ANVIL's 70-Year-Old Frontman STEVE 'LIPS' KUDLOW Rules Out Retirement: 'You Don't Retire From Music'

In a new interview with Paul Christine's YouTube channel Paulieflix, guitarist/vocalist Steve "Lips" Kudlow of Canadian metal legends ANVIL urged fans to go see their favorite bands perform while they are still able to. He explained (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "What is probably important to think about is bucket-list stuff. Are you gonna live long enough, or am I gonna live long enough? I just turned 70, man. It's not like I just turned 20. My days are numbered."

Asked if he has ever thought about retiring from ANVIL, Lips said: "Oh, there is no retirement. Death. It's about not getting up tomorrow morning. That's what it's about. That's when it ends. But what I'm saying is it's not 30 years from now. It's gonna be within the next 10 years, more than likely. More than likely. Once you're 80, there's really not much time left. If you don't live to a hundred — not very many people do, man. Not very many people live to 80 either. Look at [original ANVIL guitarist] Dave Allison — [he] didn't make it to 70. What are you gonna say, man? You can't change that shit."

Lips continued: "We all have an expiry date. That's it. There's no way out, man. There's only one way out. That's it. You're going out in a box… Every minute counts. That's the way to look at it. So that's why you don't quit. And you don't retire. What am I retiring from? You retire from things you hate. Then you don't have to do it anymore. But you don't retire from music. You love it. You do it until you can't… And it's not just me. You go see all the other bands, because we just lost [former MANOWAR guitarist] Ross The Boss. Like, fuck — he was a year older than me. That's what I'm saying. Go see the bands before there is no band. And some guys lose it even before, so that they can't go out and play. I think that's real hell. That's real hell, man."

As previously reported, ANVIL will embark on a North American tour in June 2026. The trek, which will feature East Coast metal wolves MIDNITE HELLION as support, will kick off on June 3 in Rochester, New York and wrap up on July 11 in Toledo, Ohio.

The "Pounding The Past 2026" tour will see ANVIL perform fan-favorite songs from the band's early releases "Hard 'N' Heavy" (1981),"Metal On Metal" (1982) and "Forged In Fire" (1983),along with other classics.

ANVIL's 20th studio album "One And Only", came out in June 2024 via AFM Records. The effort was recorded in the summer of 2023 with longtime producer Martin "Mattes" Pfeiffer and Jörg Uken at Uken's Soundlodge studios in Germany. The same production team was responsible for ANVIL's previous four albums, "Anvil Is Anvil" (2016),"Pounding The Pavement" (2018),"Legal At Last" (2019) and "Impact Is Imminent" (2022).

Released in 2008, the ANVIL rockumentary "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 drummer Robb 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 was both entertaining and touching as it followed their last-ditch quest for the fame and fortune that has been so elusive to them.

Image credit: Volker Mugrauer