JUGGERNAUTS OF METAL
“You thought
that Metal was a trend
Got some news for you my friend
Anvil music is what I am
Really don’t give a damn
If you think that we suck
I really don’t give a fuck
I defy all the rules
Make the sceptics look like fools.”
(Excerpt from
‘Real Metal’ from the album “Plenty Of Power”)
There never was another Anvil beneath the persona offered to
the media – what you saw was what you got. The above lyrics, written around
2001, are a true reflection of that attitude. Incidentally, the verse ‘Make the
sceptics look like fools’ turned out to be a prophetic jibe. Following Anvil’s
brief stint of fame in the early 1980s and, thereafter, an acutely more painful
slip into obscurity, many had passed the band off as dead and buried. If only
they knew….
I had first met Anvil in 2005 and the band spoke to me about
a career resurgence with the enthusiasm of a young, newly formed band. Only they
weren’t so ‘newly formed’, having come together back in 1973 (precisely in
Toronto, Canada). Unknown to me, that 2005 European tour was being well
documented and an edited version of the footage would end up as the movie “Anvil
– The Story Of Anvil”, directed by their ex-roadie turned
scriptwriter/film-director Sacha ‘Teabag’ Gervasi (The Terminal, The Big Tease,
How To Marry A Millionaire). As things turned out, it is this film that is
giving Anvil their overdue recognition.
One member particularly deserving of greater appreciation is
the band’s drummer – Robb Reiner. Robb’s drumming gives Anvil’s music its
backbone of steel and without his talents Anvil’s sound would certainly be
heavily diluted. It was no wonder, therefore, that some years ago Ozzy had asked
Robb to join his band.
Fast forward to the present - just before Anvil were due to
hit the stage at what turned out to be a well-received London club gig, I
chatted with Robb about his enduring relationship with the band. I start by
asking him for his own take on the current, exciting period that Anvil are going
through…..
Robb:
Well, we’ve become very famous…and as we speak it just keeps getting bigger.
We’ve been touring the movie in what’s called “The Anvil Experience”. This
consists of showing the movie after which we play in the cinema that would have
screened it. We’ve been touring that in America for the last 2 months. We did it
here in England back in February and we’re also going to Australia, Japan maybe
also Singapore and Indonesia and all of Europe.
Chris:
Impressive.
Robb:
So there’s a lot of stuff being planned based on the movie. Very soon we’re also
going to record our next album which will be called “Juggernaut Of Justice”.
Hopefully we’ll record it by the end of the year and it’ll come out next year.
Chris:
On the “Anvil Experience” tour there must have been people in the audience who
had never heard of the band.
Robb:
Thousands of them.
Chris:
What was their reaction on hearing Anvil’s music for the very first time?
Robb:
Everybody feels surprised at how they did not know about us. Most people feel
ashamed…maybe ‘embarrassed’ is a better word…they feel embarrassed that they did
not know Anvil’s music. And they love us, they think we’re great musicians, that
we’re the real deal not fuckin’ fake. They think we’re very entertaining and
have a powerful sound. That’s pretty much the general reaction we get. Also a
lot of people tell us they can hear our sound in other bands.
Chris:
During the filming of the movie was Sacha’s presence intrusive or therapeutic
for the band?
Robb:
Did you see the movie?
Chris:
Just 2 days ago so it’s still fresh in my mind.
Robb:
Did you enjoy it?
Chris:
Certainly. I laughed, cried, felt angry….
Robb:
Yeah, it’s an emotional journey.
Chris:
So back to my question about Sacha….
Robb:
It was like he was not there. We just went on with our lives while he filmed
everything. They filmed 320 hours of footage over 2½ years and as I said,
everything was filmed…the good stuff, the bad stuff, the fights, the good gigs,
the bad gigs, our families…but for us it was no big deal. Imagine I’m talking to
you right now and the guy
[Sacha]
is filming us and we might not even realise he’s here. That’s how it was in the
movie.
Chris:
With the release of the film-documentary, Anvil are being focused on by media
such as CNN and the BBC – how does it feel to once again represent Metal music
on the mainstream media?
Robb:
Well I honestly think the success of this ‘Anvil Story’ movie is going to be
very good for Metal in general. It shows the world that Metal people are good
people. We don’t sleep in coffins or anything. We’re nice, decent, regular
people. I really believe the movie kills the stereotype about Heavy Metal. And I
think that’s a good thing. Of course it’s also done a lot of [promotional] good
for Anvil, that’s for sure.
Chris:
In 2 days’ time you’ll be playing at the Download Festival (in Donnington,
towards the North of England). What do you remember of the last time Anvil
played at Donnington?
Robb:
What I remember was 70,000 people, like a big ocean of people, and people
throwing mud on the stage. That’s what I remember more than anything ‘cause it
was so different for us then. That was our first big festival and we didn’t
realise that that’s what they do.
Chris:
What do you think of the line-up of bands at this festival?
Robb:
I’m not aware of the entire line-up but I do know there’s Mötley Crue, ZZ Top,
Def Leppard, Whitesnake…Prodigy are there I think…there are also so many bands
that I don’t know.
Chris:
Today, especially in Europe, crowds have become more international. When
compared to the 1980s, do you notice any difference in the modern crowd dynamics
when you’re on stage?
Robb:
I think it’s the same. To me Europeans really stayed dedicated to the bands they
love. They’re forever. We’ve got European fans who’ve been with us for 32 years,
especially in countries like Germany, Holland, Belgium, Sweden, Italy, Greece…in
these places people have stayed very dedicated to Anvil. Europeans are cool. I
love Europeans.
Chris:
Who would you like to tour with in the immediate future?
Robb:
Well I can give you right now some really big news. On July 27th and
July 31st in Boston, New York, in baseball stadiums, we’ll be playing
with AC/DC.
[There’s a certain pride in Robb’s voice as he repeats…]
A bill made up of AC/DC + Anvil……that means we’re going to play for around
50,000 people in America. It won’t be a tour but they will be very special dates
for us. It feels amazing, like things have really changed for us.
Who would I like to tour with? Motörhead. I love Motörhead. And any other band
that wants to play with us. It’s all fine with me.
Chris:
When Chris Tsangarides came to produce “This Is Thirteen”, what did he bring
into the band?
Robb:
You know, Chris is a great engineer. Besides, when Anvil and Chris come together
we make magic with sound. He really brings a good sound out of us. Regarding
“This Is Thirteen”, the way I remember it is that that’s just what happened
really. We had the songs and he really got the best out of them.
Chris:
Wasn’t he reluctant to be part of the promotional campaign of the Anvil movie?
Robb:
No, no. He was invited to come and he came. As far as I know Chris is very proud
and happy on what’s going on for Anvil right now.
Chris:
Will he also be producing “Juggernaut Of Justice”?
Robb:
I don’t know. We’re talking to him about it and he wants to do it but there’s
many other people. There’s a lot of new things that have come around Anvil now
so I don’t know who’s producing it.
Chris:
Will there be a label to release the album?
Robb:
That’s another thing we still have to decide on. There aren’t many
[major]
labels left anymore. The business has totally changed
[since we started out]
and we’ve
outlived most of the record companies. You only really need record companies for
one thing: to promote you. And we’ve got a movie out right now that’s already
doing that very promotion.
Having said that,
our most recent album – “This Is Thirteen” – is going to be out on Sony Records
in Japan. I believe Sony is also going to put it out here in the UK and in
America, Universal is putting it out. So we have some labels
[interested]
again but for the first time it’s a different kind of deal where the deal is
very good for us.
[grins]
Because of the movie, labels really feel they really want to help us.
Chris:
The title “Juggernaut Of Justice” seems to suggest the ultimate rendition for
the band. Was that the idea behind the title?
Robb:
Well, that’s how it turned out. Sacha (Gervasi) was the one who came up with the
name and everything that’s happening to the band feels like it’s a juggernaut of
justice. It sounded very good as a title. Plus, the alliteration of the title
follows the tradition adopted by Anvil for album titles, such as “Metal On
Metal” or “Forged In Fire”, “Strength Of Steel”, “Pound For Pound”, “This Is
Thirteen”…..
Chris:
In conjunction with the Anvil movie, the band has recently published a
homonymously-titled book. Is this book a transcript of the movie?
Robb:
It’s that plus more. The book is told in Lips’ and my own words and goes into
more details, for example, about the early years of Anvil.
Chris:
Talking about the early years…what do you remember of Anvil’s first gigs and how
had the reaction to them been?
Robb:
All that I remember is our performance, our style and our sound, which had some
powerful influence over people. We played and people started to freak out over
us. They would say things like: “Man, we’ve never seen anyone play that fast” or
“We’ve never seen any guy play drums like Robb Reiner.” Actually I still hear
people say stuff like this.
Chris:
At the time there wasn’t even terminology such as ‘Thrash Metal’ for people to
describe your music.
Robb:
No there wasn’t, not even ‘Speed Metal’. We were just ‘Heavy Metal’ – actually I
personally regarded it as Hard Rock. Then it turned into Power Metal, which then
turned into Melodic Power Metal. Today there’s Thrash Metal, Doom Metal, Death
Metal and whatever, but when we started out it was different. It’s like a germ,
always mutating. I like Lemmy’s
[Motörhead]
way of looking at it: it’s just Rock ‘N Roll.
© 2009 Chris Galea
Current line-up:
(2007 to date)
Robb Reiner - drums
Lips - lead vocals, lead
guitar
Glenn Five - bass,
backing vocals
Album discography:
Juggernaut Of Justice - 2010 [t/b/c]
This Is Thirteen [self-release] - 2007
Back To Basics (Massacre) - 2004
Still Going Strong (Massacre) - 2002
Plenty Of Power (Massacre) - 2001
Anthology Of Anvil [compilation] (Hypnotic) - 2000
Speed Of Sound (Hypnotic) - 1998
Absolutely No Alternative (Hypnotic) - 1997
Plugged In Permanent (Hypnotic) – 1996
Worth The Weight (Maximum) - 1991
Past And Present – Live In Concert [live] (Metal Blade) - 1989
Pound For Pound (Metal Blade) - 1988
Strength Of Steel (Metal Blade) - 1987
Backwaxed [compilation] (Attic) – 1985
Forged In Fire (Attic) – 1983
Metal On Metal (Attic) – 1982
Hard ‘N’ Heavy (Attic) – 1981
