LIPS On ANVIL's Longevity: 'You Don't Do This Because You Wanna Make Millions Of Dollars'

December 28, 2020

In a new interview with RocklandSound, Steve "Lips" Kudlow of Canadian metal legends ANVIL spoke about the persistence, tenacity, endurance and commitment that has kept him and drummer Robb Reiner going for more than 40 years despite falling short of the commercial success achieved by some of the bands they influenced. The guitarist/vocalist said (see video below): "I just had a conversation with Jon Z, [founder of] CraZed Management, the guy that basically discovered METALLICA. We've been friends for 40 years, maybe more, and we were just talking about all this last night. It's doing this all for the right reasons. You don't do this because you wanna make millions of dollars; it's not what it's about. It's not about who sells the most records or anything like that. It's not a competition; it's not a horse race. It's art.

"In the whole end of the day, the guy that wins is really not the guy that makes the most money; it's probably the guy that's the most prolific and writes the most," he continued. "If you can be that creative, I think that that's the ultimate winning person — the guy that can write the most tunes, really."

ANVIL, a Toronto-based group, was formed in 1978 by childhood friends Kudlow and Reiner. Both came from Jewish families and had been playing music together since their teens.

Though initially a four-piece band, ANVIL's current lineup includes Kudlow, Reiner and bassist Chris Robertson.

ANVIL gained popularity and new fans since the 2008 theatrical documentary, "Anvil: The Story Of Anvil", which is currently available on Netflix. The film focused on how ANVIL got together, and stayed together, through decades of hard work and setbacks.

ANVIL's latest album, "Legal At Last", was released in February via AFM Records. The disc was recorded at Soundlodge studios in Rhauderfehn in the northwest of Germany.

Find more on Anvil

Prev More News Next

Comments Disclaimer And Information

BLABBERMOUTH.NET uses the Facebook Comments plugin to let people comment on content on the site using their Facebook account. The comments reside on Facebook servers and are not stored on BLABBERMOUTH.NET. To comment on a BLABBERMOUTH.NET story or review, you must be logged in to an active personal account on Facebook. Once you're logged in, you will be able to comment. User comments or postings do not reflect the viewpoint of BLABBERMOUTH.NET and BLABBERMOUTH.NET does not endorse, or guarantee the accuracy of, any user comment. To report spam or any abusive, obscene, defamatory, racist, homophobic or threatening comments, or anything that may violate any applicable laws, use the "Report to Facebook" and "Mark as spam" links that appear next to the comments themselves. To do so, click the downward arrow on the top-right corner of the Facebook comment (the arrow is invisible until you roll over it) and select the appropriate action. You can also send an e-mail to blabbermouthinbox(@)gmail.com with pertinent details. BLABBERMOUTH.NET reserves the right to "hide" comments that may be considered offensive, illegal or inappropriate and to "ban" users that violate the site's Terms Of Service. Hidden comments will still appear to the user and to the user's Facebook friends. If a new comment is published from a "banned" user or contains a blacklisted word, this comment will automatically have limited visibility (the "banned" user's comments will only be visible to the user and the user's Facebook friends).