Anvil! The Story of Anvil Storyville

CHEERING

This programme contains very strong language

# Metal on metal Feeling the grind

# Up go the hammers A victim to find

# Metal on metal Heads start to bang

# Denim and leathers Chains that clang

# Keep on rockin' Keep on rockin'

# To this metal tonight

# Keep on pounding Keep on pounding

# Join the heavy metal fight... #

I remember the first time I heard Metal On Metal.

You've got to hear it.

It's heavier than anything you've ever heard.

When Anvil first showed up on the scene, it was like, "Fuck,

"this is cool, this is a statement",

like literally these guys were going to turn the music world upside down.

Seeing them was like a challenge to us, to say,

"Well, if we can't be better than that, then we should just go home."

# Metal on metal... # All the people up in the stand...

They were a great band, yeah.

I always liked Anvil. They got my vote.

If you actually had to choose one band and one album

that really started the whole ball rolling, it would be Metal On Metal, and it would be Anvil.

The minute you heard Anvil, the minute you heard the music, the minute you saw the pictures,

the minute you heard the story, you could tell that this was the real deal.

Anvil was one of those bands that just put on this really amazing live performance.

Lips, the singer, used to come out with this

bondage harness on, and he used to come out with this dildo

and play his Flying V, and he was just in complete

insanity, and that's why it was such a huge turn-on for us kids.

It was like something we'd never seen before.

They were thrash, man. They were a fast band.

You're talking about a year before the big four, Slayer, Metallica, Anthrax and Megadeth.

There's a certain sound that comes from that album that has become

one of the basic formulas for any heavy metal record made today.

We were talking about Robb Reiner like he was

by far the best metal drummer out there in terms of his ability.

-He was the guy that was, like, "Holy shit!"

-They were all good. There wasn't a bad guy in the band.

I mean, they were all great at what they did.

They should have made it a lot bigger, and I don't really understand the reason why.

Sometimes life deals you a tough deck.

I don't know what happened.

Why did they just fall off the radar?

I really have no idea.

You have to be in the right place at the right time.

That's the whole thing. If you're not at the right place at the right time, you will never do it.

I don't know if there was an isolation thing because of the Canadian element or whatever,

but something didn't translate all the way up to the next level.

They never really got the respect that they deserved after a while, because as big as an influence as

they had on everybody, everybody just sort of ripped them off and then sort of just left them for dead.

This is where it begins, basically.

It's seven o'clock.

I'm not sure what they're serving up today. It's probably...

I don't know what...

From week to week, it slightly changes.

Every day it's a different menu but in different orders.

Let's say one week they have pizza,

shepherd's pie,

and then the next week, they'll have shepherd's pie THEN pizza,

put it out of the order from the week before.

If they happen to make

shepherd's pie or something like that this week, they'll make meat loaf

next week on that day, and they'll rally between meat loaf

and shepherd's pie or...

meatballs with mashed potatoes. You know, it depends.

Where's the twenty bucks?

Today is a Monday schedule, which is they have to put bananas in all the deliveries.

There's ten racks, ten routes, ten vans, ten drivers, and I'm one of those ten drivers.

For all this horrible shit that I got to go through, I've got Anvil that gives me my happiness.

And it works out really good, because even though Anvil doesn't give me pay, it gives me

the joy and the pleasure that you need to get through life.

The way I look at it, really, is that it could never be worse than what it already is.

If it never got better, that's the way it is. You see what I'm saying?

So the only way that it could really...

It can only get better. It can't get worse from whatever's going to happen.

There's no way.

But on the other hand, if it did get worse, at least this time,

after all's said and done, I can say that all has been said and done,

instead of "I've left a whole bunch of things undone,"

and "I wasn't able to do that" and "I couldn't do this"

and "I didn't do that" and "I should have been this way"

and "I could have been that way," and... At least

this time I'll do everything that it possibly takes to get there,

to make the success happen and feel it from internally this time.

LOUD DRILLING

-So, how's it going with the band, man?

-Great, man.

We're writing our new album.

Fuck, I'd rather be on a stage than doing this, you know? At the moment, it gives me purpose.

It's part of my psychoactive therapy sessions.

And my doctor says I'm doing well.

Y'know? So, uh, that's it.

But give me another stage and another party

and I'm really happy.

I love to entertain.

It's in my soul.

Nothing is like being in the face of your fans.

There's a moment - and they're actual,

beautiful moments, human moments - where you're actually in the same room as the people that love you.

Hello there, Toronto!

# ..keep on rockin'

# To this metal tonight!

# Keep on rockin'

# Keep on rockin'... #

Robb used to come over to my place so many times delivering CDs, T-shirts.

Yeah, Robb's been amazing, for sure.

They wrote a tune after him and me, Cut Loose and Mad Dog.

# I get the mad, mad dog! #

I've done probably two or three hundred shows of Anvil.

We've been to Oshawa, Sudbury...

-We used to travel with them.

-Y'know, it's an outlet. Why not?

People do other, bad things in life.

It's a good outlet, metal.

Yeah, to my dying day, the metal, for sure.

I'd rather be a king below than a servant above,

I'd rather be free and hate than a prisoner of love.

Six, six, oh, six!

Six!

Yeah!

This has got to be the best birthday I've ever had!

The tunes that we have for the upcoming album are fucking,

like, unbelievable - the feels, the riffs, the grooves, the lyrics.

Pure fucking magic.

Most people only know us for our first three albums - Hard 'N' Heavy, Metal On Metal and Forged In Fire,

but there's a lot of other stuff, like Backwaxed, Strength Of Steel,

Pound For Pound, Live Past And Present, Worth The Weight, Plugged In Permanent,

Absolutely No Alternative, Speed Of Sound,

Plenty of Power, Still Going Strong and Back To Basics.

Uh, me, Lips, we put this band together about five years ago,

but we've been playing together in bands since we were 15, 16 years old.

This is where we learned how to play.

Yeah, this is a lot of the beginnings of our whole friendship,

our relationship, the band, life. It all happened here.

Every day on the way home from school, I'd hear this blasting music coming from that window right there.

Whoever's playing to this music is playing tight. It's a drummer.

It's fucking like six shits coming out of there, right?

Anyway, I meet this guy in my biology class, and he goes, "Hey, man,

"I'm going to get this guy, Robb Reiner.

"He lives over at the corner of Yeomans."

And all I could see was this speaker that was sitting in the window,

and the heavy music, like, either Sabbath or Grand Funk or Cactus.

A lot of Cactus. The guy really liked Cactus.

-And I'd go...

-CAR HORN HOOTS

.."Who could possibly like Cactus?"

We had one that we wrote called The Lola Song, and it had nothing to do with the song by the Kinks.

The Lolas were a little frozen kind of treat, and it

was called a Lola, and we liked them so much we wrote a song about them.

We were just innocent kids. We didn't really know what we were doing.

We just started rocking out and making this music.

Today on Shirley: sex, drug and rock'n'roll - what's it

doing to our kids?

Now, let me read some lyrics from a song called

Toe Jam by the group Anvil.

"Dig a little deeper, hip your partner, make her shout, back to front, side to side, tip your cap

"and come inside, down with her fishnets, up with her skirt,

"dig a little deeper, till you hit pay dirt."

APPLAUSE

As soon as he met Robb - Robb is the drummer -

and Stephen wouldn't continue school, and he was... he gave up school.

Oh, Pancer's! Home of our corned beef sandwich!

I think the first song we ever wrote was called Thumb Hang.

Yeah. We were trying to write a song about the Spanish Inquisition.

We learned about it in history class.

They would hang people up by their thumbs if they didn't take on Catholicism!

So, y'know, I figured, "Hey, there's a cool subject - Thumb Hang".

HUMS THE MELODY

# Thumbs will twist

# Can you resist?

# Thumb hang! #

Fuck, we should be doing that again.

They're like brothers. I mean,

I think it would be like splitting Siamese twins, really.

They've just always been very tight.

What, have they been around for almost thirty years. Y'know?

And it's just amazing how they're going to keep on going and going and going. They're never going to stop.

You have to structure your life around it, I guess. You know, we changed our wedding date for it.

Avery was born the Friday before he went away on the tour and we kind of

got him started, y'know, "Got to have this baby now, he's leaving!"

So, what does your dad do for a living?

Uh, he's in a band.

-What's the name of the band?

-Anvil.

-What do you think of them?

-Ah, pretty good.

The band has been around so long, it's not like a band that just got reunited.

We're in shape, we're in playing shape, we're in writing shape.

It's not like we let it fall apart and now we're trying to rebuild it.

We've been building it all along and working at it.

I think it's probably got more potential now than it ever has.

It's been an honour and a thrill to be in this band for ten years.

And there was moments when I wondered, "Is this the right place for me?

"Are there other opportunities for me out there?"

But those thoughts don't last long when I start thinking, "Yeah, I mean, Anvil!"

I was a big Anvil fan for many years, growing up, as a teenager, so

sometimes I still can't believe. It's, like, "Wow, I'm in Anvil, I can't believe it." You know?

Ivan met this girl over in Europe by the name of Tiziana.

She's actually an agent, and she's been e-mailing me.

It looks like she's been a big fan of the band, and she's basically telling me that she has a passion

and love for metal music, and I guess we're part of that.

It looks like she's booked us a tour!

Wow, look at this.

Italy, Switzerland, Austria, France, England, Belgium, Germany.

1,500 euro a fucking show, man!

Holy shit, this is going to be the biggest tour I've done in 20 years!

When I sit at home or work at Choice Children's Catering, they don't know that my band even exists.

But if I happen to play a show someplace in Europe and one of the labels goes, "Hey, man, that band

"Anvil that we heard about 20 years ago, they're playing - let's go see them," that's all I need!

Heavy metal is a really serious culture in Europe.

This is the stronghold. That's why it will never, ever go away.

Sweden Rock festival.

Here we are.

Ready to rock, man. Rock'n'roll!

-Anvil! Anvil!

-Sweden Rock festival presentera ANVIL!

The foundation of the business comes down to the fans and the people that

love your band, and without those people, you really are nowhere.

-# 666! 666!

-Yeaaaaahhhhh!

# 666! 666! #

We're the matinee act, and we kicked fuckin' ass.

Hello, this is Lips from the band Anvil,

and you're listening to Rock Station Kiel. You know it!

OK.

And once again, please.

I turn it off!

-I'm so sorry.

-Practice.

Yeah, OK. Sorry. Again.

Hello, everybody...

Oh, you've got the same trousers on as...

No, actually, I've got the same trousers, like. They look similar.

Michael is like the Beethoven of lead guitar players, man.

This is really where it originates from.

This is where half my style comes from.

Do you remember that?

I played with the woman's vibrator.

Anvil, Anvil. I love this guy, man.

You're a good man. You're a good man.

The first time I seen you was across the street from where I lived, when you played in Toronto.

-You went to a video game place, and it was right across the street from where I lived.

-OK.

And that's the first place I saw you, and you were coming on to this

girl by the name of Jan Wolfman, and we'd written a song called Tall and Teasing.

She was a really, really tall chick with long, black hair.

-I'm...

-You don't remember.

-I'll see you later.

-OK.

Can you fucking believe the people we're meeting?

-Mr Lips, nice to see you.

-How are you, man?

-I'm fine.

So you came to see us at Super Rock?

-Yeah. Absolutely.

-Really?

-I was a high-school student here.

-Oh, really?

-Yeah. You have got many fans in Japan, yeah.

But if you have a chance to go to Japan, maybe, next time, then you should do it.

-What, to do it in Japan?

-Yeah.

Of course.

It's great to see you, man. It's really great to see you.

I'm looking forward to the show.

Well, here we are, backstage, trying to talk to Ted Nugent,

and, uh,

pretty interestingly... Actually, I think

that's Tommy Aldridge right there.

Tommy! Tommy!

Yeah, well, that's what it is, a problem. I can see it already.

Porco dio!

Until we become a real commodity,

this is what you deal with.

# Oi, oi, oi, Moishe laid a goy! What's ever happened to my little Jewish boy?

# I sent him to school to learn and read and write

# Now he comes back shtoopin' shiksas every night. #

Would you please ask somebody who is just walking around for the way?

Because you need to reach Smichov.

-Look, fine...

-Smichov, Prague 5.

I'll wait on the phone, and please ask them

so I can talk to him in Czech and try to help you to find the way.

-It had to be.

-Halle-fuckin'-lujah, man!

This is what it fuckin' takes to get to fuckin' Prague?

We've been circling the fuckin' streets for two hours.

Fuck!

The worst thing about it is I had to throw all my fucking drugs away. For nothing!

Y'know, all the dogs.

What fucking dogs? There was never going to be any fucking dogs, man.

Sorry for being late, but you got a really complicated city that we can't read the signs.

Anvil! Anvil! Very good! Anvil! Anvil!

Very good! Very good! Anvil! Anvil!

Very good. Very good! Anvil! Anvil!

See, I'm my own roadie. I ain't a rock star yet.

What's going on here?

That's nice(!) I guess he figures if he gives me a bit of goulash I'll forget about it.

No, we're not getting fucking paid!

Where's the fucking club owner?

You are too late.

If I was too late, I wouldn't have fucking played, pal.

You're going to fucking pay me.

Most people goes away.

Most people goes away.

No, I did my full set. I did my work. I want to get paid.

You should have told us you weren't paying us before we fucking played.

You fucking piece of shit.

You fucking pay me! I'm going to fucking kick your fucking teeth in.

-Crazy man.

-Yeah, I am fucking crazy.

I just worked my ass off, and you won't fucking pay me. You're a motherfucker.

-I'll just give you my business card.

-OK.

-I'm a lawyer.

-You're a lawyer.

You played in front of fuck-all people here tonight.

You were screwed. You had a shit manager.

-Listen, let's be honest about this.

-Right...

Anvil should be playing in front of, I don't know, a thousand, minimum, people every night in Europe.

-That's my opinion.

-Yeah, you're probably right.

Given your reputation, you should be playing in front of a thousand people every night, and you are not.

Now, you've got to ask yourself why you're not doing that.

Well, I've been asking myself that for 20 years.

-Because you've got a shit manager.

-I could answer that in...

one word. Two words. Three words. We haven't got the management.

Bye!

We are here in perfect time, in perfect time.

If you miss the train, I have to pay double. O porco dio!

I was so, so, so, so angry.

OK, listen, you call MasterCard, cancel your payment.

Listen, they do that.

MasterCard pay for to

go for to back.

For to back, is again valid.

For to go now, change it.

The one thing that's a really good thing, man, is that we found those sleeping bags.

Is not you! You understand me?

Because the promoter ask you if you will play!

And you should ask them no!

Stop.

Please, today is very shit day!

We're not playing tonight?

What happened?

Whatever.

I know nothing. I don't know anything.

I'm not getting in a pissing contest over this, OK?

"Lips, Lips, how come this? How come that? How come...?" I don't fucking know!

I'm just a fucking guy, man, and I just wanted to come and do a tour.

I did everything I fuckin' could to make this as pleasant as possible, and it's been nothing

but a nightmare, the whole thing from top to bottom.

No-one listens to me when I say things.

You can imagine how I feel.

-I'm doing everything right, and I'm getting shit on.

-He's going home. He's done with the band.

-Fuckin' he wants to sue you civilly, and, uh...

-For what?

-I don't know.

It's so unfair to Anvil. It's so unfair to Anvil, man.

How much more can one person put their fucking love and dedication into something?

How much more does one person go?

This fuckin' band, man, I want to fuckin'... I need it to rise, man.

Robb, I don't want to fight with you.

Do you understand me? Look at me.

I don't want to fuckin' fight with you, man.

-OK?

-But you do.

I know, and we always end up like that. What for?

Only to end up where we were the day before. Everything's OK.

OK? So let's just go play and get on with it.

Anyway, the place is jam-fuckin'-packed.

It's so unprofessional, what we are going through right now.

It's fucking sad.

Welcome to Romania!

Tomorrow, it's cool.

Tiziana's told us there's going to be at least five to ten thousand people there.

It's a huge, huge arena.

Even the mayor of Transylvania's supposed to show up.

Anvil!

Look at this.

It's the biggest fucking gig and the littlest amp.

# It's getting late and I'm ready for you... #

Anvil very good.

Father and son.

I'm proud of this father. He's my dad.

Hello, Cleveland!

..of Canadian metal, Toronto's own Anvil!

-Max.

-Max?

-Max.

Whoops.

-Yes.

-Why?

-They never pay me!

99.9% of bands never get paid.

That's the truth. I work every day, just like everybody else.

I'm a regular person. You know?

Right now, I'm on vacation.

I leave my job and I come and I rock'n'roll!

And then I go back, and it's back to the same old bullshit.

We worked for five weeks.

Got paid nothing.

Not even one record company showed up.

Did you have a good weekend?

-Good, thanks.

-OK, that's good.

-How about you?

Oh, not too bad. Bit busy.

Sometimes, things go wrong.

Things went drastically wrong.

But at least there was a tour for it to go wrong on.

Tiziana was nothing but help.

Her heart was in the right place, and when she said that she was going

to do it with passion and love, that's precisely what she did.

She was good to her word.

I'm grateful. I don't regret a minute of it.

By the power vested in me by the province of Ontario, it is my honour

and delight you to declare you henceforth to be husband and wife, and you may kiss your bride!

Yippee!

-See? Guitar picks.

-Yeah!

-Very neat.

-All right! Rock'n'roll, baby!

So, what's he given up over the years in order to do what he wants to do?

Well, making money.

He gave that up.

And that was a little difficult for me to accept, because I'd

like my children to go to school and make something of themselves.

Typical Jewish immigrant parents.

Anyone that goes into the arts generally does not succeed.

Y'know, it's a tough life, and they didn't really want that for him.

But you also couldn't understand his choice. You also were not...

How could I... I mean, it was a tough life that he chose for himself.

He wasn't going to be a tailor.

He wasn't going into the menswear business.

Stephen is not a businessman, he's an artist. That's who he is.

He didn't want to live in mediocrity.

He'd rather live in poverty and have nothing.

He wanted to prove my father wrong, I think, and he's been searching for that validation

since he's ten years old, that this effort that he's put forth

to become a great musician would become worth it.

They just didn't understand.

He deserved the same support that I got. And my parents were amazing.

My father and mother loved the fact that I

got interested in something and I excelled at it very...

well, and they saw the progress. So they were just very supportive.

He kept saying to my dad, I believe, "I really want to play the drums, I really love the drums,"

da-da-da, da-da-da, and it was shortly before Christmas,

I believe, and there it was, Christmas, his first set of drums.

That's all it's been since.

Look at the blur of that stick, man.

I'm burnin'. I'm smiling here, and I usually don't smile.

I was happy, man. It looks like I found something that was going to work.

Robb's father was in Auschwitz.

He was young. He was fifteen years old that time.

He did anything and everything in the camp to get that piece of bread or...

He was a fighter.

He was, y'know, virtually going to die when they liberated him.

He was sick, right? But I mean, that's the kind

of guy he was.

I mean, he was a fuckin' Hungarian Jew, man. Y'know?

That's where my roots come from.

He was totally supportive, man. His trip was, "Just fuckin' do it.

"You're happy, man, you're doing it. I'm with you."

My father was a jeweller,

and he gave these to me when I was 13 years old

as a gift, and I've never had them off my neck since they were given to me,

except the odd time I've had a few scraps with Lips and he's ripped them off my neck and stuff.

But I've always repaired it, you know?

The reality is that we're not getting any younger.

Time doesn't move backwards, it moves forwards.

Your belly gets bigger, your face starts to sag, your hair falls out.

You run out of time! You've got to do it now!

Y'know? Twenty years, thirty years,

forty years, you're done. Y'know?

We've just got to get it done.

I, personally... I say always "I", but for all of us, y'know, I need to realise this while I can.

-Well, that's it!

-That's it. Just while I can.

Y'know, one of the main reasons that I think that Anvil has never really

gotten anywhere is our albums have sounded like crap and we haven't sounded good since Chris Tsangarides

recorded us back in the early Eighties.

One Toronto band who lives and dies for their heroes of Judas Priest, Motorhead, Iron Maiden and others is

Anvil, who may not be the prettiest band in town but, then again, never profess to be.

# Metal on metal

# It's what I crave

# The louder the better

# I'll turn in my grave... #

One of the things Anvil has going for them that should help them gain respect in the marketplace

is that production of the new album was handled by Chris Tsangarides.

Chris, you've got quite a history of doing heavy rock bands.

Who are some of the other people you've been producing?

The last thing I did was Thin Lizzy's new album, Renegade.

-Never having worked with a Canadian band before, how do you find the guys?

-Yeah, er, great. Really.

Yeah, I think they have a lot of English tendencies as opposed to

Canadian - and I mean that in the nicest possible way - musically.

Mm-hm.

At this point, I'll send him a demo tape and hope to hell that he is interested enough

and remembers us well enough to get involved again.

Juice, pop or...?

-Pop.

-Pop?

-Yeah.

-OK.

This is where I hang out sometimes, y'know?

It's just Robbo's studio music area.

This is where I hide from everybody.

Y'know, nobody bothers me down here. I hang out here.

There's Anvil master tapes here, but they're buried in all this junk.

These pictures here, like, nobody ever seen this stuff, y'know?

I like painting. I love to paint.

This is in East Germany. I forget the name of the town.

It's on the back of the picture.

So I made a painting of it. I like buildings.

There's a guy called Edward Hopper. I love the guy, his art style.

I find it very appealing when you see a scene but there's nobody in it. I like that.

It's a very quiet place. You know?

That right there, it's just a monument of an anvil in a park.

Look at the size of the people. So I made the scale like that's big.

Right? You know, like the Egyptians would have, like it's like a god.

You know, "The god is there!"

That's what I was thinking.

This picture is what I call Left Behind.

This is what's left behind when I'm not around no more.

I kind of just thought I'd paint myself out of it.

OK, now I will tell you about the grand finale here.

This baby comes from Europe.

The inspiration for this is totally German.

If you touch it or feel it and look at it, it actually has texture.

Um, I thought it would be the place to put it, obviously, because

the wife definitely didn't want it in the living room.

Message one.

Hey, Lips! Hey, it's CT here, man. I got the tape.

I'd like you to give me a call here at my studio in Dover, and we'll talk further. All right, mate.

-CT!

-Hey, Lips!

How's it going, man?

All right! Hey, how are you?

-I'm doing good, man. How have you been?

-'ckin A.

Fuckin' A!

It's fucking good to hear your voice, man.

-And yours, too. Fuck, yeah!

-Fuck!

Yeah, man. Well, I listened to the tape,

and, well, you know...

I want to sit down and talk to you at length about this, but

we need to sit down together in the same room and we'll go through the shit.

But definitely I think we've got something.

Oh, that's really, really good news, man.

-Holy shit.

-We have right now 19 songs written.

-Right.

-We want to put thirteen on this record, because this album's called This Is Thirteen.

Right.

-The fact that we're still here doing it, almost it has its own energy now.

-Thirty years!

I want to just, like, "Fuck it, man, let's take what we've got and let's fucking once and for all

"try to get this channelled in the right direction."

Yeah. We need to find about twelve, thirteen thousand pounds

to do it.

You know, with that minimum of investment, we've got the potential, like you rightly say, to continue.

And we own everything.

You know what, guys? If this sells, y'know, we get so much.

If it doesn't sell,

what the fuck? We've made a great record anyway, we don't owe anything to anybody.

I just have this feeling. I don't know why, I haven't got a clue.

I just know that we should do it.

It's what we all do.

-Where does that leave us?

-It leaves you about to record an album with CT.

It's so genius!

Well, at this point it looks like we're going to have to take further steps.

It's really bad, because, of course, this is an expense.

We don't know whether to take initiative now or wait.

So much is riding on it.

Here I've got this incredible opportunity to work with one of the

world's greatest producers, and it costs a fortune.

I have no idea where I'm going to get that kind of money.

..these are Ray-Bans or Guccis. He's going to see the...

Get out of town!

Where in the hell did you get those glasses, and where can I get a pair for myself?

I tell you what I'll do for you...

You've got to be dedicated and you've got to want it,

and if you're loud and enthusiastic

and energetic, you can make yourself a shit-whack of money here.

Read the pitch word for word, OK?

That's what's going to make you money here.

Read the pitch word for word.

The pitch is designed basically so that if a monkey could read, he'd make six hundred bucks a week.

Hello. May I please speak to Bob?

Many a times as a fan,

I've been there for him, and now he's here for me but he's also here for himself.

Bob, these are gorgeous. They are going to...

They're made in Italy by RL.

They're called Vipers. These are identical to the ones Keanu Reeves wore in the movie The Matrix.

They're absolutely gorgeous! Made in Italy by RL. They call them Vipers.

They say they give you a 45% better chance of getting laid.

I'm not calling to cost you money, I'm calling to make you money.

Try not to at least talk me out of one box.

Come on, buddy, pull up your pants, grab your balls and let's do this.

-I'll tell you what I'll do for you.

-I'll tell you what I'll do.

I got a guy doing a golf tournament.

I got a guy doing a golf tournament.

-He's doing a half a box...

-And he's doing half a box...

-OK. OK...

-What?

I've been trained my whole life to be polite, and that job does the exact opposite.

-You've got to go against everything that you learnt as a kid.

-So why are you doing it?

Because I thought that Lips the character would have no problem with

doing it, but as it turns out, that guy is actually a lot more honest than telephone salesmen. Hey, Bill!

It's Steve Powers from R&J!

I worked there for a total of probably eight hours in three visits, and I made nothing.

Got to remortgage my house.

And I'm not the only one who sits in a really, really, "Whoa," OK?

Like, really serious shit.

Ivan has missed his mortgage payments.

There may be a power sale on his home. OK?

Like, I'm not the only one.

Glenn, G5, he doesn't even have a home.

All of his stuff is sitting in a garage.

OK? He rented a garage because he hasn't got enough money to live.

No-one's getting paid!

It's just everybody believes in Lips.

That's an incredible thing, like a blind dedication,

and I'm the only one who's got the vision. "Lips'll take us there."

I'm going to take you there, man. I got this...

It's been a year of it, an absolute overwhelming year.

I'm going to fuckin' do it!

That's what it is. And that's why I'm here.

I took the fuckin' risk. Yeah!

At what cost?

So? There's cliffs I can go jump off. That's the easy way.

Well, no, you won't jump off the cliff, because I'll stop you.

That's dedication, pal.

Seriously.

That's where it's taken me.

Twenty-five, thirty years, man of having somebody dedicated to me. He believes in me.

"Lips is my buddy, man.

"We're going to do it together.

"We're going to get there. We're going to fuckin' do it."

Since we're fuckin' fourteen years old!

And here we sit in our fucking fifties, man!

"We're going to be rock stars!

"It's our fucking dream!

"But I'm going to make it come true!"

He will always have

what he's done in the past,

but if it's over, then you've got to find something else to do.

He's got a son, he's got a wife.

He's got two stepdaughters, right?

I mean, he's got a mortgage, he's got this, he's got that.

And Anvil, they tour, they don't make a lot of money, and

he's basically telling me, "It's got to happen, or I'm done."

Oh, yeah, I mean, someone has to stay home,

raising a child, and work.

I've been very patient as a wife.

How long is it going to take?

How long do I have to keep waiting?

They've been working hard to try and make things work, and they're just

not getting, I believe, personally, what they deserve, that's all.

-Merry Christmas.

-Merry Christmas.

I've always believed that,

no matter how hard it gets or how impossible, there's always hope and there's always a way.

Keep smiling!

And the most incredible thing has happened.

My sister's actually going to help me out.

She's decided to actually lend us the money to go do the album.

She knows how important it is right now in my life and the time that this all is transpiring.

It's just an incredible, incredible thing.

But I just wish him well, and I wish him success and happiness, and that's all I've ever really wanted for him.

He's my dear brother, and I've

always loved him.

My sister.

Got my big sister, man.

It's cool.

Family's important shit, man.

Yeah.

If people looked inside themselves a bit more

and think, "Well, why didn't my record sell?"

Well, maybe people didn't like it.

And that's the bottom line. The songs have not been up to muster.

OK, that's compounded by having crappy record labels,

crappy productions, no management, no anything, just a bunch of guys on their own trying to do this.

Now, I defy a lot of people

to get anywhere like this, but they stuck it through.

They stuck it through, and the fact that they managed to get contact

with me and I heard the stuff and thought, "You know what?

"There's something here. We can do something with this."

To get an opportunity at this point in time in history, I think is nothing less than a miracle.

-Hello, brethren.

-CT vibes.

HM brethren here!

-Yeah.

-And then come in with it.

This is a good little fuckin' catchy tune, man.

I mean, it's straightforward metal rock.

It's maybe not even like metal.

It could be in the pop...

Punk pop? How about punk pop metal?

# Bombs away

# Bombs away

# Bombs away

# Shells explode

# Flashing lights

# Burning fires

# Turn day to night

# Head on back

# Reload bay

# Off again

# Bombs away

# You don't stand a chance... #

You know what? I'm doing some other stuff that I wasn't anticipating.

-That's good!

-OK.

# Tarot cards and tea leaves

# A crystal ball

# Palm reading, candlelight

# Fortunes to tell

# Fear the unknown

# Edge of your seat

# In anticipation... #

SHOUTING: I don't know what you want! What do you want?

You sit here all fuckin' day pouting. It's crap.

You're causing disruption.

-Let it all out.

-You fucking listen to me, you fucking asshole.

-What, you smile?

-Guys...

You're smiling. You're a fucking loser. You're a fucking loser.

-Let it all out.

-That's what you are.

-Let it all out, man.

-Hang on, guys, come and sit down.

It's destructive, it's negative energy.

What are you doing?

-I'm...

-You got everything fucking going for you! What are you doing?

And everybody tells me that.

You're right. Everybody tells me that.

Constantly. You're right. I agree.

-So maybe...

-So where are you going? What are you doing?

I'm going to go pursue something a little more satisfactory than I guess what's happening with you.

Sorry. You push me away. I'm accepting your offer.

I'm on to the next page.

Oi vey! Why is this happening?

I'm fucking sick of it! I can't fuckin' deal with it.

You know? We're going to come apart at the seams.

I don't know what's going to happen.

I am so fuckin' fed up.

Like, we've got to get a drummer.

I mean, I don't know what to say.

He's fired. I mean, what can I say?

'That guy lives to hurt me, man.'

Envy, jealousy, I don't even know what the fuck is wrong with him.

The guy's a fucking little...

Just lives to fucking hurt me.

I stay dedicated to what?

Stay dedicated to fuckin' what?

First thing I want to say is I'm sorry.

OK?

-I would like to hear that.

-OK, just look at me. Look in my eye, and I want to talk to you, Robb.

I'm sorry. Do you understand that?

I'm under a hell of a lot of stress, OK? If I lose my temper...

If anybody knows, you know.

I'm tired of being the fall guy.

You understand? I'm tired of it. I'm sorry.

I don't want negative energy around.

-Fuck you, man. There is no negative...

-Yes, it is!

-I'm the most positi...

Yes, it is, because negative energy is when you say to me, "Oh, you do half-assed takes and settle for it."

That is a rude, underhanded low blow, because I could say the same thing about your takes.

-I would never dare...

-You can say...

..because I don't feel that way.

Sit down. Sit down. Let's try reasonable voices.

So, what I can see going on here is we're having a little bit of...

when something is said, it's over-amplified

and the recipient...

gets bent out of shape, for whatever reason - call it cabin fever, call it...

I don't know. It's academic now.

I'm hard to live with.

-Fair enough.

-I'm hard to live with.

Bless you, man!

-Fair enough!

-Y'know?

Fair enough.

-I'm emotional.

-Yeah.

-No doubt about it.

-But that's what makes you what you are and makes all of us what we are.

-Yeah, but that's cool, man.

I know that's what you are, man, but the bottom line is why am I your fall guy constant-fuckin'-ly?

-When I'm there for you...

-Because I love you. That's why.

Because I'm there for you fucking constantly.

Well, he does, man. You want to hear what he says about you.

You're my fucking brother, man!

-Who else could I fucking cry on their shoulder and fucking say shit to? Who else?

-Yeah.

Who's the closest person I got in the world?

Oh, man, I know. I know.

Think about that!

Good. Good.

If I can't express myself and blow up at you, what have I got?

You're the closest person I have!

Well...

I'm sorry! I don't know what to say.

I'm sorry! I'm very sorry.

OK. Fine. I hear you.

-It's just been so much of it, dude, man. It's like I don't know what the fuck...

-We're both stressed!

I ain't stressed about nothing, man.

-Well, I am!

-I get stressed when you start fucking blowing it out on me, dude.

Yeah, then I get stressed, but otherwise I ain't stressed.

I'm fuckin' going, "Let's go, boys!

-"Let's show the fuckin' world and some of these assholes that they're wrong!"

-Exactly.

Who is the one always driving that machine? Robbo.

If you look at it in the great scheme of things, it's a very, very tiny concern,

really, what we're talking about, and the reactions from everybody are just a little bit excessive. Yeah.

Totally. So I need your support.

I need your bloody faith in what I'm going to do

to make this record sound like the fucking dog's bollocks. And it will.

Listen, man, I'm sorry, buddy.

OK? Listen to me. I'm sorry. I love you like a brother.

You know that.

OK? We got a long road ahead of us.

'I still believe that there's an overall feeling of this.

'There's something guiding us,

'an aura around us that protects and keeps it going.

'I don't know what that is or why it is or how it is, but whether it's

'the bonding between Robb and I from since we were kids...

'I don't know what it is, but it's, like, we're there for life.'

'Yeah, we're family, man. We're close buddies, man.

'Like any family, we have our differences and stuff, but,

'you know, we've always been able to work through that stuff.'

-Merlin did it.

-Merlin did it.

Either that or Satan was running all across the countryside and he dropped a few stones, right?

He was high, man. He was drinking or something.

I want to touch it, man.

The healing powers is the stuff that I need.

In the studio with me is Lips from Anvil along with Chris Tsangarides,

producer of This Is Thirteen, the name of the brand-new Anvil CD.

Welcome to California and welcome to KNAC.

-Lips, what label will be putting this out?

-That's a good question.

Now, that is going to be the 64 question for This is Thirteen.

I'm looking for a manager. I'm looking for somebody to properly

represent the band and get us out there playing in the proper places, get us with the proper record

company that's going to put our product out there for people to know that it's there.

Tell you what, this is going to be now the world premiere,

here on KNAC, the world premiere here on The Vaults.

This Is Thirteen.

# Tarot cards and tea leaves A crystal ball

# The Gypsy's kiss

# The death card's call... #

I really feel that

This Is Thirteen is the best-sounding Anvil album ever.

And everything is riding on it. We're going to have all the record

companies that we can get listen to it

and hopefully they'll make bids on it.

Hopefully we'll get a real, proper record contract

and somehow get someplace in this godforsaken, crazy business.

-It's the new Anvil album.

-Yeah, I'll make sure he gets it.

Hopefully we'll have more luck back at home.

-Hi.

-I'm Fraser.

-Hi. Robb Reiner.

-Robb, nice to meet you.

-Lips.

-Sit down, boys.

You can make lots of money with this band.

A lot of rock and make money.

There's nothing wrong with that!

-OK, American Refugee first.

-Number 13 first.

-OK.

MUSIC PLAYS

# Searching for a place to hide

# Running from losing the fight Forsaking the land of the free... #

It's a bit of a challenge, to be honest.

So, the landscape has changed here, and it just has to...

If it's going to work here, it has to be the right fit,

and we've got to be able to give you guys what you deserve and vice versa.

A major label should put this out, because it's not justice to have

something that sounds this good to go out on anything less than that!

Somebody better do this justice.

It hurts so bad, because everything else

was done so correctly, and that's what was wrong with Attic Records.

There was the Metal On Metal and Forged In Fire albums.

Those were classic albums - they ARE classic albums - but recorded for an independent who fumbled the ball.

The history speaks for itself. You've been around a long time,

-and that has currency.

-That says it all, doesn't it?

It's due.

I really will check it out and listen to it, and we'll see if it fits.

But we definitely won't get into something we don't think

we can do what you guys deserve, because it's been...

Man, being 51 and doing this, this is a real commitment.

I mean, it's amazing. Thanks for coming by.

Thanks for having us.

-Really nice meeting you, man.

-That's terrific. Thanks a lot.

-Have a great day.

-All right.

He said, "Your history is worth money."

Yeah.

-That's what he said.

-Yeah.

-He summed it up, basically -

-"It doesn't matter what the fuck, that's what you got, guys."

-Yeah.

"I don't give a fuck about anything else."

This is not good. Uh...

'I hate the fuckin' industry, y'know?

'It will never change. It will never get better.

'They're all fuckin' bottom-feeder pieces of fuck that run the thing, organised criminals,

'y'know, drug fucking runners.

'That's what the business is about, right? I hate it, man.'

99.9% of the time, the guy never listens to your fucking tape.

And his desk is piled up like this with other entries into the lottery of rock'n'roll.

He's going to look at it. He goes, "Let me see. What am I looking at?

"OK, these guys are in their fifties."

And he's got another band. "Hey, these guys are in their twenties. Hm!"

I would like to see him make it. I would like to see him recognised,

his talent recognised by, y'know, um...

I know his peers do recognise it, but I would like to see him

become as famous as he's been trying to become all these years.

It's over.

It's been over for a long time.

And it's just too bad no-one's living in the real world.

When you've been in a band for 30 years and you have thirteen,

they're working on their thirteenth album, CD, whatever,

and you can still only get a hundred people into a bar at any one time,

-it's a joke. It's a joke.

-Well, we'll see.

I mean, like you say, it's just always a big "What if? What if?"

And unfortunately for them, that's what it's been like.

Y'know, they've really never had a break.

Y'know, back in the Eighties, when they were on with Bon Jovi or whatever.

But I've just been trying to be that supportive rock-star wife, I guess,

that I've maybe wanted to live that dream as well.

Y'know, I like the scene, I like the music, I like the bands,

always liked the bands and the music,

and I just fell into that Eighties scene and I liked it, y'know?

I liked the hair. And still, the hairbands, it's still me,

and nowadays you just keep dreaming that dream,

but I'm still dreaming, I guess, as much as what they are.

The album is a success.

Whether it sells ten or ten million, it will make

no difference to me on the level of whether it was successful or not.

It was successful because, to me, it sounds the best we've ever sounded,

and that's a success.

Voila! Anvil CDs, man.

To mass-produce a thousand CDs,

you're looking at basically around a buck, a buck and a half per CD.

Here it is, man.

Wow. This Is Thirteen.

People want this thing. We get e-mails and people freaking out - "Where the fuck is this album?"

Y'know? So we got to get it out. It's an amazing album. I love it.

And there's no sense waiting for some Pitkins from a record company.

It's pointless.

We're selling it directly to our fans, who are the people that you

did it for to begin with, and now there's no-one in-between you and them. I think it's the way to go.

I think it's the way to go that's going to be for all bands. I mean, it's not like we're unknown.

We've got a great head start, because we've been around for years,

so I think at a very minimum we're going to do OK.

The band is really more than just his career, but it still is,

at the end of the day, his job.

It defines a little bit of the person who he is, but it's still the person.

And even if the band

doesn't go or become famous or whatever, he's still the same person.

And I'm in love with the person, I'm not in love with the band.

-How was skateboard?

-Good.

Good, bad, whatever.

OK. Put your stuff down. We ordered pizza, OK?

He's very focused on family,

whether I complain that he's not, or he's not.

He really is, and I think that's one of maybe...

a greatest criticism and maybe why he withdraws from me

is that when I criticise him and it has to do with family,

he internalises that way too much.

And so...

while the band is his dream and a bit of who he is, I think even he knows,

at the end of the day, that the family is what's important.

Look what you made me do. You made me cry.

It got stuck in the tree.

-Does that count as a point?

-No.

Oh! 3-0!

PHONE RINGS AND VIBRATES

OK, thank you very much. I'll speak to you soon.

I got to call Robbo! Yeah!

We just got a gig in Japan.

I'm serious, man!

Fuckin' right. OK. OK, I'll speak to you after.

All right, bye. Next! OK!

We've sent the album out all over the place,

and this Japanese promoter heard it,

and he's invited us to play this massive show in Tokyo!

See, everything turns into something else.

You get on the phone, and then all of a sudden now we're busy.

'It feels like an incredible force of deja vu going on.

'I feel like I've lived this moment, for sure, before.

'But last time I was here was in my twenties.

'Y'know, It's really hard to believe that - fuck! -

'a quarter-century's gone since I was last here.'

It's good to be back, but I find out from the promoter that we're on at 11:35am.

'I came all this distance, did everything that it took to get here,

'and now what am I worried about? Is anybody going to show up?'

I've been in a situation where I've had five people in a place that

holds two thousand, and it's not a good feeling, it really isn't.

'It'd be very disappointing if there's less than 500 people,

'because from what I understand, it's a very, very large place.'

Hello.

'Listen, for me, I'll play for no-one. I don't give a shit!

'I love to play just to hear the sound and create that vibe of being Anvil.

'I live for that, anyway. But it's...

'everybody else that goes with that, y'know, the people

'that have spent the money to bring you there and everything.

'My heart goes out to that aspect, too.'

'What if no-one gets there?

'Shit, man, that's not a good thing!'

There you go. Japan.

-Anvil! Anvil! Anvil!

-Anvil!

'A lot of times, I close my eyes during the show and think about

'the place is full and everybody's freaking out,

'and I try to pretend that

'it's all good, and I really deal with it afterwards,

'when the promoter comes up to me

'and goes, "Well, Lips, I can't pay you what we originally

"hoped to pay you."

'So it'd be a really sad moment, I think, to come this distance,

'all for five people or something.'

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

# Metal on metal, it's what I crave

# The louder the better

# I'll turn in my grave Metal on metal

# Ears start to bleed

# Cranking it up Fulfilling my need

# Metal on metal... #

Get 'em up! # Metal on metal... #

Louder, people!

# Metal on metal... #

CROWD: # Metal on metal...

# Metal on metal... #

C'mon, let me hear you!

# Metal on metal

# Metal on metal. #

We love you, Japan.

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

CROWD CHANTS: Anvil!

'It goes far beyond writing a good song.

'It has nothing to do with the song, it has to do with a matter of attitude, what you're willing

'to settle for, who you're willing to work with and having a good time with my life, enjoying my life.

'That's the most expensive thing in life, and the most valuable thing in life is your relationships,

'the people that you know, the places you've been and the experiences you've had.'

Oh, Godzilla!

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