Better late than never

The year is 1984, and the flag of heavy metal flies proudly as a quartet of the day’s heavy rock legends takes to the stage at Tokyo’s Super Rock Festival to the screams of hundreds of thousands of metal maniacs.

The Scorpions, Bon Jovi, Whitesnake and Anvil were all invincible that day.

Some 25 years later, Steve Kudlow drives to his low-wage job at a kitchen in the frigid Toronto winter, trudging through snowdrifts and ice patches as he delivers hot lunches to local schools. Across town, Robb Reiner laboriously pounds away with a jackhammer.

At night, the duo will bring Anvil to rock out some downtown dive, happy if two dozen people show up. It’s a far, far cry from the days of playing Japanese festivals and landing covers on Kerrang!, when Anvil was referenced in the same breath as Metallica and Slayer. But to frontman/guitarist Kudlow — affectionately know as “Lips” — and drummer Reiner, it’s a small compensation for the successes they never had, but should have.

These are the opening scenes of Anvil! The Story of Anvil, the rockumentary about a band that never quite made it, but has still tried to make it, keeping the metal machine churning when most of its peers either made millions or decided to pack it in long ago.

If by nothing but serendipity, Kudlow and Reiner (the band’s last two original members) reconnected in 2006 with old friend and roadie Sacha Gervasi, who had gone on to achieve success in Hollywood with the likes of Spielberg. Gervasi was intrigued by Anvil’s persistence in chasing those elusive rock ’n’ roll dreams decades after the initial promise of fame and fortune had faded away, and decided to film their story.

Anvil! documents the band’s recent years plagued by poor management, disastrous touring schedule, recording troubles and, most important, members’ relationships with friends and family.

The film is the sleeper independent hit of the year, which the director likens to the fact that Anvil! is more about people and emotions than it is the music, a heartfelt facet almost never considered in the robotic world of heavy metal. As such, exposure from the film means that Kudlow and Reiner are finally getting their due, landing a world tour with AC/DC, TV guest spots and some overdue national notoriety.

Gervasi, who spoke briefly with the Reporter before embarking for Tokyo with the band, said he was thrilled that Anvil! is playing this week at the Ventura Film Society’s fall screening series.

VCReporter: The movie’s getting a DVD release and widespread, worldwide distribution. Did you expect it to be as successful as it’s turned out to be?
Sacha Gervasi: No, we couldn’t even sell it at Sundance. So it was kind of a tough time. I don’t know if you were aware, but they were on Conan [last week]. And Nightline did a big thing about it. It’s been extraordinary. So I think the whole thing has been pretty unexpected, in the best possible way.

VCR: Going back to the beginning, you befriended Lips, Robb and the band in its formative years during the ’80s, lost touch with them, and then reconnected just a short while back. How did that all come about?
SG: Well, I’d lost touch with them in about ’86 or ’85, I can’t remember. And then the summer of 2005, I was listening to Metallica and thought, “My god, this sounds like Anvil.” And I went on the Internet to [Anvil’s] Web site, and I got an e-mail back from them like an hour later saying, “Hey, man, whatever happened to you?” And Lips flew out to L.A. and we picked up where we left off 20 years ago. It was unbelievable.

VCR: And you were once a roadie for them, as well.
SG: Yeah, when I was 15. I met them in London and went on the road with them when I was 16.

VCR: At what point after reconnecting with the band did you decide you wanted to film its story? You were already engrossed in the movie industry.
SG: Probably a couple of weeks afterwards. I just thought, “This story is great.”

VCR: And you just decided to follow them around in their day-to-day activities?
SG: (Laughs) Then it turned into the course of years. It was extraordinary.

VCR: The movie globe trots with the band from Canada to Los Angeles, to Japan, to Europe, the UK, Transylvania and beyond. How many years did you end up documenting altogether?
SG: It was two and a quarter years, shown in pieces. That was a really good time to allow for the story to unfold. It was pretty great.

VCR: Those early LPs, Metal on Metal and Hard ’N’ Heavy — they’re classic records, yet Anvil was the band that never really made it in the early thrash scene.
SG: That’s right.

VCR: For you, was there one defining reason why the band never hit it big?
SG: Yeah, always, the usual things: management, bad record company decisions. Unfortunately, a cliché’s a cliché and they’re true. All those things happened to Anvil.

VCR: In the movie, Lips is adamant that they’ve always been poorly managed.
SG: Yeah, I think that’s a huge part of it. And you need to have luck. The thing is, now Anvil has luck, in spades. To see them in USA Today, for Anvil, in 2009, is crazy.

VCR: One of the things that got me with the movie was when they got back with producer Chris Tsangerides, and how they still weren’t able to sell the album This Is Thirteen, even with his input again.
SG: I know! Well, you know, times are hard, man. And it’s been an uphill struggle for many years.

VCR: A lot of the confessional aspects of the story, too, reminded me of Metallica’s Some Kind of Monster.
SG: The only difference is that they’re multi-millionaires and Anvil are not. (Laughs)

VCR: Lips and Robb, you explored their friendships with each other and their families, and that’s heartening to see that it’s more than just about the music.
SG: Definitely, exactly, totally. That was the whole idea, to take the idea of these stereotypical metal guys and really make it about people. And that’s what it’s about.

VCR: Can you comment on the dedication they have to making music?
SG: How many artists spend 36 years dedicated to their music without the results? It’s pretty exemplary.

(At this point, Gervasi must halt the interview to receive an important phone call. He calls back five minutes later.)

SG: Hey, Paul, sorry about that, man. Will Ferrell called. They’ve asked Anvil to do a skit for Funny or Die today.

VCR: Really, that’s great news!
SG: So, clearly you’re the bearer of breaking news. (Laughs)

VCR: That’s great, are they up for doing it?
SG: Yeah, we’re just putting it together. The producer called and said, “I’ve got to talk to you because it’s got to happen now.”

(Gervasi pauses to tell Reiner, who is in earshot.)

VCR: The band is having this resurgence with the AC/DC tour and more. What do you think the future spells out for them in the next couple of years?
SG: I think they’re going to record a great album. I’ve heard some of the songs. I think the future is really bright for Anvil. At its very worst, the future will be way better for them than it was before the movie.

VCR: Do you see yourself working with them again?
SG: Of course, it’s an ongoing marriage.    

Anvil! The Story of Anvil screens at the Ventura Elks Lodge, 11 S. Ash St., Ventura, on Thursday, Oct. 15, at 7:30 p.m. For information, call 641-3845 or visit venturafilmsociety.com. Anvil is on the Web at anvilmetal.com.

paul@vcreporter.com