Anvil Exposed: Canadian Metal Vets Rock With Slash, Talk Doc

Anvil! The True Story of Anvil is the year's most praised rock doc, a film that follows Canadian heavy-metal outfit Anvil on their 30-year-plus quest for rock stardom and respect. The Smoking Section's Austin Scaggs recently hung out with Anvil guitarist and singer Steve "Lips" Kudlow and drummer Robb Reiner, who founded the band in 1977, and chatted about how the movie has become "the best opening act we've ever had."

Go behind the scenes at the band's RS photo shoot, where the band get the butler treatment, in our exclusive video, above (the best pic appears in our current issue). "People go, 'Wow, man, 30 years. You guys didn't make millions of dollars, why did you just stay together?' " Lips says. "What, you have to make millions of dollars to have an enjoyment in your life? What's wrong with people?' It's not that I'm crazy, I think the rest of the world is crazy. If everything was motivated strictly by cash, we would have never gone to the moon. We'd still be living in caves!"

After the jump, an Anvil bonus: footage of the band jamming with Slash and Anthrax's Scott Ian. When Rock Daily first encountered Anvil at 2008's Sundance Film Festival, the band rocked a party and jammed with the pair on "Cat Scratch Fever." And now, thanks to the success of the Anvil doc, the band is back in business with a manager and booking agent, and plans to record its 15th album, Juggernaut of Justice this year. "This movie has opened doors, but we would have kept rocking anyway," Reiner says. "Especially when you have the goods, like we do."

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Song Stories

“Oh Sherrie”

Steve Perry | 1984

Steve Perry's girlfriend Sherrie Swafford was actually in the studio when Perry began writing this song--his lone Top Ten hit as a solo act--with two co-writers. The trio began at midnight one night with just "Oh, Sherrie!" and "hold on, hold on." Three hours later, they had a complete song. Swafford, however, had to wait until the next day to hear it. "Sherrie actually got tired and went to bed," Perry said. She also appeared in the video, but their relationship did not hold on for long.

More Song Stories entries »

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