exploremusic

Back in my days at the University of Winnipeg—before club owners abandoned live music for DJs—my friends and I would hit a couple of our regular places every weekend to catch whomever was touring across Canada. A few of these groups—Men Without Hats, Teenage Head, Rough Trade—would later graduate to bigger venues. However, most of the acts we saw met more inglorious fates. As much as I loved seeing Crackers, Frank Soda and the Imps and the Pumps, they ended up just…disappearing.

For decades, Anvil was in this second category. They were, by far, the loudest band ever packed into the Norlander or the Black Knight. My ears are still ringing.

But for whatever reason, I had something of a soft spot for Anvil because they tried so hard. Yet, if you’ve seen Anvil: The Story of Anvil, you’ll know that it never quite worked out for them.

Until now.

Over the last year, this documentary—which, if you haven’t seen it by now, is bloody essential viewing—has taken on a surreal life of its own.
And now, with the principle members of the band finally realizing their heavy metal dream, I can’t help but feel good for them.

It began with the film festivals and the word of mouth that followed. There’s been relentless media coverage, complete with features in Newsweek and Rolling Stone. And it just keeps getting better. This week, it was announced Anvil was picked to open for AC/DC at Gillette Stadium in Boston on July 28th and at Giants Stadium in New York on July 31st.

Meanwhile, check out their official home page. Hopefully, they’ll make enough money to get a proper domain name.

http://my.tbaytel.net/~tgallo@tbaytel.net/anvil/