ANVIL's STEVE 'LIPS' KUDLOW: 'I Will Not, And Do Not, Voice My Opinion On Actual Politics'

In a new interview with Canada's The Metal Voice, ANVIL frontman Steve "Lips" Kudlow discussed the lack of political writing in his songs. He said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "I will not, and do not, voice my opinion on actual politics. I'm not gonna do that. Nothing I will say will mean a fucking thing anyway. So why bother? Why isolate myself or be detrimental to myself and say something that would insult people that are my fans? I'm not gonna do it — not over something that I really honestly don't even care about and that I know that I have no jurisdiction or power over. It's pointless. There's no upside. There isn't. I just don't get it. And I would even have this discussion with [outspoken conservative rocker] Ted Nugent. The same thing — I'd say, 'Ted, what are you doing, man? You're making people hate you. As much as you're making people love you, you're making people hate you. Why even bother? If you didn't talk about it, you'd only have people that love you. Why are you bothering?'"

When one of the interviewers noted that while Lips doesn't go into specifics with his lyrics, he will occasionally use his platform to rail against more general issues like assault on our freedom and suppression of the truth by politicians, government agencies, media outlets and people on social media, he explained: "I'm not going to say I'm Democratic or a Republican. Uh-uh. I'm not gonna do it. And I don't think by saying that our liberty is condemned is being Republican or Democratic. It's being observant.

"America is so worried about communism coming, but yet you keep going down this road where you're abolishing this, abolishing that, making this banned, that banned, before you know it, you are a communist," he added. "So, you've gotta watch how far you go, man. We've gotta start really being more diligent and watching where we're going with our freedom and what we're letting slip through our fingers. That's how I feel, but, like I said, I'm just one voice in billions. It's little or no difference. So I'm just observing, and sometimes it's pretty upsetting. And it's cathartic writing about it. I get to expel the demons."

A little over three years ago, Lips was asked by "The Chuck Shute Podcast" if he would ever debate Nugent on some of the issues they are both passionate about. Lips responded: "It's interesting. He's definitely got different views, especially when it comes to marijuana; we'd probably be at each other's throats over that. But a lot of what he says is truth, logic and common sense. You can get angry at me — go ahead — but when you tell people the truth, they usually get pissed off, and that's what a lot of people get when they hear Ted talk.

"I'm an environmentalist and so is he, but we actually have a lot of places where we are in complete fucking sync — there's no question about it," he continued. "There's a lot of things that I completely agree with him — no question about it.

"Certainly, if I was born in Detroit and was raised there, I'd believe that owning a gun is a necessity and a God-given right… I agree with Ted — making guns illegal only puts guns in the hands of criminals… Unarmed and helpless is unarmed and helpless. What can I say?

"There's a lot of things that he says that make sense," Lips added. "The other thing is statistically — he talks about statistics. He never says anything without the backing of real hard statistics. Gun-free zones have the highest fucking murder rates. They do. It's just as simple as that.

"Watch [Ted] on Piers Morgan," he said, referring to Nugent's 2013 appearance on CNN where Ted discussed gun control and gun ownership with Piers Morgan. "Piers Morgan tried to argue everything, and Ted walked all over him.

"They can't undo America's history and Constitution. They're trying really hard, but they're not gonna undo it — it ain't gonna happen. I mean, I'm not an American, but I know they're not taking foundational fucking Constitutional rights out — it ain't gonna happen.

"I'm not gonna start waving the flag, 'Take the guns away from everybody.' Fuck that! There's a reason for everything, man. And the whole foundational aspect of America, if it wasn't for the gun… The whole being of America is written into its history due to the gun. How would you have fucking won the land? You didn't beat the First Nation people with bow and arrows. You won the land because you had guns — and they didn't. And the other thing is, we didn't win the Second World War with a pie in the face; we invented the atomic fucking bomb — the ultimate gun.

"What is human philosophy? What are we? We are a fucked-up animal, and we are at the top of the food chain, and the only way that we can keep the numbers down is killing each other."

ANVIL will embark on the "One And Only" U.S tour this summer. Support on the trek will come from PULSIFIER, with additional appearances by ADAMANTIS (July 10-13),VICIOUS BLADE (July 17-21),BLIND OATH (August 1-4),SERPENT RIDER (August 7-15) and OLATHIA (August 21-25).

ANVIL will release its 20th studio album "One And Only", on June 28 via AFM Records. The effort was recorded late last summer 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 last four albums, "Anvil Is Anvil" (2016),"Pounding The Pavement" (2018),"Legal At Last" (2019) and "Impact Is Imminent" (2022).