ANVIL Frontman Steve "Lips" Kudlow - "I Always Felt That We Already Have Been Successful"
July 25, 2009, 15 years ago
Rick Massimo from Projo.com caught up with ANVIL frontman Steve "Lips" Kudlow recently about the band's new film, Anvil! The Story Of Anvil and the success it's brought to them.
“I get very excited about what’s going on here," says Lips. I recognize this as an outright gift of sorts. And I had premonitions of it happening.”So a tour of film festivals and two opening slots for AC/DC, all based on the band’s persistence in the face of obscurity, may not be the traditional way to success, but Kudlow says he’ll take it. “I thought, ‘Oh, wow; after 30 years, this is how Anvil makes it.’ …
“I can’t really compare it to ‘We had a hit single and we made it big,’ because that’s not what Anvil’s story is. And that’s not what it was about. It was about having a career for 30 years of doing exactly what you want musically, and not having commercial success.”It’s pointed out that this isn’t totally new territory: As we see in the film the band was playing a huge stadium in 1984, and, um ….
“I always felt that we already have been successful. What I’ve always defined as making it is doing what you love and getting away with it. And I’ve been doing that my whole life. And I look at what’s happening now as a celebration of it. … It’s the fact that it’s kept going for 36 years; that’s what’s amazing about it.”Read the entire interview here.
On September 15, Anvil's latest album, This Is Thirteen, will finally see proper US national distribution on CD and vinyl via VH1 Classic Records. The CD will feature the newly recorded, never-before released bonus track 'Thumb Hang'. The collectible double vinyl LP boasts newly re-recorded versions of Anvil classics 'Metal On Metal' and '666'. The album, originally recorded in 2007 and produced by Chris Tsangarides (JUDAS PRIEST, THIN LIZZY), was primarily available directly from the band via their website and at their concerts.
