ANVIL Taps U.D.O. Producer For Upcoming Album

Canadian metal legends ANVIL will enter a studio in Cologne, Germany in October with producer Martin "Mattes" Pfeiffer to begin recording their new album, tentatively titled "Anvil Is Anvil", for an early 2016 release. ANVIL guitarist/vocalist Steve "Lips" Kudlow told Metal Talk about the upcoming recording sessions (see video below): "[Martin has] been working with, and still is working with, Udo Dirkschneider. He did the last couple of U.D.O. albums. We listened to them, and they sound great. He seems like a really great guy, [so] we're gonna try that. Not that we didn't like what Bob Marlette [producer of 2011's 'Juggernaut Of Justice' and 2013's 'Hope In Hell'] did. Bob Marlette is a genius — absolutely incredible — [and we] loved his work, but I think it's important for a band to change its 'underwear.' It doesn't change the person, but it changes the underwear, and it is important to change your underwear; otherwise it starts to stink. It's the same sort of concept: you can't stay the same; you need to inject something new, something fresh, something that you didn't do yet."

Bringing fans a more intimate experience, PledgeMusic offers pledgers a chance to get up close and personal with their favorite artists, access exclusive content and be a part of something that fans would not normally have access to.

With every pre-order, pledgers will get the AccessPass which will give them exclusive looks at behind the scenes videos, photos and messages from the band. Fans will also have several once in a lifetime opportunities to purchase:

* In-person or Skype drum lesson with Robb Reiner
* In-person or Skype guitar lesson with Lips
* Guest back-up vocal appearance on the new record
* One of Lips's amps
* The opportunity to attend a live rehearsal
* A day in the studio with the band
* Signed limited edition CD with bonus tracks
* Signed drum head
* Exclusive Pledger T-shirt
* AMPU (Anvil Metal Pounders Union) deluxe lifetime membership and signed CD
* Signed set list
* Signed drumsticks
* Handwritten lyric sheets

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Asked how the success of "Anvil! The Story of Anvil", a 2009 documentary produced by a former roadie that gave the band more notoriety and fame that it was unable to generate on its own, changed ANVIL's career, Lips told Metal Talk: "The main change is that, basically, we haven't stopped working, and we were able to give up our day jobs, and this has become it. Which is all that you can ever ask for. I mean, that's a dream — to be able to do what you love and actually make a living at it. What more could you possibly ask? What, to be a millionaire? Well, you know, I think that's asking too much; that's getting greedy, and I've never been that way. It's not really been about money as much as it's been about survival, and I think most people feel the same way about their lives. And I'm no different. It's not really about being greedy and having millions of dollars; it's just getting what you want out of life and enjoying it. That's what it's really all about."

ANVIL's latest album, "Hope In Hell", sold a little under 800 copies in the United States in its first week of release. The disc followed up "Juggernaut Of Justice", which opened with around 1,600 units back in May 2011. The 2009 re-release of the band's 2007 CD, "This is Thirteen", registered a first-week tally of 1,400 to enter the Top New Artist Albums chart at No. 19.

ANVIL last year parted ways with bassist Sal Italiano and replaced him with Chris Robertson. Lips told M.E.A.T.'s Drew Masters that Chris has actually been part of the ANVIL camp for some time now, having been both their rehearsal bassist as well as a member of their road crew. Lips also stated that he's glad the band is, once again, "all Canadian — that is the heart and soul of ANVIL."