ANVIL Drummer: 'We're A Band That Needs To Be Seen'

Mary Ouellette of TheyWillRockYou.com recently conducted an interview with drummer Robb Reiner of Canadian metal legends ANVIL. A couple of excerpts from the chat follow below.

TheyWillRockYou.com: So your latest album is in production, what can you tell us about it?

Reiner: It's called "Juggernaut of Justice" and we're going to record it hopefully at the end of this year. The album is completely written we just need to record it. We have twenty songs and we'll probably put twelve on the album but we've been busy touring and doing everything we wanted to do and touring all over the world so we haven't had the time to record it. We're a band that needs to be seen so that's what we're out here doing right now.

TheyWillRockYou.com: Speaking of touring, what has been the most rewarding part of being out there on your own headlining tour?

Reiner: The most rewarding part is just the whole fact that we're even able to do it. I love to play for people and we're not even blowing them away, we're mesmerizing people.

TheyWillRockYou.com: Before the filming of the movie did you know that Lars Ulrich (METALLICA) and Slash (GUNS N' ROSES) were big fans of the band and really behind what you were doing?

Reiner: Yes, they've all been our friends for years. They've always told us how influential we've been to them and how great the band is so yeah we've always known. It was really nice to see them step forward and tell the world everything that we already knew.

TheyWillRockYou.com: I think something that other bands could take away from your story is the issues you had with management and labels along the way and your decision to start doing things on your own.

Reiner: It's not that we decided to do that on our own, we just felt that that was the only way that we could keep things together because we went through a pretty fucked up time with a big manager who tried to do good things but actually ended up derailing things and through that process we just decided to take the bull by the horns and do it on our own. It was the harder route but it was still a lot of fun. In the last year though we have a manager who's done pretty good stuff for us and that's why we're here touring.

TheyWillRockYou.com: The movie really let the world into your lives and you can't help but watch the movie and root for you guys on an emotional level, is there a fear that your lives and the story of Anvil overpowers the music?

Reiner: No, no, no. It was the music that got the movie made in the first place. Without the music there would be no movie. The movie's success is bigger than the band at the moment but I think that will change.

TheyWillRockYou.com: Photographer Ross Halfin has a very popular diary section on his site. A few times last year he spoke about director Sacha Gervasi and how much money he's making off the film. Ross thought it was wrong that you guys weren't having the windfall that he was. Do you guys share Ross' opinion?

Reiner: I know Ross very well, he's a friend. Ross Halfin has "nice" bad things to say about a lot of people. I don't know exactly what he said about Sacha so I can't really comment. Sacha is our friend to this day. He was a fan of the band; the whole movie was made by a fan.

TheyWillRockYou.com: Given what you've been through, what advice can you hand down to bands that are just starting out and at that struggling phase?

Reiner: They just need to make sure they're doing it for the right reasons. They have to love what they're doing and not be trying to make a buck. The motivation should just be pure love for making music.

Read the entire interview from TheyWillRockYou.com.