ANVIL Frontman: 'I Really Don't Think This Dream Could Come To Anywhere Near An End'

Raoul Hernandez of The Austin Chronicle recently conducted an interview with guitarist/vocalist Steve "Lips" Kudlow of Canadian metal legends ANVIL. A couple of excerpts from the chat follow below.

The Austin Chronicle: In the film, getting a record label is a main concern. After the film, you got one. "This is Thirteen" came out on VH1 Classic Records. Was that what you thought it would be?

Lips: Well, I knew that once the movie came out and there was publicity there's gonna be labels wanting to be part of it. It's such a herding business out there. It's really obvious. It was just a question of what they were willing to do for us — what was on the table. What was the convenience of it for us, or was there any convenience for us. But it had gotten to the point where we couldn't keep up with mail order stuff. The supply can't meet the demand because we didn't have the resources. What happened was we did a licensing deal with VH1 Records and it came out in October.

The Austin Chronicle: On the new album, back-to-back songs "Feed the Greed" and "Big Business" address the music business. How is it now to be in the music business, "agents, managers, a record company?" How's that treating you?

Lips: As horrible as it always was [dissolves into laughter]. [Then, resigned] It's always been the same. It's a pound of flesh, no doubt about it. It's all about co-dependency. They need you and you need them. It's never just one-sided: "Oh, we're going to help you out." They help themselves. It's a business. That's the way it is. They have no choice and you've got to deal with it. That's the way it is.

The Austin Chronicle: Strange to want something that in the end is going to be dysfunctional.

Lips: I'm not sure what you mean by that?

The Austin Chronicle: Like you said, they need you and you need them, but the "music business" is already something of an oxymoron. It's fucked up from the get-go.

Lips: That's right. What choice do you have? No one does anything for nothing. Every inch you pay for and it comes out of your hide. Realistically it's all coming from you as the artist, but you're giving up massive percentages to forge forward. That's just the nature of it. No one's going to do anything for you unless they're getting a piece. The potential of you getting very wealthy is certainly there, but not while you have a whole trainload of people to pay. You're going to maintain and you're going to keep the train going down the track, but you're not going to become a millionaire because it costs too much [chuckles]. Just like anything, you sustain it and eventually you'll get there, but immediate, it isn't like that. It costs a lot of money to make money. It's just the nature of business, and particularly the music business, which is even that much more exaggerated.

The Austin Chronicle: In the film, is it Robb's [Reiner, drums] sister who expresses no small amount of pessimism about the band? Your families must be blown away by this turnaround of events.

Lips: Yeah, they're really celebrating it. It's been wonderful. At the same time, it's a double-edged sword. I'm away from home. My wife is flipped out because she's got so many responsibilities that I'm not there to help her with. Life is filled with challenges, so you always have to be careful of what you wish for. And I'm not saying that I should be careful of what I wish for.... Nothing comes without a price. Those are the balances in life. I knew that going into this. When I was told I was going to do a movie I knew it would be what it's ending up to be, and I also knew what came with it. I'm going to be away from home. I'm not going to be home for my son. I'm not going to be home for my wife. I'm not going to be there to cut the grass, to shovel the snow — to generally be there. This is an extraordinarily time consuming endeavor and I realized that. That's the price you pay. Before this all happened I told my son when he was 7, 8 years old — we watched "The Osbournes" — I said, "We're going to become like the Osbourne family. People are going to know us wherever we go. I'm not going to be home all the time. I'm going to be out playing and you're not going to see me a lot." And everything I warned him about is now transpiring, but it doesn't make it easier. All these things lay heavy on your woman at home — you're not there. These are the costs. It's not that I'm complaining. I'm just stating reality — state of mind — for what it is. It's great. It's absolutely amazing, but like I said, there's certain aspects that you have to be aware are going to take place. You have to be on top of it and be as understanding as you possibly can to the other people around you. Everything that I do has an effect on everybody else. It's not completely a selfish endeavor.

The Austin Chronicle: You worked for this for so long. You put all of your dreams into this and it happened. What's the next dream?

Lips: Hmmm. I really don't think this dream could come to anywhere near an end because I would still like to pay off the mortgage on my house. You know, pay for my son's education in another six, seven years when he finishes high school and so forth. There's a lot yet to go, man. Freedom is still quite a ways away from my perspective and I'm working on it. There's goals and aspirations that I still have to reach at this point. Obviously, yes, I'm very famous and things have turned around for the band and we're very busy, but at the same time, like I said, there's a huge choo-choo train that people are hungry and want a piece of and it's going to take a while to go down that track until everybody gets fed and I see the end of the tunnel. I'm aiming at things financially that I'm hoping to get to. And that's not a complaint. I'm totally willing and able and excited and full of hope, so it's all good. As long as it continues to create more music and more tours and continue on it's never over. Just like it wasn't over for THE ROLLING STONES after so many years. You have to write another album and go out on tour. It never stops. That's the beautiful thing about it. It's not just something that's a means to an end, like you become a dentist and go every day and fix people's teeth [chuckles].

Read the entire interview from The Austin Chronicle.