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This article was published 26/06/2009 (6252 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Maybe the best thing Steve Kudlow’s parents did was tell him he couldn’t make it.

The 53-year-old Anvil frontman, known as Lips (pictured at left), wanted to prove his parents wrong when they said his music career would amount to nothing.

It took 30 years, but things are finally coming up devil horns for the Toronto metal band, which is receiving a newfound burst of popularity thanks to the new Sacha Gervasi documentary Anvil! The Story of Anvil.

"I think I’m so positive from the opposite (state) being around me," the friendly, upbeat Kudlow says over the phone from his Toronto home. "It kind of fuels the optimism that I could get through this, that’s probably due to, I guess, my parents never taking what I did seriously and (me) showing them, ‘Hey, you wanna bet?’"

The film details the struggles Anvil founders Kudlow and drummer Robb Reiner undergo as they tour Europe and record the band’s 13th album.

The 2008 film has sparked a new appreciation for the band, whose speed metal in the early 1980s helped inspire the first wave of thrash bands like Anthrax, Metallica and Slayer, thanks to albums like 1982’s Metal on Metal and 1983’s Forged in Fire.

While many bands Anvil played with and inspired went on to have long and prosperous careers, Anvil remained a bar band, known to fewer and fewer people as the years went on.

"I think I’m on my first wave," Kudlow says. "What everyone perceives as being our first wave wasn’t much of one. It was a ripple. There’s been a lot of discovery and rediscovery. We’re like a new band."

The success of the movie and the band’s determination has changed Kudlow’s life. He’s quit his full-time job delivering food for a catering company and is back on the road doing what he loves. The band — which also features bassist Glenn Five — had to re-press the album This Is Thirteen (sales of over 4,000 copies) and have enough material for a new album.

As a result of the film, Anvil retained a high-profile manager in Rick Sales (Slayer, Mastodon) and is playing shows around the world. The group recently headlined the second stage at England’s Download Festival (and while there, picked up Metal Hammer magazine’s Metal as F–k award) and was tapped by Angus Young to open three stadium shows for AC/DC next month.

In Winnipeg, Anvil is one of the headliners of Saturday’s Rock on the Range festival at the Canad Inns Stadium. As the last band on the second stage, it follows Rancid’s mainstage performance, providing a one-two punch that should be the highlight of the decidedly middle-of-the-road event.

The last time the band was here in 1992, it played the Zoo.

"For me, it shows that good shall prevail," Kudlow says with a laugh. "I’ve always had a good heart about it. I’ve never been vindictive or bitter about the people in the business. I haven’t always been treated like that by people in the business, but where are they now? Good shall prevail. We’re like the Rocky Balboa of heavy metal. We’re Rocky with Fender Twin amplifiers."

The documentary has given Anvil a new life and made fans out of the likes of Michael Moore, Dustin Hoffman, Ron Perlman, Katy Segal and other Hollywood celebrities. Kudrow wouldn’t change a thing in the movie — except maybe remove the old nude photo of himself.

"Although my wife thinks it’s great, especially on the big screen. She can brag to her friends," he says.

rob.williams@freepress.mb.ca

 

For those about to rock:

Gates open at 11 a.m.

Music starts at noon. Show ends at 11 p.m.

Patrons with east grandstand tickets must enter the stadium through gates 5 and 6. Patrons with field-level tickets must enter at gate 8 at the south end of the stadium off Maroons Road. People with grandstand tickets will not be allowed on the field.

The ins and outs: Patrons can leave and re-enter the stadium until 5 p.m. After 5 p.m., once you’re in, you’re in.

A search policy will be in effect. Prohibited items include audio and video recording devices, weapons, glass, cans, plastic bottles, thermal cups, fireworks, alcohol, spiked bracelets, stuffed teddy bears, wallet chains, fanny packs, food, laser pens, chairs and blankets.

Bags and backpacks can be checked in for $4 at a tent in the "Rock on the Range Village," located at the south end of the field.

Some sections of the east grandstand will be alcohol-free zones. Smoking is permitted only in designated areas. There is no smoking on the field or in the grandstands.

Problems? Call stadium customer service at 788-HELP (4357) and tell them where you are. First aid is available on site.

There is limited wheelchair seating on the wheelchair ramp on the field level of the stadium and at the top of sections S and Y of the east grandstand.

Parking is $10 at the stadium.

 

Rock on the Range schedule

 

Main stage

1:15 – 1:45 p.m. — Die Mannequin

2:20 – 2:50 p.m. — Blue October

3:25 – 4:05 p.m. — Thornley

4:40 – 5:20 p.m. — Shinedown

5:55 – 6:40 p.m. — Theory of a Deadman

7:15 – 8 p.m. — Rancid

8:35 – 9:25 p.m. — Rise Against

9:50 – 10:50 p.m. — Billy Talent

 

Second Stage

12 – 12:25 p.m. — Early Pearl

12:45 – 1:10 p.m. — Sick of Sara

1:50 – 2:15 p.m. — Age of Daze

2:55 – 3:20 p.m. — Pop Evil

4:10 – 4:35 p.m. — Hollywood Undead

5:25 – 5:50 p.m. — Inward Eye

6:45 – 7:10 p.m. — Silverstein

8:05 – 8:30 p.m. — Anvil

 

*All times and set lengths are subject to change.

 

Al fresco rock

THE last time Winnipeggers saw a concert at the Canad Inns Stadium, Jon and Kate only had two kids, Nickelback was still a bar band and Susan Boyle sang only to her cat, Pebbles.

 

That was in 2000, when the Smashing Pumpkins, Our Lady Peace and the Foo Fighters headlined the day-long Summersault Festival. The event came on the heels of similar Canadian rock fests such as Edgefest and Another Roadside Attraction. Those, of course, were modelled on the likes of American festivals Lollapalooza and Lilith Fair, which set the standard for travelling multi-band events in the 1990s.

 

The demise of stadium shows in Winnipeg coincided with the downturn in the music industry earlier this decade, but the trend toward big multi-day festivals has returned, and it’s bigger and better than ever. These days, the summer festival schedule in North America is jam-packed, with the return of Lollapalooza as a three-day event, Bonnaroo, Coachella, Sasquatch, 10,000 Lakes, the Pitchfork Music Festival, the Austin City Limits Festival and the U.S. version of Rock on the Range (a two-day affair in Columbus, Ohio, featuring Slipknot, Alice in Chains, Korn and Mötley Crüe) just a few of the most notable on the calender.

 

Will the success of those festivals and Rock on the Range improve our chances of getting more big outdoor shows? That depends on promoters and routing, but no matter what happens, what we do know is that Winnipeggers will have two more chances to rock out at the stadium this summer when Aerosmith and ZZ Top bring their expensive show (tickets $126 to $218) to town Aug. 7 and AC/DC follows suit with a sold-out concert Aug. 22.