Forty-two years, 18 studio albums, and thousands upon thousands of live shows have elapsed in the sometimes rocky, sometimes euphoric, but always bombastic and badass career of the Great White North’s most metallic ambassadors – Anvil.
Since the release of the acclaimed 2008 documentary about the band’s roller coaster ride of a career, Anvil! The Story of Anvil, the group has been consistently releasing new albums every two years, to both popular and critical acclaim, and continuing to build on the momentum created by the film through incessant touring throughout Europe, North America and beyond.
On Valentine’s Day, the triumphantly heavy trio comprised of co-founders Steve ‘Lips’ Kudlow (guitar/lead vocals/songwriter) and drummer extraordinaire Robb Reiner, alongside bassist Chris Robertson, issued their new album, Legal at Last (AFM Records), a riff on the fact that last year Canada finally legalized recreational marijuana.
This change in government policy is not necessarily the concept behind every song on the album but was a launching point for many of the tracks, according to Kudlow.
“Everything is sort of connected to marijuana in some way or another. And it wasn’t really intentional that it ended up that way, but it really just is quite remarkable that it’s finally happened. As we all know, marijuana was not made illegal because it was bad for you. It has to do with the financial economy in the sense that had marijuana been legal all along, it probably would have put the cotton industry out of business, it would have put the pulp and paper industry out of business, forestry out of business, maybe even oil companies for that matter. And that’s because you can make all sorts of substances that are like plastic from hemp. You can even make diesel fuel out of hemp,” Kudlow said, warming to the subject.
“It was a big huge threat to the global economy and that’s why it was made illegal. And in doing so, we have actually poisoned our environment in many different ways, and we have even given ourselves global warming as a result. And all these things are being talked about and are being connected on the album in that sense. A song like Chemtrails, a lot of people get very emotional and upset about that saying it’s a conspiracy theory. Well, it’s not a conspiracy theory. They are saying global warming is a conspiracy theory. Well, it’s not. We’ve got global warming and anybody who is in f***ing denial about the different weather patterns that are going on, or the heat waves that are happening in the Antarctic or the storms and floods are f***ing morons. And they’re being irresponsible and not being accountable, because they don’t want to put the work in or especially put the money in to do something about it, particularly as it’s out of pocket right now.
“Then you have all the people whining and complaining and being up in arms against the idea of somebody like Greta Thunberg getting up and saying to the world, ‘how dare you!’ Well, she’s absolutely right, but no one wants to admit it. People say she’s being paid to do it, people like the American government and the groups who are hungry to make more money from the public. Well, I don’t buy any of it. We’ve got a major worldwide crisis going on that hardly anyone wants to admit to because it’s going to cost money if they admit to it. And that’s what’s at the heart of it. All the stuff that’s expressed on this album, like the song Talking to the Wall, it’s saying that no one wants to hear about this.”
The song Gasoline sees Anvil dig deeper into the issue of greed destroying the environment, utilizing Kudrow’s ability at using blunt terminology, but also tongue-in-cheek humour to get his point across.
“The song Gasoline talks about how oil and gasoline is basically our currency and that we will go to war over it, go kick their ass and steal their gas. And we’re using fossil fuels and pumping f***ing carbon dioxide into the air, but we’re in denial. ‘No, humanity’s got nothing to do with global warming,’ they say. Yeah right!’ he said.
“And all these things are somehow, and some way connected in some sense to marijuana. It should be legal the whole world over, because we have depleted out bodies of the chemicals in marijuana, particularly CBD oils, which we are now discovering can actually combat cancer. If that stuff hadn’t been removed from our environment, we wouldn’t need to be taking CBD pills. It would show up in our water table, it would show up in our soil, it would show up in our livestock and it would show up in the food that we eat and we wouldn’t be depleted and we wouldn’t be getting sick as much.
“There is a whole string of shit like this and it’s all implied throughout the whole record, but it’s not on purpose. It’s just what’s going on in the world today, actually, and I have absorbed it and I put it out in my music, and it turned out the way it did.”
Kudlow also railed against the proliferation of social media as a source of ‘information’ and how we as a species and culture have access to much more advanced technology but seem to be lacking in knowledge or wisdom.
“People have lost touch with everything, including reality, including truth, including what is right or wrong. And even though you think you are in touch with everything because of smart phones and social media and shit like that, it actually makes you more out of touch because there is so much misinformation and bullshit going on out there. What do you believe? And you have all these people, like climate deniers who are saying, ‘show me the science, show me the proof.’ What the f*** is that? And what is the truth? To them the truth is whatever they want to believe? What the f*** is that? Because there is so much fog and smoke and mirrors, no one knows what the truth is any more. There are people who claim to know the truth, but they’re being paid to say what they say,” he said, again getting on a rhetorical roll.
“The other thing that’s such a contradiction and so hypocritical and so f***ed up is the concept of religion. So many of the same people who are saying, ‘show me the science and show me the proof’, if you were to apply that to religion, we shouldn’t be believing in God. And if that’s the case, what the f*** are we always going to war over. Why are there Muslims, why are there Jews, why are there Christians? There shouldn’t be anything. We’re one f***ing race; we’re all humanity. What the f***? That’s how I feel about it. It’s absolutely ridiculous that here we are in 2020 and people are still holding onto this f***ing shit about an invisible f***ing entity that they can’t prove is there or not. And they’re saying that the guy that they are pointing at and talking about or making up is better than yours.
“If you don’t ask the questions, you don’t get the answers about these things. But then again, when you ask the question and somebody gives you the answer, but you go, ‘show me the proof,’ there’s no truth. And then there’s no objective information, and then everybody is stupid. We supposedly live in a democracy, right? Well, what is a democracy when you have the right and privilege of voting, but yet you’re totally misinformed and you don’t really know who to vote for or if you do, why you’re voting for them. Or you don’t bother to vote at all and sit there and complain. Nobody is really taking in information. Everybody is just parroting what they hear or read on social medial they don’t get the information for themselves, but even when they do get some information, they don’t believe what they are reading or seeing because they don’t agree with it. What the f*** kind of world are we in, man?”
The big question is, does Kudlow have hope for humanity (a good possible alliterative title for a future Anvil album)?
“Realistically, no. And I don’t really like to be a fatalist. My view is this, all the activists who were protesting injustice and corruption and war in the era the I grew up in, with the hippies, whinging against the establishment, all of those people are now running the f***ing world today and are the problem. And it’s worse now that it’s ever been,” he said.
“Do I have hope? Money is still everything. I look at humanity as cavemen with computers. We’ve got all this technology where we’re nothing more than button pushers, we’re lazy as the day is f***ing long, and everybody wants something for nothing; they want to do as little as possible and get the most out of it. That’s what humanity is, and it’s kind of always been like that. The basic human condition is lazy. Everybody wants something for nothing, and they are greedy.
“We have not matured as a race being on this earth yet. We are still in our infancy, in my opinion. We have all this technology, but we still have the mindset of a caveman.”
Getting back to the subject of the new album, Legal at Last, Kudlow said making albums is about creativity and having something to say, but for a metal band in the 21st century, it is a necessity to keep putting out music if they want to survive and thrive.
“The main reason you’re doing a record is to advertise yourself so that you can go play and be seen live and sell your t-shirts and tickets to your show. Without putting out albums and without recording new stuff, you’re going to be dead in the water. And let’s face it, it’s metal music, so you’re not going to be on the radio. The only thing to do is to keep writing heavy music that people want to consume and listen to and them come to see you play at your show. That’s the way it works, that’s what you’ve got to be doing, and that’s what we do,” he said.
“As for putting out physical copies, I’d like to think it’s because people still want to have something to hold in their hands, but I don’t know if that’s completely a fact. I think some people like to collect stuff, but own it? Not necessarily. A lot of people download these days and these days most people just stream their music, they don’t actually own anything. They put on Spotify and start listening to the tunes, almost like background music. It’s not like the old days when you’d sit in front of your big f***ing stereo with the vinyl cover and keep staring at it as you’re listening. It’s not that common, and actually it’s not even that common to have a big f***Ing stereo anymore. And there really isn’t a store to get records any more.
“Vinyl is all about collecting. And I hate even arguing about it or talking about whether vinyl sounds better. Yeah right, whatever. I find it actually f***ing comical. It’s so f***ing stupid that I can’t even engage with people on that topic it’s so ridiculous.”
For the third consecutive album, Anvil worked with veteran German producer Martin ‘Mattes’ Pfeiffer, alongside mixer/engineer Jorg Uken at the Soundlodge Studio in Germany.
“Martin is a top notch producer. He is at the top of his game, man. And for all that he is reasonably priced. So, you can’t say no to that. And above all, he is an amazing human being. We get along great with the guy. We see eye to eye. There’s mutual respect and all the stuff that comes with that. And there’s trust between us. You’ve got to trust him. He is the objective perspective, and without that objective perspective, your band will suck, no matter how good you are. Without George Martin, the Beatles wouldn’t have been much,” Kudlow said, admiringly.
With touring plans for all bands and artists in limbo, all Anvil’s dates are on hold until after the Covid-19 pandemic subsides. In the interim, for more information on the band, and for any rescheduling of shows, visit www.facebook.com/anvilmetal or http://my.tbaytel.net/tgallo/anvil.
- Jim Barber is a veteran award-winning journalist and author based in Napanee, ON, who has been writing about music and musicians for 30 years. Besides his journalistic endeavours, he now works as a communications and marketing specialist. Contact him at jimbarberwritingservices@gmail.com.
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