Anvil Interview – Steve ‘Lips’ Kudlow
Author Anne Erickson, Photo via W. Cliff Knese
One of Canada’s greatest heavy metal bands, Anvil, have a very unique story. The band broke out in the 1980s and 1990s and inspired some of metal’s biggest names, including members of Metallica, Guns N’ Roses, Slayer and more. But, the timing just wasn’t there, and Anvil never became a household name in the metal community like those other bands. Now, we have a special Anvil interview for you.
Thankfully, this story has a happy ending. Anvil got their own documentary in 2008 with “Anvil! The Story of Anvil.” The film, which was made by a longtime fan of the group, was such a massive success that it introduced Anvil to a wide range of metal fans all over the world who had never heard their story or music.
Now, Anvil are making music for a larger fanbase than ever. The band’s new album, “One and Only,” is choc full of heavy, in-your-face metal music with a very classic style.
Anvil Interview: Steve ‘Lips’ Kudlow
Steve “Lips” Kudlow, who is the face of Anvil, spoke with me about the band’s new album, “One and Only,” and what it was like getting so much exposure with the Anvil documentary.
Lips is not a fan of the ’90s when it comes to metal music.
“Before the poisoning of the ’90s..the ’90s were a crappy era for metal, in general,” he tells Audio Ink Radio. “But at the same time, (it was) a really great time, because there was stuff also going on that you’re never going to repeat…you’re never going to repeat it. You know, I was listening to (Anvil album) ‘Worth the Wait,’ which is ’91 or ’92, and it’s great. I thought it was great. Actually, surprisingly great, but at the same time, the era in which that came out, no… I’m listening to it right now, but it’s not that popular of an album. Although it’s really, really good, there’s nothing wrong with it, but it went unnoticed.”
Lips also talked about the modern music industry. He says it’s extremely hard for bands to get noticed in today’s climate.
“I think that because there’s no infrastructure, it’s next to impossible to ever break out from a small garage band…it’s like, I’m running a Facebook page,” he says. “How are you going to make the public aware? I can tell you that the level of promotion, as an example, that went into the Anvil movie in comparison to any Anvil album, it dwarfed it. It’s like, what albums? When did you ever put an album out? The difference is, you’ve got a couple guys on a telephone making phone calls to get Anvil interviews and this and that, you’ve got a couple people. Whatever. They work for the record company, or at the most, five people are on the case. You’ve got guys specifically for that area, whatever.”
He adds, “But as far as publicity is concerned, with the Anvil movie, there were over 180 individual people working to promote that movie at the same time.”
Watch my full Anvil interview with Steve “Lips” Kudlow via the YouTube player above. Listen to the Anvil interview via the Audio Ink Radio podcast on Apple Podcasts here and Spotify here.
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