10 Lessons from Anvil!, the Greatest Heavy Metal Band You've Never Heard Of

Who would have thought the feel good movie of the year stars fifty-year old heavy metal has beens? Don't take my word for it. I watched Anvil! The Story of Anvil! with a veteran music industry exec who proclaimed "this is genius!" after the first five minutes. And I've watched it with a girly-girl whose initial response was "Are you kidding me?" but who managed to break down in tears three times before the credits fell. You don't have to be a heavy metal fan to appreciate this film. You don't even have to love music, although it will help. Anvil! The Story of Anvil is a touching film that will reach out to any audience member big or small, in times like this, when all we need is a little hope.

Take a journey through the eyes of Lips, who some might call naïve, some might call simple-minded, and some might just call Canadian. At heart, he's true Rock n' Roll. He started a band with his teenage friend Robb Reiner, called Anvil. In 1984 they were at the height of their career, traveling the world with their album Metal on Metal, what some call the album that started it all. They paved the way for bands like Metallica, Anthrax, and Guns N' Roses. They played Japan alongside the Scorpions, Whitesnake, and Bon Jovi. While those bands went on to sell millions of records, Anvil somehow ended up stuck in Canada.

While some bands, after failing to attract a major label may call it quits, Lips has kept Anvil together in one form or another for over thirty years. We tour Europe with him where he's stood up by a club owner, take a loan from his sister to self-produce their 13th album, and finally, once again become big in Japan. Today Anvil is touring with the launch of the film: the Anvil experience. Once again they seem to be climbing up the ranks. They're sharing a manager with Slayer, a booking agent with Coldplay, and their next big gig will be to play for over 65,000 people at Glastonbury, opening for Neil Young, Bruce Springsteen, and Fleetwood Mac. As director Sacha Gervasi tells me, "It's mental." How did they finally make it, you might ask. Here are ten lessons to take from Anvil! The Story of Anvil. And while their path to success may have been an unconventional one, they're lessons that we can all take with us on our own journeys.

Find your mentors.
Gervasi discovered the band at the age of 15, when he saw them play at a London Marquee Show. "They played faster, heavier and more intensely than any band I'd ever seen," he says. He sneaked his way backstage and the band took him up on his offer to show them around London the next day. They instantly adopted him, giving him the tender nickname of "Teabag." Eventually he went out on the road with them, touring with them three times throughout the 80s. "I was a big fan of Robb Reiner's drumming," says Gervasi, "so I got to go out on tour with them and set up Robb's drums everynight. I learned how to play from Robb."

Reconnect with old friends.
Gervasi lost touch with the band after the 80s, but one night in 2005 he decided to Google them. "I thought they'd died or broken up, you know, I didn't know what had happened. They produced 13 albums and they never stopped. And they still hadn't made it," he says. So Gervasi called up Lips and wrote to the website. Lips wrote back and said "Teabag, we thought you'd died or became a lawyer." Gervasi flew them out to L.A. and said, "within 10 minutes it was as if those 20 years had melted away. And he was so, like as I remembered him. It wasn't just that they'd play music, it was that he really knew if they put in the work some miracle would happen someday. It was so infectious, his enthusiasm, and I thought, there's a film." The relationship between director and subject is not a typical one. It's apparent on screen the love the band feels for the director as we become more and more intimate with their story.

Find your own pleasure in life, even if your day job involves school cafeteria food.
In one of the opening scenes of the film, we drive around with Lips in Snowy Toronto as he delivers meals to children's schools. "Anvil gives me my happiness," he says. Although he wasn't making any money with the band, it's the joy he needs to get through life. Things can only get better he says, and by having a creative outlet, he knows this is true.


Don't let obstacles on the path to success deter you
.
"The film is about musicians who realize the movie is just about the struggle," says Gervasi. "99% of people don't make it. All of those people who did make it, recognize that that was them, or that could be them. It's a story for every under dog."

Have the right attitude.
Some Anvil fans might think Metallica stole the thunder out from under them. But Anvil isn't bitter. "They're so grateful to have influenced all these megabands, but they truly belive their time will come," says Gervasi. "And it's so crazy, because who in their right mind, in their 50s, thinks they're going to make it." If you have the right attitude, and don't blame others, your time will come.

Stay true to your style, fannypack and all.
When the band finally landed a meeting with a record label, EMI in Canada, they didn't put on an interview suit. No, they showed up in their long rocker hair and skinny jeans, which makes them look much younger than their 50 years, and of course kept the fanny packs on. Ultimately they weren't signed, but this led them to self-distribute their album, in true Anvil style.

Don't give up the first time around, nor the second, nor the third.
Lips and Reiner had a million opportunities to call it quits. Instead, they're going to rock until they die. Gervasi did call it quits in real life, with a band that went on to become Bush, and sell over 10 million records. But then he found his true calling in filmmaking, paying testament to his friends' perseverance.

Don't take anything for granted.
The one thing about Anvil is they have no ego. And perhaps you need some ego to get by in this business, but it's refreshing to see a band that relies on their talent alone. "You know what's great, is these guys, have so been ruled out, down for the count, over so many times, that they really appreciate what's going on," says Gervasi. "They know it's a miracle, every second they're living it. If they'd have got it in their twenties, they would have blown it. All bands that get it, they think it's going to be here forever, and then suddenly, with their third album, they're like wait, hold it, what happened. These guys have been through it. They've been killed so many times, that they're actually able to enjoy this moment and remain totally who they are. They're exactly as they were 30 years ago."

Believe in Miracles.
"People need stories of hope," says Gervasi. "This is a real story about endurance and perseverance, what it means to have friendships, what it means to be a part of a family, and the miracle that's going on for the band in the ending is if we just don't quit then maybe something good will happen. And I think that's what people need to hear. It's a very timely, timeless story. And it's a universal one, so I think people should see the movie because I think they're going to feel good when they leave the theater."

Go see this movie, now.
Truth be told, anyone in their right minds who had gone through what Anvil had gone through, poor managers, poor sound recordings, 30 years of never catching a break, would have given up by now. But they're not normal guys, and their story is worth seeing for exactly this reason.

The film opens in New York and Los Angeles April 10th, followed by a national roll-out. Click here to buy tickets for screenings or for information on the Anvil experience. VH1 will host the worldwide television premiere this summer.

Comments

[weedhighnightmare]

With a name like Robb Reiner, I thought sure that this was a hoax, but a trip to Amazon.com confirmed that Anvil does indeed exist.

This has been a public service announcement from one skeptic to all the others out there.

[bonze]

Anvil? Never heard of 'em.

Checked 'em out on YouTube... now I know why!

[Brent Millar]

Um...
Where to start. You haven't seen the film yet have you RobinSeattle? Slayer, Motorhead, Anthrax, Metallic, Guns N Roses, even Twisted Sister are actually IN THE FILM saying they were influenced by ANVIL(not Anthrax).

Motorhead is not and never has been "Speed Metal/Thrash" . Diamond Head? They released their first single Shoot Out The Lights in 1980. They signed with MCA Records in 1981.

Whereas Anvil formed in 1973, but released Hard 'N' Heavy, they're first album in 1981.

So, you were saying...

As to who influenced who and to what degree, this is not a finite fact. But if you'd actually talked to any of the bands mentioned above or bothered to see the movie, maybe you wouldn't come off as so ill-informed and asinine.

As to Canadian Metal, thanx for your opinion, it will be considered as such.

[RobinSeattle]

Sorry Brent, but I not only know all that, (in fact, I still have those albums on vinyl), I knew or have interviewed some of the musicians involved.

For example, I interviewed Anthrax for a magazine I was writing for just after Joey Belladonna had joined the band while "Fistful of Metal" was still their only album and, on the discussion of influences I had with him, not only did Ian not mention Anvil, but he actually brought up the Crumbsuckers as a band he really liked at the time.

While Metallica still had Ron McGovney and Mustaine in the band and right up to when Cliff joined, there was no mention by anyone I knew associated with them that Anvil had any kind of bearing on their sound. I have never seen Lars or James mention them. I also have friends in common with James and Mustaine and again, Anvil never came up. In fact, I have seen Lars say that without Motorhead, Metallica wouldn't have existed. I also talked with Lemmy a few times back in the day and no Anvil content.

I knew a lot of the other writers, especially those from europe, and there was little interest by them in Anvil.

I think what occurred was that those bands were throwing Anvil a bone because they like them personally. But I thought they were in that fourth rank of bands below groups such as Raven or Tank. That is why nobody has heard of them.

[Brent Millar]

Could you drop anymore names?

And again, thanks for your opinion. Others very, like those actually interviewed in the movie.

Now, are you the repository for for all things spoken by "James and Lars"?
LOL

Do you always come off trying to sound this self-important?

Now I was talking with Steve Vai, and he was wearing a "Exciter" T-Shirt, when Sebastian Bach walked in wearing the same shirt. "bro" yelled Bach, to which Vai replied "Heavy Metal Maniac" is a classic!!!­"...

[RonnyBlu]

I saw this movie last year at Sundance. First of all, it's an amazing documentary.
Secondly, there are quotes from all of the above mentioned bands, Slayer, Motorhead, Anthrax, Metallic, Guns N Roses, even Twisted Sister, mentioning what an influence Anthrax was to all of them.
The bands themselves say that Metal on Metal was the album that started it all. It's hard to deny their place in history.
I'm not sure how great their albums were after this, but Metal on Metal truly was revolutionary at the time.

[BrenDavis]

Agree with the above comment completely (being that it's almost purely factual and historically accurate, it's hard not to), but can't wait to see the film, either.

[RobinSeattle]

"In 1984 they were at the height of their career, traveling the world with their album Metal on Metal, what some call the album that started it all. They paved the way for bands like Metallica, Anthrax, and Guns N' Roses. "

You obviously don't know anything about the history of heavy metal.

The truth is that both L.A. and Britain had active metal scenes before anyone even knew who Anvil (whose albums were terrible; in fact, the whole Canadian end of 1980's metal revival was pretty much a non-starter) was. Metallica was influenced by British bands such as Motorhead (who date back to the 1970's), Diamond Head and the old 1970's euro-metal bands such as Scorpions and UFO. Slayer and Anthrax had a punk element to their sound, too, in addition to being influenced by Kiss and Judas Priest.

Guns and Roses were basically a new take on Aerosmith and the musicians in that group had been kicking around for a while before that in bands such as Road Crew and Hollywood Rose. Slash was a Stones and Aerosmith fan.

Whatever the virtues of the film you mentioned, Anvil were pretty much nobodies and rightfully so. They had almost nothing to do with the blossoming of the metal scenes in either the U.S., Holland, Germany, Japan or Britain.

[armstp]

Not sure I entirely agree. They were definately one of the first speed metal bands. Back in the early 80s nobody was playing as fast and there live shows were at least a crazy as bands like Quiet Riot and Judas Priest.

You only have to watch the movie to know that all these other famous bands were fans. There were lots of influences that evolved metal, but I think the point is that they had a place in the history of metal and they have not really been recognized for it. They were right along side Judas Priest at exactly the same time.

I think the problem is that they seem to have too much Canadian modesty, when what they really needed was some more gusto or ego to drive forward with publicity and making a name for themselves. They were too low key like other bands that came from Toronto in the same period like Rush and Triumpth. They let the music speak for itself, which is not enough in the world of self-promotion and entertainment, even in the metal scene.

[thegrayphantom]

So the mentioned bands have quotes in the movie saying how Anvil influenced them, but you say they did not. I wonder who we should believe. You, an anonymous poster on a news website, or the bands themselves. I think I'm going to go with the actual members of the bands. Call it a hunch.