Anvil were on of the more tragic heavy metal stories. This Canadian band formed 1n 1978 (For perspective this was 3 years before Metallica) but had been going in one form or another since 1974 with childhood besties Steve “Lips” Kudlow (vocals and guitars) and Rob Reiner (drums) jamming and rehearsing in some form since meeting as children.
THE FIRST ANVIL ALBUM
The band released an independently released album called “Hard and Heavy” in 1981 whilst still operating under the name “Lips” but changed their name to “Anvil” shortly afterwards when a label Attic Records picked up the album and re-released it as the debut Anvil record.
As far as debut albums go, this one was pretty cool. I’m not going to say it was as good as the product that Judas Priest and Maiden were putting out at the time, but I will say some of the better songs trade punches with the above mentioned bands and really put the band on the map as far as the underground metal fans and bands went. With the benefit of hindsight I think the problem was the band didn’t have the big anthemic songs that of Many of the bigger bands of the time had. The record did make an impact with bands like Metallica, Anthrax, Death etc, citing the band as early influences.
THE 80s FOR ANVIL
It’s what happened after this release that confounds the metal fan. The band signed a management deal from none other than Aerosmith’s managment and proceeded to play some of the biggest festivals on the US heavy rock circuit. The band never really hit the nerves of the Heavy Metal fan base, and things started to fizzle out after the promising start the band showed.
Fast forward to 1987 and thrash metal had basically become the dominant force in the underground and Anvil’s more commercially acceptable peers had basically taken over the world (Bon Jovi, Judas Priest etc…). Metal Blade Records picked up the band and released three albums including the album “Strength of Steel” which was the bands only access to the mainstream charts charting at 191 on the US charts.
After this we basically had album after album that didn’t really fire or sell well, saving some committed fans in Europe (Germany mainly) and saw the band basically floundering playing shows to virtually nobody.
It was around 2007 when a film crew shot a documentary about the band, that was frankly so harrowing it propelled the band into the mainstream of metal conciousness. From then on the band has been constantly touring and putting out records have have afforded the members a chance to live off their art.
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