ANVIL's 'Quest For World Peace' Focus Of Next Documentary Project

Drummer Robb Reiner and guitarist/vocalist Steve "Lips" Kudlow of Canadian metal legends ANVIL recently spoke to John Doan of MusicFrenzy.net about their next documentary project, which has a working title of "Anvil 2: The Quest For World Peace".

Robb: "Me and Lips are gonna try to rally the world and throw a peace concert in Israel, and they're gonna film it."

Lips: "The selfish endeavor of making it for ourselves is pretty much done. We're living the dream. Now it's like, what can we do to change the world? We changed our world, but what can we do to change the world to make it a better place? There's a way to use your celebrity for really good things."

Robb: "We're gonna go and rally this and we're gonna try to pull this off. See, we don't know if we're gonna pull this off, but we're gonna make a major attempt. And they're gonna film our quest. And if it does happen, that's amazing. And if it doesn't happen…"

Lips: "…Then the world will see that, even though we tried, what the obstacles were and what we have to overcome. As a human race, what we have to overcome."

Robb: "We're gonna talk to lots of bands, politicians, corporations… Everything possible to be involved in this, we're gonna rally, and we'll film it in real time, and we'll see what happens."

Lips: "The whole concept started [when I was] sitting in the director's house and there [was] a newspaper sitting on the kitchen table, and I just started flipping out, 'cause I [was] reading it. It was one of those situations where things were really melting down on the Gaza Strip. And I just [went], 'What is this? When is this gonna stop? Is there something anybody can do about this?' And he [went], 'You could do something about it. You're getting famous. You could do something about it.' And I [went], 'Well, what can we do?' And he [went], 'Think about it. Just give it some thought.' About a few weeks later, I thought, what if we went to some place, like in Jerusalem, but in a no man's land, like by the Wailing Wall, and we'll hold the festival there — where all three major religious groups can gather in peace and bring a community together. The other aspect is the 'global metal' phenomenon. There is metal bands from every country on earth. This could be represented totally by the genre itself. ANVIL is rocking and we're cruising, and this will be something that we're doing as well."

ANVIL's Reiner and Kudlow talking to MusicFrenzy.net about their next documentary project (audio):

ANVIL's first documentary, "Anvil! The Story of Anvil", was named one of 2009's best documentaries by a slew of film critics associations across the continent, including critics in Chicago, San Francisco, Toronto, and Las Vegas, as well as the International Documentary Association, the Online Film Critics Society, and the National Society of Film Critics. It also made the year-end Top 10 lists in publications such as the New York Times, Washington Post, Newsweek, and Village Voice.

"Anvil! The Story of Anvil" was the directorial debut of screenwriter Sacha Gervasi ("The Terminal") and was produced by Rebecca Yeldham ("The Kite Runner" and "The Motorcycle Diaries"). The film follows Kudlow and Reiner and their band, ANVIL, which released one of the heaviest albums in metal history, 1982's "Metal on Metal". The album influenced an entire musical generation of rock bands, including METALLICA, SLAYER, and ANTHRAX, who all went on to sell millions of records. ANVIL, on the other hand, took a different path — straight to obscurity. The film is both entertaining and touching as it follows their last-ditch quest for the fame and fortune that has been so elusive to them.