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ON THE COUCH WITH: Anvil

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ARTIST INTERVIEW

Access All Areas.net.au: What are you up to in Toronto?
Robb Reiner: I’ve been basically back in my studio, painting on my canvas and rehearsing with the band.

Access All Areas.net.au: What was your reaction when you first saw the completed documentary, The Story of Anvil?
Robb Reiner: My first reaction…I had to watch it three times. I saw it in Sacha’s living room. I was the last one to see it out of everybody. And I was pretty blown away; lost for words really. When I first saw it I couldn’t believe that kind of movie put together ‘cause you know I thought, “wow this is really going to be really emotional journey.” After I saw it the third time I knew this was a genius, well-crafted piece of work that is going to blow the world away. I knew it then.

Access All Areas.net.au: Can you take me back to the first time you fell in love with playing music?
Robb: Well playing drums…oh how old was I? I was kind of 11 years old. I was watching the ‘I Love Lucy’ show and it was an episode when Lucy and Richie got Little Ricky – Buddy Rich as a drum teacher. And I remember watching that, and it blew me away. I just said to myself, “you know, I wanna play drums! I figure I’m gonna play some drums.” Never wanted anything but to play drums.

Access All Areas.net.au: Do you always improvise with your drums while on stage?
Robb: In some cases yeah – a lot of cases it’s improvised. I play by feel…I play by feel and mood. Sometimes I’m in a good mood, sometimes I’m in an amazing mood. I really play by feel.

Access All Areas.net.au: Which song of yours has been the most personal? One that strikes a chord with you ‘til today?
Robb: Oh mann…There are many songs I could name. I’ll say ‘Winged Assassins’. How’s that?

Access All Areas.net.au: Why that song?
Robb: Just the drum pattern and feel in that song, another one of those Robb Reiner innovated, magical, piece of work that was created out of pure innocence.

Access All Areas.net.au: Some friends become distant when things get rough. And in the music industry, I would imagine it would be harder. What has been the most important thing that you’ve learned about yourself from your friendship with Steve?
Robb: Just to have lost of patience (Laugh).

Access All Areas.net.au: With each other (laugh)?
Robb: Just to have lot of patience is what I’ve learned at the end of the day you know. Yeah we get along great. We may disagree on a lot of things but our goals are the same. It’s just our approaches might differ but both our goals are the same….We really do create the sound and feel of what Anvil has always been about. I’m the engine of the whole thing.

Access All Areas.net.au: The music industry has always been a tough place. And people always speak of having the “right deal” or “right time”. Was not having the right label part of the problem back then?
Robb: Part of that was true. Part of it is really cliché. The reason we got really derailed and fucked around was we had a manager back in the day. We derailed the entire progress of where we were heading to at that time. That’s a simple thing – that’s all that happened. We had everything including the manager. He just made some bad moves and we were young. We didn’t realise clearly at the moment what it all meant. And that was at a time between 1983 and 86 when metal really really became a forefront cool thing in the industry and we were in the underground. We were locked in the underground. That’s what happens. We didn’t have the right label and we had bad management so all things really set us back.

Access All Areas.net.au: So ever since then, are you guys more cautious when looking at potential record deals?
Robb: The whole business has changed obviously, the way it seems to be compared to back then. We started off our ‘This is Thirteen’ project, keep it in our house and selling it from ourselves and you know, we sold the most amount of records and we got paid the most amount of money we’ve ever done in our whole career so it was quite an adventure. Now we’ve got some record companies on board – I believe we need them to get to where I want get you know. We have a real manager now, we’ve got a real sales manager, we’ve got a real agent, we quit our jobs. Everything has changed, 360 degrees around.

Access All Areas.net.au: Do you think you have more creative freedom now than you’ve ever had before?
Robb: Oh yeah. We’ve always had creative freedom. We’ve never been strangled by anybody. Not yet anyway. Since the day we started, we’ve always done whatever we want, whenever we want, how we want with our music. Nobody’s ever told us what to play.

Access All Areas.net.au: During this whole time, do you guys feel even more inspired to write songs?
Robb: I guess certainly in the last couple of years, with all this stuff that has been going on, it has definitely given us a fresh excitement – there’s no question about it. I mean our next ablum – Juggernaut of Justice is completely written, finished. We just need to record it. And that’s for sure a direct result from just being…reborn, we feel really alive you know. The only thing that’s happened to us has been like a miracle and we’re just enjoying every minute of it. It’s a celebration! I’m celebrating, I love this celebration!

Access All Areas.net.au: With Juggernaut of Justice, will you guys be experimenting with something different from previous records?
Robb: We’ve got one track on it that’s jazz/metal. I’m really proud of it. It’s a really sick piece you know. The drumming is like a big band – It’s like Buddy Rich playing in a metal band you know. That’s something that’s gonna be on the new album. That’s something we’ve never done before. So yeah we’ve experimented but all the songs are well-orchestrated, arranged amazingly and very very powerful in the groove and arrangements. We’ve got something out now as a bonus track (Thumb Hang, the first song Robb and Steve wrote in high school) on the ‘This is Thirteen’ CD and everybody’s that heard it already is just going crazy for it. I think the new record is going to take the world off.

Access All Areas.net.au: You’ve performed with AC/DC and have more shows coming up, do you ever feel nervous on stage sometimes?
Robb: No, never. That’s where we come alive. That’s where all it happens. We live for those moments to rock and play for people. Listen I love blowing people away. I live for it.

Access All Areas.net.au: If this documentary didn’t happen – where do you think you guys would be right now?
Robb: Well we’d be still doing what we’ve always doing. We’d still be recording records and playing to the tens of thousands of die-hard fans who’ve always bought Anvil CD’s. I’ve always believed that one day we would be discovered. Whatever the method was – was unknown but I always believed that it was going to come about and I guess if it came about through a movie, let it be. I think it’s a great thing.

Access All Areas.net.au: How would you describe the meaning of success now?
Robb: Well, the meaning of success is always been the same for me. It has two components to it – one is financial and one is being able to do what you want and getting away with it. So we’re – I don’t know, right now it’s feeling good you know. People are getting the story; they’re actually understanding it and engaging with it and the band is getting a chance to show its stuff and people are responding. So I think everything is going to be really good.

Access All Areas.net.au: What would you like your fans to know about Anvil now?
Robb: Musically, it’s the obvious things – I want everybody to finally discover I call it “The Majesty of Anvil”, which is a lot of stuff. All I want is the great musicianship. I mean Anvil has for sure the greatest metal players that we’ve had for many years. Very original style, personality and sound. And the love and the passion for the music. We really love what we do, you know what I mean. This is the best religion in the world, F-U-N. Fun.

Access All Areas.net.au: In life, is music the most important thing still or are there other things you hope to do as well?
Robb: For me it’s always about playing like I told you. That’s when I’m alive. When I’m playing drums, I feel like I’m really alive and it’s all I live for…In my private life, I’m an artist so I paint canvasses and I enjoy doing that. I’ll always do that.

Access All Areas.net.au: Will your painting appear on the new album cover?
Robb: I don’t know. We showed some of it in the movie. And I’m doing artshows right now. Who knows? One day a Robb Reiner painting will be an Anvil cover, who knows?

Access All Areas.net.au: Alright, Thanks so much for having us, Robb.

Robb: Thanks Sandy, great fun doing the interview. Tell everybody about us!

Access All Areas.net.au: Alright, good luck!

Interview by Sandy Tan

ARTIST BIOGRAPHY

Toronto, Canada's Anvil were one of the first North American bands to push the sound and style of the New Wave of British Heavy Metal one step further. Clearly indebted to the likes of Judas Priest, Iron Maiden, and many others from across the Atlantic, Anvil nonetheless played louder, faster, and heavier than their heroes, in the process laying the groundwork for the thrash movement that took over heavy metal's underground in the '80s. Yet unlike many of the furious West Coast thrashers that immediately followed them, Anvil were mostly out for a good time: their albums often featured borderline pornographic sex songs, and frontman Steve "Lips" Kudlow frequently took to the stage in a bondage harness and played guitar solos with a vibrator.

Zany antics notwithstanding, Anvil's musical contributions were very real; their fastest songs were some of the earliest speed metal laid to wax, while jazz-trained drummer Robb Reiner set new technical standards for the genre, including pioneering the double bass-drum technique that's become a staple of much extreme metal since. Anvil's second and third albums, Metal on Metal and Forged in Fire, made significant waves in the metal community over 1982-1983, but despite the respect of musicians and metalheads alike, stardom was not to be theirs. Geographic isolation, label and management difficulties, and shifting musical trends all conspired against them, leaving them largely the province of cultists and collectors just a few short years later. Undaunted, Anvil soldiered on, continuing to record and tour whenever possible, and in 2009, a documentary film by the band's former teenage roadie threatened to break them to the wider audience they never found in their prime.

Anvil were formed in Toronto in 1978 by childhood friends Steve "Lips" Kudlow (vocals/guitar) and Robb Reiner (drums). Both came from Jewish families, and had been playing music together since their teens. Initially known as Lips, the band added bassist Ian Dickson and rhythm guitarist Dave Allison, and in 1980 recorded an independent album titled Hard 'n' Heavy, which introduced their penchant for sexual explicitness. Upon signing to the Canadian independent label Attic Records, the band changed its name to Anvil, and reissued Hard 'n' Heavy with an updated cover in 1981. Their groundbreaking second album, Metal on Metal, adopted a much faster, heavier style, and took the metal underground by storm. Anvil snagged opening slots on tours with the likes of Iron Maiden and Motörhead, among others, and played significant festival dates in Japan and England. The 1983 follow-up Forged in Fire refined Anvil's signature sound while adding more musical variety, and furthered their growing following.

However, Anvil's success stopped right there. Seeking a better stateside deal, the band's manager got them released from Attic, but a new contract never materialized. While the band hung in limbo, heavy metal exploded -- a wave of hook-heavy pop-metal bands conquered the mainstream, while avowed Anvil fans like Metallica, Slayer, and Anthrax (the latter of which started out playing Anvil covers) catapulted the genre into new realms of heaviness, far beyond anything Anvil had ever recorded. Attic issued a collection of hits and outtakes called Backwaxed in 1985, but the official follow-up to Forged in Fire, Strength of Steel, wasn't released until four years later in 1987, when the band licensed it to Metal Blade. Creatively disappointing, Strength of Steel effectively killed what little momentum Anvil had remaining. They recovered somewhat on 1988's heavier Pound for Pound, which featured trademark sex songs like "Safe Sex" and "Toe Jam," as well as the hockey anthem "Blood on the Ice," but it was too late. Dave Allison left the band in 1989, and was replaced by Sebastian Marino.

Marino's only album with Anvil was 1991's Worth the Weight, a darker, thrashier outing than anything they'd previously done. It too failed to catch on, and was followed by a lengthy recording drought. Ian Dickson called it quits in 1993, being replaced by Mike Duncan; Marino left to join Overkill in 1995 and was replaced by Ivan Hurd, while Duncan departed a year later in favor of new bassist Glenn Five (b. Glenn Gyorffy). Thus reconstituted, Anvil signed with Canadian indie Hypnotic Records and issued the comeback album Plugged in Permanent in 1996, which continued the heavy, serious direction of its predecessor. Released in 1997, Absolutely No Alternative returned to the band's tradition of sex songs with offerings like "Show Me Your Tits" and "Hair Pie." Speed of Sound appeared in 1999 and found Reiner experimenting with the blastbeat technique for which he'd helped lay the groundwork. However, the band went with a somewhat lighter, more classic metal style for its next several albums, 2001's Plenty of Power (which featured a tribute to "Pro Wrestling"), 2002's Still Going Strong, and 2004's Back to Basics.

In 2005, Anvil were contacted by a former roadie, Sacha Gervasi, whom they'd met as a teenager while touring England. Gervasi had grown up to become a screenwriter, most notably penning the Steven Spielberg-directed The Terminal, and wanted to film a documentary about his old friends. The result, Anvil! The Story of Anvil, chronicled Anvil's efforts to tour Europe and to record their 13th album, aptly titled This Is Thirteen, which reunited them with their early-'80s producer Chris Tsangarides. Without a label, Anvil opted to maximize profits by selling the album through their own website. Following Hurd's exit from the band, the film became a hit on the festival circuit in 2008, and was released in the U.K. in February 2009. Within two months, it became the highest-grossing rock documentary in U.K. history, and was quickly snapped up by VH1 for American distribution. Anvil! The Story of Anvil was released in the U.S. to glowing reviews in April 2009, and the band supported it with live gigs at a series of screenings around the country.

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MY FESTIVAL EXPERIENCE

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Your most memorable Festival moment or experience?
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Fleet Foxes. Passion Pit.

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The Mystery Jets. The xx. Friendly Fires. Radiohead.

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Make friends with someone in a band so you can get back to where things are free and relatively speaking; comfortable.