greenads

t’s a Wednesday morning, and two Canadian heavy metal dudes are sitting in a conference room in the Viacom building in Los Angeles, talking to a bunch of reporters on a conference call at 9:00 a.m. Why would a self-respecting rock & roll band be up at such an ungodly hour so far away from home to do something so seemingly trivial? To promote their movie, of course.

The Canadians in question are Steve “Lips” Kudlow and Robb Reiner, respectively the lead guitarist/vocalist and drummer with the veteran Toronto metal band Anvil, and after years of toiling in obscurity fate finally cut them some serious breaks in 2009. Sacha Gervasi was a teenaged metal fan who struck up a friendship with Anvil when they toured England in the early 1980s. Gervasi spent a summer as a roadie for Anvil during a lengthy tour of Canada, when the band were at the peak of their popularity after releasing the groundbreaking 1982 album Metal For Metal. Gervasi went on to become a successful screenwriter, while Anvil’s career took a long, slow detour to nowhere thanks to bad record deals and uncomprehending management, though Kudlow and Reiner stubbornly refused to throw in the towel. In 2005, Gervasi reconnected with Kudlow and Reiner, who were blocking out plans for a low-budget European tour. Gervasi put together a camera crew, followed the band on tour, and in early 2008 Anvil! The Story of Anvil played to wildly enthusiastic audiences at the Sundance Film Festival.