"The music lives forever. Maybe the debt does too."
-- Steve "Lips" Kudlow, "Anvil! The Story of Anvil"
I think everyone should, at some point in life, be part of a team.
Even if you have no aptitude for it, you should play a sport or in a band. Or serve in the military. Or work for an underdog alternative newspaper. Not because it builds or reveals character, but because it can be a source of great joy. It is rewarding to work with others toward a goal or a dream. And the real reward is not in accomplishment, but in the striving.
It's tough to tell people who are living from meager paycheck to paycheck while pursuing some bigger dream that they are in fact living the best years of their lives, but it's very often true. We don't necessarily get happier as we become more successful. There's a reason many of us look back wistfully at our hungry years, when we banded together with friends to chase what might, in retrospect, have been unattainable dreams.
We should all aspire to eventually fall short of our goals. We should all aim that high.
Despite not having much affinity for heavy metal music or cos-play, I remember being deeply touched when I first saw Sacha Gervasi's documentary "Anvil! The Story of Anvil" in 2008. I hadn't heard of Anvil at that point, though I had been writing about rock 'n' roll since the mid-'70s and was aware of a lot of acts that most people would consider obscure.
But Anvil? The Toronto-based headbangers who'd had some success in the '80s -- they toured Japan with Whitesnake, Scorpions and Bon Jovi during the 1984 Super Rock festival -- didn't register. So they were genuinely obscure.
Hollywood screenwriter Gervasi, who had roadied for the band as a 16-year-old (his nom de road was Teabag), pitches a no-holds-barred documentary to his old buddies in 2005. Founding Anvil members Steve "Lips" Ludlow -- a singer and guitarist who once turned down an invitation from Lemmy Kilmister to join Motorhead -- and drummer Robb Reiner were still chasing the rock 'n' roll dream they'd shared since they were 14 years old. Now they were nearing 50, and both of them had day jobs as they played half-empty pubs and sports bars in and around Ontario.
Then their former road manager gets in touch. She offers to set up a European tour for the band, and tells them they might expect 1,500 Euros per gig. Of course they're in.
After a promising start at the Sweden Rock festival where they hobnob with old friends Carmine Appice and Michael Schenker, things begin to go pathetically awry. Language barriers lead to missed connections and late arrivals, which lead to disputes with club owners over fees. Anvil often plays to empty rooms; eventually the band runs out of money and is reduced to sleeping in a train station.
Reiner gets fed up and quits, only to be talked back by Kudlow. The final show of the tour is billed as the "Monsters of Transylvania," and expectations are high. And in a Hollywood movie about a ragtag band of never-weres from Canada, maybe they'd walk off stage to the cheers of thousands. But only 174 people show up for "Monsters of Transylvania."
Gervasi follows the band home, where the consequences of having taken five weeks off for a European tour and returning with nothing to show for it are dire. Their bass player Glenn Five descends into homelessness. Kudlow takes out a second mortgage on his house to make ends meet. Eventually he's reduced to telemarketing, shilling sunglasses over the phone.
Reiner talks about his other artistic passion: painting. Rhythm guitar player Ivan Hurd marries the band's former road manager, who got them into the European fiasco, and a rather subdued Anvil plays the wedding reception while a few family members politely watch.
That's the end of the second act.
It's no wonder a lot of people who see "Anvil!" mistake it for one of those fake documentaries like "This Is Spinal Tap." It feels over the top, and the characters are all larger than life. But it's all real, or at least as real as it can be given the principals understand that the cameras are there for a reason. (As D.A. Pennebaker observed of Bob Dylan during the shooting of "Don't Look Back," it's a given that the performers are performing; a camera, or any other observer, always changes the dynamics of a situation.)
After the film came out, Anvil did a lot to promote it. They toured with the movie -- they showed up at the old Market Street Cinema in Little Rock for a meet-and-greet and played a mini-show after the screening. They revealed themselves as good-natured, salt-of-the-earth guys who are hard to root against.
So it was hardly surprising that they enjoyed a little surge of popularity, which they're still riding today. They've been able to quit their day jobs, have a recording deal, and regularly tour -- usually as the opener for an act like AC/DC. Reiner and Kudlow are nearing what some people consider retirement age, and still following their passion.
I still can't say I'm familiar with their music. But I can say I'm an Anvil fan.
Email:
pmartin@adgnewsroom.com