The band returns to Canada having taken five weeks off of work and making no money. The final concert of the tour is the Monsters of Transylvania rock concert, held in a 10,000 seat arena and promising a crowd of 5,000. At one point, Reiner refuses to perform and announces he's quitting the band, only to be persuaded by Kudlow to stick it out.
#Anvil band 1984 full#
Trains are full before the band can buy tickets, they miss travel connections altogether, they get lost in Prague due to language barriers and scuffle with the bar owner who refuses to pay since the band was two hours late, they play to mostly empty rooms and complain about the lack of promotion, and eventually run out of money and sleep in a train station. The tour has a promising start at the Sweden Rock festival, where the group interacts with Michael Schenker and Carmine Appice, but it quickly goes downhill. Kudlow gets an email from a European fan named Tiziana Arrigoni, who offers to set up a European tour for the band, estimating 1500 Euros per show.
But both would rather be playing on stage at the local sports bar to their small but dedicated group of fans, as shown during a show for Steve's 50th birthday party. Drummer Robb Reiner works in construction. Instead, singer and guitarist Steve "Lips" Kudlow drives trucks for Children's Choice Catering, delivering food to schools and institutions. Despite their ambition, the Canadian band was unable to achieve the same level of success. The film begins by listing the headlining acts of the Super Rock festival held in Japan in 1984: Scorpions, Whitesnake, and Bon Jovi, all of whom have gone on to sell millions of records, except one: Anvil. The film is directed by screenwriter Sacha Gervasi, in his directorial debut, and features interviews with other musicians who have been influenced by the band, including Slash, Tom Araya, Lemmy, Scott Ian, and Lars Ulrich. It's a sentiment that "Anvil!" conveys with complete honesty.Anvil! The Story of Anvil is a 2008 Canadian rockumentary film about the Canadian heavy metal band Anvil. It speaks to that desire in all of us that our dreams are not dead as long as we continue to fight for them. I was reminded more of "The Wrestler" as it summons a beautiful mixture of emotions watching these men, as Dylan Thomas said, "Rage against the dying of the light". Furthermore, these are two men who have been stripped of their egos. "Spinal Tap" while inarguably a must-watch classic, is more of a satire, while this is a compelling documentary about how two life-long rockers really would feel if they happened to be billed below a puppet show. Some have compared to the film to "This Is Spinal Tap" but that's not really a fair comparison. The film follows their attempts to struggle through their endless frustrations as they try to book a tour through Europe and record a new album. They have families, they work nine-to-five jobs that they hate, but they haven't given up the dream. The two are the founding members of Anvil, lifelong friends, they're now in their fifties, and they still rock.
The documentary follows the trials and tribulations of lead singer and guitarist Steve "Lips" Kudlow and drummer Robb Reiner. We could cry "Oh, if only they hadn't done this!" or "If only this evil person hadn't screwed them over!" and we do get hints of what went wrong throughout the film (the lack of a talented manager, getting screwed over by record labels), but that's all about looking back when what makes "Anvil!" such a powerful film is that it's about looking forward and fighting for your dream rather than 20/20 hindsight.
But ultimately, that answer is irrelevant because to do so would try to put Anvil back into the realm of a fair and just universe. While I'll admit I have a continuing curiosity as to what happened in the twenty years between that festival and when the film was shot and whether their lack of success was due to mistakes on their part, disasters beyond their control, or a mixture of both. We see how Anvil rocks the stage at the Super Rock Festival in Japan in the Summer of 1984 and they keep the company of bands like Scorpions, Whitesnake, and Bon Jovi but the question is why did those bands succeed while Anvil fell into obscurity?Įxcept the answer to that question isn't really that important. The film opens as metal legends like Slash from Guns N Roses and Lemmy from Motörhead sing the praises of an unknown band named "Anvil". "Anvil! The Story of Anvil" is one of the most inspiring and uplifting documentaries in recent memory because it is the story of two talented rockers who refuse to be defeated by life dealing them a shitty hand.
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