Anvil! The Little Metal Band That Could.

Somewhere in my parents stacks of VHS home movies, there is a music video my brother and I made with some friends. The tape mostly consists of the lot of us jumping around in the backyard and pretending to play baseball bats like they were Flying V guitars, the point is we dreamed of being rock stars... and so did you. Admit it, you have stood in front of a mirror and pretended your reflection was a stadium full of fans, you have sung aloud in your car and maybe done some air guitar in the shower.

Everyone has dreamed of being a big ass ROCKSTAR! Anvil! The Story of Anvil is a documentary about a bunch of guys who never stopped dreaming.


There was a time in the '80s when metal was still a popular thing, when power chords and leather bondage stage getups were the shit, and twenty years ago, for 15 minutes, Anvil not only toured with the biggest names in metal, but led them, so it was a mystery when Anvil never made it big.

This movie is about Steve "Lips" Kudlow and Robb Reiner, the founders of Anvil and the guys who, even though they are deep into their 50s, refuse to give up on their dreams of stardom.

The movie is a like a real life version of Spinal Tap except less funny, a little sadder, and ultimately more heartfelt.

We follow the band as they go on a ramshackle tour through Europe, playing in clubs for a crowd of 5 people, yelling at club owners who refuse to pay and getting on each others nerves.

We follow them to London to record a new album with the only producer who ever made them sound good and getting on each others nerves.

We follow them to Japan and watch them get their moment in the sun in front of a huge, screaming crowd.

Their devotion to their dream of making it walks the thin line between sad and heroic.


3.5 stars with some head banging and throwing of the horns.