t actually touched it yet. The check’s in the mail, man!
During the filming of the movie you were working for a catering company. Have you given that up?
I’ve had to give it up. There was no real choice because I got too busy with the band. I’m having to depend on what the band makes, and it’s working out okay. It’s not like I’m able to pack money away, but I’m surviving, and that’s a great place to be. I’m very grateful for it.
You’ve been to a lot of movie premieres and met a lot of famous people that past year or so. What have been some of the highlights for you?
That part has been really unbelievable, because it’s put me in a world that most musicians would never get to. I’ve been in Hollywood situations standing and talking to Clint Eastwood, Mickey Rourke, Quentin Tarantino, Tilda Swinton, Matt Damon, Keanu Reaves, Keifer Sutherland, Dustin Hoffman. It’s really bizarre, because you’re going, “What am I doing here?” I’m shaking hands with Dirty Harry. But at the same time we all inhabit this earth. Those people actually exist. They are not just an image on film. They have their own lives and are their own people. To actually meet these people, you realize they are just people. That’s the essence of it.
You’ve got all the bases covered now: movies, cds, tv and now a book.
It’s a phenomenon. The whole thing is a phenomenon. It’s an anomalous thing, and really magical. There are different elements that had to be just right, and that’s true about anything that becomes successful. It’s purity.
Does the film got the real Anvil across?
Pretty much – it’s a slice of life. It doesn’t give the chronological history or anything, but it’s very well done. It was kind of odd seeing it because it was like watching home movies, and I’m looking more at myself than the story, going, ‘Ah no, my bald spot… I don’t like the way I rub my face… Why did I say that?’
Did you agree to the film immediately, or did you have to think about it?
Immediately! Sacha [Gervasi, Anvil director] is a old dear friend that became successful in Hollywood, and he asked me if I wanted to make a movie, so it’s like, ‘Yeah, I guess so, eh?’
Did you have any conditions?
My feelings from the onset were that it was going to be amazing. You’ve got a story about a band that’s existed for 35 years, which is compelling and unusual, and for me it was like, ‘All the
35 years I put into this were for this movie. All the things I’ve gone through, I was writing my screenplay.’
Was there anything in there you wish had been left out?
Probably the naked picture. It’s OK because my wife says it makes me look like I’m a really big man (laughs). I did try to have them remove it, but the producer said, ‘I don’t understand, you’re playing your guitar with a vibrator, but you won’t stand there naked for two seconds? Where’s your balls, man?’ So I let it go.
Talking of which – playing your guitar with a dildo… please explain.
We had all those sexual innuendos in the songs – it was just to be sleazy.
So has the film raised your profile a lot?
It’s definitely raised a lot of interest, but I don’t know what that’s going to mean yet – our records are virtually unfindable, so there’s been no rise in record sales.
They’re selling Metal On Metal on Amazon…
Believe it or not, I still don’t get any royalties for those records: everything they make is going against the redline. We need to sell 100,000 copies to make the 0,000 redline disappear, because we’re paying it off at a dollar a CD. What happens is, the record company sell a CD for , they collect , then take the dollar we’re owed and use it to pay off the debt. That’s how the record contract works.
Is there a sense of vindication? I'm sure there's been people around that have told you to give it up. Ever have that feeling of, 'in your face buddy?' In a way, do you feel like you just won the lottery?
I’m finding very quickly that wasting good energy on negative thinking is a very bad pass time. Looking for vindication is not really a motivating factor. I find that anger or bitterness obscures your final goal. Dwelling on the negative things that people say is like being infected with poison. If you don’t mentally ingest it you never have to feel vindicated. At the end of the day you are doing this because you love to and you do it for the people who love what you do. You can’t please all the people all the time. I don’t feel as though I’ve won a lottery as much as feeling like I’ve won a very grueling poker game.
RM: I’m friends with some of the guys in an Atlanta metal band called Shockplate, and they went through something I think you have a little bit of experience with too. They didn’t play the big crowds you guys played, but they played for a couple hundred people, and then they’d have nights where I’d go see them and they’d have under 10 people there.
Lips: What do you expect on a Monday or Tuesday night? Or what do you expect when no one knows you’re there? These are the things that happen, and it happens to everyone.
Robb: That’s what happens. But you still got to go out and kick ass.
RM: Is it hard to get fired up for a show like that?
Lips and Robb: No, no man.
RM: How do you do it?
Lips: How do you do it? You plug your guitar in—let’s party! That’s how you do it. You don’t really care, one or 1,000, it doesn’t matter. And you know what—the one person could be the most important person you’ve ever met in your life. We learned that a long time ago. And because we’ve had that train of thought, that’s why everything has ended up this positive
RM: So there were never any moments when you seriously thought about packing it in?
Lips: If there’s been a consistent thing in both of our lives, it’s been the band. If there’s nothing else you can count on, you can count on being on stage and having fun. I don’t have anybody else to answer to when I’m on that stage. I am who I am. It’s the moment I’m most alive, and you never want to let that go. It’s mine, it belongs to me, you can’t give it up—it’s your identity, it’s who you are, it’s what you are.
Robb: It’s what you love to do, so you do it. For us it’s a very natural process; we don’t entertain those thoughts [of quitting].
Lips: How can you quit what you do the best? What do you gain by quitting? Nothing. You lose everything. Quitters never win.
Lips, the lead singer is my new hero, he is a fighter, a man from which hope springe eternal. Nothing is going to stop him from his goal.
Anybody else feel the same way?
Here are some excerpts from interviews with Lips since the success of the movie.
Rock on Anvil, you're message of never say die is one we all need to hear.
When director Sascha Gervasi suggested making a film about you, what difference did you think it would make to your career?
Steve ‘Lips’ Kudlow: I knew that it would make us extraordinarily famous. That was my first impression. It was the chance of not only a lifetime, but a million lifetimes. This is a really serious Cinderella story. You meet a kid at 15 years old and he grows up to be a screenwriter. The band that he grew up with and was such a massive influence on him as a kid, he comes back and makes a movie about them. All the things had to be in place for this to work: a band that not everyone has heard of and is somewhat obscure and yet not obscure enough that they didn’t get to do records. To us, we made it. We made it a long time ago. Making it to us is having the ability to be able to write songs and the ability to exist as a band for as long as our hearts desire. That’s success – to keep making records, to keep touring, to keep active. That’s part of the reason why we’re going to be successful, we’re always ready.
Lips: From the onset of it, I’ve been like, “This is going to be huge! Don’t you see?” Even to Sascha I’m going: “Don’t you know what you’ve made?” and he’s going: (adopts stereotypical cockney accent) “Relax mate, it’s just you guys.” He always looked at things with a very hopeful and optimistic view, but with caution. He’d say: “Do you realise how many things have to fall in place for this thing to be successful? This isn’t 20th Century Fox or MGN or Paramount, it’s just us.” I had these visions of everything I could see happening. The real truth is that I guess that infectiousness and my optimism was spread out from day one.
It’s obvious that you two have a very strong bond, is there anything that could crack that or come between you?
Robb: Sure, you never know. Who knows? We’re people, but I hope not.
Lips: We’ll see if fame will do it. Certainly lack of fame didn’t, but we’re willing to try it. Let’s see if money and fame will break up our friendship… (rising laughter from both) we’ve never tried it!
Lips: This is somewhat of a unique situation because you don’t see the merging of the two worlds very often. And when you do it’s rarely as compelling as this story. It was our fan who was 15 years old who did this movie. That’s extraordinary. And this 15 year old grew up to be a Spielberg screenwriter. All these little components that built up for this to happen is nothing short of miraculous.
Is that the one piece of advice you’d give to new bands starting out today?
Lips: Yes, it’s randomness. The only way you can win in a state of randomness is to keep existing your whole life. Because if you don’t, you’ll miss the opportunity when it comes. You’ve got to keep doing it and stay active and keep doing it with all your heart. That’s the only way you have a chance to make it. Some make it sooner, some make it later, but the bottom line is that if you keep your band together and the dream alive, you have a chance. As soon as you stop, you have no more chance. Quitters never win.
Steve “Lips” Kudlow: I expected everything that has happened. It’s as simple as that. I did from the first moment that Sacha told me he was going to make a movie. I couldn’t help but feel that way because that’s the kind of person I am.
Your CD This Is Thirteen has finally gotten a proper release through VH-1 Classic Records. What has the response been?
It’s going very well. I’m keeping very hopeful, like I usually do. I find it comical when you put out an album, and people immediately ask, “what’s next?” I get a good chuckle out of that because it’s the way that I have felt since the day the faders came down on the mixing board. I’ve got to write another song quick!
Having songs used in video games like that can really have a big impact on a band’s album sales.
Let’s hope so! (laughs) So far I can only smell the money. I haven’t actually touched it yet. The check’s in the mail, man!
During the filming of the movie you were working for a catering company. Have you given that up?
I’ve had to give it up. There was no real choice because I got too busy with the band. I’m having to depend on what the band makes, and it’s working out okay. It’s not like I’m able to pack money away, but I’m surviving, and that’s a great place to be. I’m very grateful for it.
You’ve been to a lot of movie premieres and met a lot of famous people that past year or so. What have been some of the highlights for you?
That part has been really unbelievable, because it’s put me in a world that most musicians would never get to. I’ve been in Hollywood situations standing and talking to Clint Eastwood, Mickey Rourke, Quentin Tarantino, Tilda Swinton, Matt Damon, Keanu Reaves, Keifer Sutherland, Dustin Hoffman. It’s really bizarre, because you’re going, “What am I doing here?” I’m shaking hands with Dirty Harry. But at the same time we all inhabit this earth. Those people actually exist. They are not just an image on film. They have their own lives and are their own people. To actually meet these people, you realize they are just people. That’s the essence of it.
You’ve got all the bases covered now: movies, cds, tv and now a book.
It’s a phenomenon. The whole thing is a phenomenon. It’s an anomalous thing, and really magical. There are different elements that had to be just right, and that’s true about anything that becomes successful. It’s purity.
Does the film got the real Anvil across?
Pretty much – it’s a slice of life. It doesn’t give the chronological history or anything, but it’s very well done. It was kind of odd seeing it because it was like watching home movies, and I’m looking more at myself than the story, going, ‘Ah no, my bald spot… I don’t like the way I rub my face… Why did I say that?’
Did you agree to the film immediately, or did you have to think about it?
Immediately! Sacha [Gervasi, Anvil director] is a old dear friend that became successful in Hollywood, and he asked me if I wanted to make a movie, so it’s like, ‘Yeah, I guess so, eh?’
Did you have any conditions?
My feelings from the onset were that it was going to be amazing. You’ve got a story about a band that’s existed for 35 years, which is compelling and unusual, and for me it was like, ‘All the
35 years I put into this were for this movie. All the things I’ve gone through, I was writing my screenplay.’
Was there anything in there you wish had been left out?
Probably the naked picture. It’s OK because my wife says it makes me look like I’m a really big man (laughs). I did try to have them remove it, but the producer said, ‘I don’t understand, you’re playing your guitar with a vibrator, but you won’t stand there naked for two seconds? Where’s your balls, man?’ So I let it go.
Talking of which – playing your guitar with a dildo… please explain.
We had all those sexual innuendos in the songs – it was just to be sleazy.
So has the film raised your profile a lot?
It’s definitely raised a lot of interest, but I don’t know what that’s going to mean yet – our records are virtually unfindable, so there’s been no rise in record sales.
They’re selling Metal On Metal on Amazon…
Believe it or not, I still don’t get any royalties for those records: everything they make is going against the redline. We need to sell 100,000 copies to make the 0,000 redline disappear, because we’re paying it off at a dollar a CD. What happens is, the record company sell a CD for , they collect , then take the dollar we’re owed and use it to pay off the debt. That’s how the record contract works.
Is there a sense of vindication? I'm sure there's been people around that have told you to give it up. Ever have that feeling of, 'in your face buddy?' In a way, do you feel like you just won the lottery?
I’m finding very quickly that wasting good energy on negative thinking is a very bad pass time. Looking for vindication is not really a motivating factor. I find that anger or bitterness obscures your final goal. Dwelling on the negative things that people say is like being infected with poison. If you don’t mentally ingest it you never have to feel vindicated. At the end of the day you are doing this because you love to and you do it for the people who love what you do. You can’t please all the people all the time. I don’t feel as though I’ve won a lottery as much as feeling like I’ve won a very grueling poker game.
RM: I’m friends with some of the guys in an Atlanta metal band called Shockplate, and they went through something I think you have a little bit of experience with too. They didn’t play the big crowds you guys played, but they played for a couple hundred people, and then they’d have nights where I’d go see them and they’d have under 10 people there.
Lips: What do you expect on a Monday or Tuesday night? Or what do you expect when no one knows you’re there? These are the things that happen, and it happens to everyone.
Robb: That’s what happens. But you still got to go out and kick ass.
RM: Is it hard to get fired up for a show like that?
Lips and Robb: No, no man.
RM: How do you do it?
Lips: How do you do it? You plug your guitar in—let’s party! That’s how you do it. You don’t really care, one or 1,000, it doesn’t matter. And you know what—the one person could be the most important person you’ve ever met in your life. We learned that a long time ago. And because we’ve had that train of thought, that’s why everything has ended up this positive
RM: So there were never any moments when you seriously thought about packing it in?
Lips: If there’s been a consistent thing in both of our lives, it’s been the band. If there’s nothing else you can count on, you can count on being on stage and having fun. I don’t have anybody else to answer to when I’m on that stage. I am who I am. It’s the moment I’m most alive, and you never want to let that go. It’s mine, it belongs to me, you can’t give it up—it’s your identity, it’s who you are, it’s what you are.
Robb: It’s what you love to do, so you do it. For us it’s a very natural process; we don’t entertain those thoughts [of quitting].
Lips: How can you quit what you do the best? What do you gain by quitting? Nothing. You lose everything. Quitters never win.
