# Anvil! The Story of Anvil!



## Lunatique (Jan 11, 2011)

Who else around here has seen this awesome documentary (both hilarious and very moving) about an aging heavy metal band who never quite made it, but never gave up after decades of trying?

For someone like me who's inching towards middle-age and still have unfulfilled dreams, while feeling like life is just slipping past, this documentary hit me really hard, especially that music is the highest on my list of unfulfilled dreams (along with film and writing). Watching the emotional scenes of them wondering if all these years of sacrifice was worth it, and vowing that they will give it one more shot before they finally call it quits, I just couldn't hold my tears back. 

While I may not particularly like their brand of metal, I couldn't help but want to root for these guys and see them finally succeed. That show in Japan towards the end--the moment they walked out onto the stage--wow. I wonder how many passionate musicians wouldn't get choked up watching that.


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## Ed (Jan 11, 2011)

Aww i thought this was going to be about how anvil is used in music.


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## jeffc (Jan 11, 2011)

Great flick. I agree on all points. People in LA got up and cheered at the screening I was at, which NEVER happens in this town. I think anyone would get a little choked up seeing their relentless pursuit of their dreams whether you like the music or not, it's kind of unimportant.

J


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## poseur (Jan 11, 2011)

i've seen it, a few times.

me, i was stricken by the stunning depth of commitment of lips & robb.....
the things they experienced were things that i've experienced, too,
though we seem to have contended with them rather differently.

what i found so remarkably sad, though,
was/is their focus on & commitment to _"success"_,
over & well-beyond their commitment to the health & evolutionary vivacity of their own music.
ya know?
their music never moved forward, never evolved,
didn't seem to grow w/their life-experiences.....

lips, himself, seemed so intently over-focussed on his rock-star-dream-vision,
which perception i found simply heartbreaking --- maybe, even pathetic, somehow.....
damn.

dt


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## shadoe42 (Jan 12, 2011)

After reading this thread yesterday I decided to go check this out as I had heard of it but not seen it. I struggle now with a question....is this real?...if so then these guys were/are the model for Spinal Tap. Way to many comparisons and even nods to that project. All other research however points at these guys being the real deal. 

and if so I am suprised they are not totally ticked at the way the rest of the metal world ripped them off. You could hear elements of almost every other huge metal band in Anvil. 

thier vision of success was what they got a taste of on that early Japan tour.. a vision they never got back to. Although the story does seem to have a happy ever after if you look at after this was made. they have done several tours since then and Lips even paid his sister back so they made some money.

Probably not the superstardom that they crave but maybe closer than they have been in a long time. I did find myself at the end praying that the venue in japan was not empty when they went on stage. SO the movie is effective in many ways 

admittedly too the story hits close to home. I am lucky enough now after close to the same time frame(and not all THAT far from the same age haha) to be in a band that gets to play often and costs me very little to do. We make enough that expenses are mostly covered.

Granted its pretty far from my own 'rock n roll' dreams but its making music and getting paid for it. and its good and fun... 

success is what you make it. But chasing a dream is rarely a bad thing.


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## poseur (Jan 12, 2011)

shadoe42 @ Wed Jan 12 said:


> and if so I am suprised they are not totally ticked at the way the rest of the metal world ripped them off. You could hear elements of almost every other huge metal band in Anvil.


no, this is real;
their lives & career have not been, in any way, a joke;
neither is the film "scammish", or meant to be seen as comedy.

as well?
they were certainly as influential (on other metal-bands) as the film makes out;
just speak w/some metal-oriented musicians from the same period of time,
and you'll discover that to be true.

dt


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## dpasdernick (Jan 12, 2011)

Interesting topic! I too am reaching middle age (who am I kidding I think I passed it). My midlife crisis was not the desire to by a corvette but to get one of the new 19,000 Fairlights.  Music has been a major, major part of my life. Probably the biggest next to my wife and kids and ashamedly sometimes theyeven take a back seat. I have had a few successes and feel like I am writing the best music of my life. Only one problem... it may not be good enough. There is so much content out there, so many people doing it for free, so many talented people all looking for a break. So many rock stars that have made it and are still looking to place their music. There are no record companies that want to "groom" an artist. The industry, like the film industry, seems to be run by suits with no passion for the music. "make me rich" right out of the gate or else. So should we all post are stuff on facebook? Put an album out on iTunes? At least Anvil could tour.

As mentioned above it was borderline between these guys dedicating their entire existence to their dreams and not being able to reinvent themselves. Life is full of windows and opportunities that don't last forever such as Hair Metal, New Wave, punk, etc. HOWEVER... good music will last forever and a great song is a great song no matter what.

Darren


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## shadoe42 (Jan 12, 2011)

Okay  I believe you. as I said all my research actually pointed to that being true. And that makes me hope they get the recognition they are apparently due as the godfathers of metal. 

And like i said I had that same dream. then I let my dream change.. or perhaps let it die a bit and simply dreamed a new dream  one I am still chasing and will chase until the day I can no longer do it. that is to make a living making music.  

I was big into metal in the 80s but can't remember ever hearing of these guys. However I did listen to most of the bands interviewed. Slayer being the exception. not my bag heh.


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## Lunatique (Jan 12, 2011)

shadoe42 @ Wed Jan 12 said:


> And like i said I had that same dream. then I let my dream change.. or perhaps let it die a bit and simply dreamed a new dream  one I am still chasing and will chase until the day I can no longer do it. that is to make a living making music.



I had just written in my blog recently that some dreams and goals only seem impressive to the world when you achieve them while young, and when you achieve them much later in life, no one will give a shit anymore, because at your ripe age, people expect you to have gotten quite far in whatever it is you have focused on after all these years. In fact, will see you as a failure if you haven't gotten that far at your age. So, in the end, you only really need to do what makes YOU happy and fulfilled, and not care so much about what others think, but that's not an easy thing because we are by nature social animals, even those of us who aren't social butterflies. If the world completely stopped talking about J.D. Salinger and his work decades ago, I bet he would've come out of his shell and make some literary noise eventually anyway, because he'd miss the attention, at least a little. 

But of course, there's still the issue of timing. If a woman's dream is to become a pop princess, and she never made it, and now is in her 50's, what the hell are her chances that she could even begin to compete with today's young and sexy pop princesses, or the pop queens that have already reigned the airwave for decades? Some dreams have to die and you just have to accept it and move on. But like already said, dreams can change, and maybe now she could instead try and be a good singer/songwriter in a more adult folk contemporary style, or maybe jazz vocals, since in that market, it's much more likely she'll get any attention.

My own dreams include ones that never wavered, and ones that have changed with age and experience. When I was a boy, the first time I had the thought that I "wanted to be so-and-so when I grow up" was a fighter pilot, because my birth-father was one (he flew the F-104 Starfighter), and movies like Iron Eagle and Top Gun was all the rage back then. But by the time I was a teenager, I fell in love with Japanese animation, music, comic books, sci-fi/fantasy novels, Role-Playing Games, classical fine art...etc. The rebel artist in me realized that I would never survive in the military because I hated being told what to do. I didn't know it then, but by my early 20's, my eyesight also would've gotten worse as well. The interesting thing is, way before I even had the "when I grow up I want to be..." thought, the one thing I knew for sure that I loved was always music, except I didn't know it could be a career (I was only nine). I had begged my mother to let me take lessons and continue to beg all throughout my childhood and teenage years, and I was always told only if I get straight A's. Not me--I was the kid that sketched in my sketchook during class and the rare Asian kid that flunked math. Twice. It wasn't until I was almost eighteen that I saved up enough money to buy a synthesizer and two-track sequencer did I actually start to teach myself music. 

My first artistic dream for a career was to be an animation writer/director/character designer/illustrator working in Japan, but I was talked out of it by someone who's well connected to that world, since back then Japan's attitude towards foreigners was a lot different. I also considered going to school for film/animation, or music, or art, but I had no support from anyone and I couldn't afford any of it. I settled for the next closest thing that would satisfy my creative dream, which was to be a comic book creator/writer/artist in the U.S. (I didn't want to do animation in the States because it was all children's stuff back then). I did live that dream since I worked in comics for nearly 8 years, but I never made it big. I could barely scrape by with the money I made working for mostly indie publishers, and in fact, I often starved and owed back rent. I had my own series for a few years, and that's about as close as I got to living the dream. If my series had made it big and I was financially rewarded for it, then it would've been a solidly fulfilled dream. 

In the mid-90's, I tried to go for my music dream by making the rounds with my demo tape. I had spent all the money I had to record the demo and then flew to Taiwan to shop my music around. I ended up selling a song to a high profile management company that managed the top name popstars. My song was used in Nicky Wu's 1995 album. But the Chinese language music market is nothing like our market in the States--it was extremely unfriendly to anything that's not mainstream, and if you did music that's not mainstream, you will not be able to make ends meet. I witnesses all the talented bands that only existed in the underground and how they struggled, and realized that there's no hope in that market for someone like me--someone who grew up lots of underground and alternative influences. So I left and went back to the States to continue working in comics.

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## dfhagai (Jan 13, 2011)

Great documantry, does make you ponder....
I to think Anvils problem is that they are stuck in the past...
The 13 album they've maid sounds so outdated an non-relevant...


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## poseur (Jan 27, 2011)

dfhagai @ Thu Jan 13 said:


> Great documantry, does make you ponder....
> I to think Anvils problem is that they are stuck in the past...
> The 13 album they've maid sounds so outdated an non-relevant...



i felt much the same, really.
if they'd spent as much time developing _musically_ as they had focussing on their careers/celebrity-status/etc,
they may have become (at least moderately) more personally satisfied individuals.....
for me,
the whole thing is so damned heartbreaking, somehow.

dt


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## JohnG (Jan 27, 2011)

hi lunatique,

I read your posts with great interest; I appreciate the tremendous feeling and power behind what you wrote. I can see why you are a writer as well as an artist and composer.


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## Lunatique (Jan 27, 2011)

JohnG @ Thu Jan 27 said:


> hi lunatique,
> 
> I read your posts with great interest; I appreciate the tremendous feeling and power behind what you wrote. I can see why you are a writer as well as an artist and composer.



Thanks John. I thought for sure I had bored everyone to tears. 

At 38, I wonder how far I could still push things, and what my chances are of succeeding. But the only way to find out is to try try try. I really hope that one day I can write a satisfying ending to the story I'm living out in my life.


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## poseur (Jan 28, 2011)

Lunatique @ Thu Jan 27 said:


> I thought for sure I had bored everyone to tears.


not bored at all with your posts, luna!
..... simply pondering your presentation of your thoughts.



Lunatique @ Thu Jan 27 said:


> At 38, I wonder how far I could still push things, and what my chances are of succeeding. But the only way to find out is to try try try. _*I really hope that one day I can write a satisfying ending to the story I'm living out in my life.*_



but.....
..... maybe it's better/more efficient & lubricative to simply _do_ (and _keep on doing, full-on_),
and thereby leave the writing-of-yr-own-ending to others' hands, or not......
???

dt


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## Lunatique (Jan 28, 2011)

poseur @ Fri Jan 28 said:


> but.....
> ..... maybe it's better/more efficient & lubricative to simply _do_ (and _keep on doing, full-on_),
> and thereby leave the writing-of-yr-own-ending to others' hands, or not......
> ???



Haha, I like that. I always thought that I'd be the one to define what I have left behind after I die, but in reality, it's not up to me--it's up to the world to decide.


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