Anvil: The story of Anvil

[ctc]

So;

I just saw this and I gotta say; it's both the most depressing and uplifting thing I've ever seen! Anvil was a B-list metal band from the early 80's, but they never quit and have been playing and recording ever since! The film is about them trying to get their big break. Still. If you want to see guts and dedication, see this film.

Don C.

[thomasjo_2093]

A very cool movie indeed.

John

[gummi]

Excellent movie!

[GlobalObserver]

I thought it was excellent.

[fallensaviour]

I saw it but thought you were talking about Jim the Anvil Neidhart...LOL

[palitoy]

I've known this collector from Scarborough for about 15 years now, he is one of the nicest people I've met, one day while at a toy show he begings a story with "when I was in Anvil".

Turns out this guy I'd known then for at least a decade was a founding member of the group and never mentioned it, he was with them up until 1995. He's barely in this movie but according to mutual friends has been enjoying nice residuals from recently increased album sales.

[Mikey]

I saw it but thought you were talking about Jim the Anvil Neidhart...LOL

Man, I thought I was the only one who thought that

[4NDR01D]

Haven't seen the documentary yet, but I intend to.
About 6 years back, I was doing some paintings and ran out of canvas's and so I started painting over top of a bunch of crummy old records. Now most of them were really crummy "sing along with mitch" or Roger whitiker type stuff, but when those ran out I used an lp called "Lips".
It was , to me at least, just a cheap generic 70's rock sounding band. Didn't mean much to me, nor did the fact it was autographed by all 4 band members.

popsike.com - LIPS HARD ‘N HEAVY LP PRE-ANVIL / Canada / Rare - auction details

I still kick myself over it, and won't ever make that mistake again.

[megowgsh]

I think this movie depicts these guys in a pathetic light. To me it looks like they are only in this in order to become "famous" and make Metallic-type money they feel they deserved. They are very bitter about not "hitting it BIG".

In reality they have released about 12 or 13 albums in a 30 year stretch.

Most guys I know would kill to be able to say they've been around for 30 years and have released 12 albums.

If they were really doing it for the love of the music, the fame, money and glory would not matter.

I found these guys, especially Lips, absolutely pathetic. If their music was really that good they would have made it bigger.

[ctc]

>To me it looks like they are only in this in order to become "famous" and make Metallic-type money they feel they deserved

I think there was some of that; but it seemed to me that the majority of what they wanted was for people to like their stuff. That's why they kept doing it. From the stuff in the film it seemed like the fiscal goal wasn't to make it rich, but to get paid at all. The disappointment they felt wasn't from not being famous but from feeling they never got the exposure they needed. Hence the joy at discovering micro-pressings.

But yeah; there was a lot of shots of these folks NOT at their best.

Don C.

[nvmbrsdoom5]

I still haven't seen this movie yet. I'm sure I can relate to much of it, heh...

Anvil were a decent band in general. Lips was a good guitarist. But there were other bands like Exciter who were around at the same time, and never really got far enough either, who I think looked better, played better, and wrote more anthemic songs overall.

Usually for bands their biggest enemies really boils down to their own vices, egos, and bad business choices. People get sucked in by the music industry so easily when you're younger and naive, labels and agents will convince you to tour-tour-tour constantly, will make you sign bad deals and wind up owning your publishing and give you measly royalty rates, and these young musicians do it because they get all pumped up thinking they're gonna do all of this hard work and get rich and famous and whatnot. It STILL happens today. The music business hasn't really changed that much (at least not for the better), I'm sorry to say.

Oh well, as for Anvil, this movie coming out was the best thing that ever happened to them, as they're now a big draw on the touring and festival circuit again, can demand a good guarantee up front, and have gotten more exposure in the last year than in the previous 25 years total.

Anyone who'd like to do a documentary on my band, drop me a line, lol, we could use the boost

[Hector]

I've seen it...this is Spinal Tap for real.

[EMCE Hammer]

Metal on metal.....

Austin, you're a hardass! I felt for these guys. I'm glad they're finally catching a little bit of a break. I don't think they're that good, but if they opened for somebody I liked I wouldn't blow them off.

[Goblin19]

I thought it was pretty great. The ending was pretty powerful as they finally found a big audience, albeit across the world.

[ctc]

>Usually for bands their biggest enemies really boils down to their own vices, egos, and bad business choices.

I think for any branch of the entertainment industry luck plays a huge part in it too. That's kinda the subliminal running theme of this film: no matter how hard they worked, they never caught that big break.... just enough small or medium ones to keep them going. In a way, the MOVIE was their big break. After 30+ years.

Don C.