Metal Guru

Anvil, despite releasing 13 albums, have never quite made it. We rang Lips to see if the new documentary has finally changed things.

What did you think of the film?

I think it’s amazing! It’s really powerful and extremely emotional. It’s brilliantly crafted – they use comedy to catch your attention, then whack you over the head with tragedy. It fades the line between documentary and motion picture – you almost wonder if it’s real.

Does the film got the real Anvil across?

Pretty much – it’s a slice of life. It doesn’t give the chronological history or anything, but it’s very well done. It was kind of odd seeing it because it was like watching home movies, and I’m looking more at myself than the story, going,  ‘Ah no, my bald spot… I don’t like the way I rub my face… Why did I say that?’

Did you agree to the film immediately, or did you have to think about it?

Immediately! Sacha [Gervasi, Anvil director] is a old dear friend that became successful in Hollywood, and he asked me if I wanted to make a movie, so it’s like, ‘Yeah, I guess so, eh?’

Did you have any conditions?

My feelings from the onset were that it was going to be amazing.  You’ve got a story about a band that’s existed for 35 years, which is compelling and unusual, and for me it was like,  ‘All the
35 years I put into this were for this movie. All the things I’ve gone through, I was writing my screenplay.’

When things went wrong, did you think, ‘Well, at least it’ll be good for the film’?

We didn’t really worry about what got filmed, we just figured, if we don’t like it, we won’t use it. When I had the blow-out with Robb [Reiner, Anvil drummer] I just figured, ‘Whatever, that won’t get used.’  But then it became a centrepiece and it really exemplified the makings of our friendship.

Was there anything in there that you wish had been left out?

Probably the naked picture. It’s OK because my wife says it makes me look like I’m a really big man (laughs). I did try to have them remove it, but the producer said,  ‘I don’t understand, you’re playing your guitar with a vibrator, but you won’t stand there naked for two seconds? Where’s your balls, man?’ So I let it go. 

Talking of which – playing your guitar with a dildo… please explain.

We had all those sexual innuendos in the songs – it was just to be sleazy.

You weren’t trying to create a new guitar sound, then?

Well, it had a number of different uses, as well as entertaining people by sticking it in their drinks.

So has the film raised your profile a lot?

It’s definitely raised a lot of interest, but I don’t know what that’s going to mean yet – our records are
virtually unfindable, so there’s been no rise in record sales.

They’re selling Metal On Metal on Amazon…

Believe it or not, I still don’t get any royalties for those records: everything they make is going against the redline. We need to sell 100,000 copies to make the 0,000 redline disappear, because we’re paying it off at a dollar a CD. What happens is, the record company sell a CD for , they collect , then take the dollar we’re owed and use it to pay off the debt. That’s how the record contract works.

What have you been doing since?

We’ve been touring film festivals with the movie. In some cases we were able to play right after the movie. I’ve never experienced anything like that: the effect of seeing the real people and the music is like we’ve just come out of the screen. People go nuts! In one place there was this 80-year-old man standing there. Even though he could barely stand, he had his fist in the air and his face was all red because he was yelling at the top of his lungs! (laughs) I’m like, ‘I don’t believe what I’m seeing!’

Have you both still got your day jobs, then?

Yes. Robb’s painting today for a friend and I’m going to work very shortly – I’m working for my sister.

It must be strange going from the film festivals back to a normal job?

I’ve been doing this for decades, so I’m used to it – going back and forth from one thing to the other. It doesn’t seem strange at all. I go to Europe and play in front of 30,000 people at a festival, then come back and carry on doing deliveries. What are you going to say about it? It’s life.