Anvil (aka The Story Of Anvil) (2009)

Harlan Ellison wrote a story once called The Cheese Stands Alone. In this story, a man goes in to a curious store where he is a shown a book that contains the high points of everyone’s life. Our protagonist discovers that his greatest moment was in a baseball game as child. He looks around to see that the shop is filled with people have looked in the book and discovered the pinnacle of their achievements were also in the past and have been unable to leave. Our hero is not so affected, and he leaves the store ready to continue his life. The Story of Anvil is a real life version of The Cheese Stands Alone.

Anvil were on the cusp of greatness when they played Super Rock ’84 in Japan. They already had albums that were faster and heavier than most metal bands and, if this documentary can be believed, the band were an influential force in the genre. For reasons never explained, except the theory it is because they were Canadian and not from the USA or Britain, Anvil never became famous and fell in to obscurity instead. That was until, 25 years later, this film introduces us the band that never stopped.

Steve "Lips" Kudlow (vocals, guitar) and Robb Reiner (drums) are still living metal and hoping that Anvil will make them the rock stars they want to be. It’s very sweet that these straight talking 50 year olds are rocking as hard as ever and living the life that 20 year olds live as they take mundane day jobs to pay for their music obsession. The film includes a European tour, a trip back to Japan, the release of their new album, some internal fighting, and a whole lotta love as friends and family do what they can to support the band.

It is interesting to compare the Story Of Anvil to Metallica’s 2004 Some Kind Of Monster. Metallica come across as bunch of spoiled, rich brats. Anvil come across as a bunch of guys living a dream, even if that dream is never fully realised. And, unlike commercially orientated, money hungry beast liek metallica, Anvil have never really changed their hair, their sound, or their album covers. Check out these covers from 1981 and 2007...