One on One with Anvil’s Steve Kudlow (aka Lips)

Talk about paying your dues! In the past few years Anvil, the Canadian Metal band, went from unknowns to Metal Music Gods almost overnight. After 13 albums and 30 years of hard work, Sacha Gervasi shot a documentary with the band called “Anvil: The Story Of Anvil.” The 2008 doc captured critical acclaim, became an instant hit with music fans, and it did wonders to raise Anvil’s awareness.

In the 3 years since the documentary was released, Anvil has seen new opportunities including talk-show appearances, international tours with AC/DC, Saxon and Alice Cooper, and praise from celebrity fans including Keanu Reeves, Michael Moore, and Steve-O.

MethodShop was extremely fortunate to get some one-on-one time with Anvil frontman and vocalist, Steve Kudlow, or “Lips” as he’s know by fans. Lips talked to us about everything from being a fan of Pantera to Lemmy from Motorhead‘s marriage advice and a severe dislike for Cookie Monster Metal.

Hope you have as much fun reading it as we did writing it.

How are you Lips? Doing a lot of press today?

Yup. Haven’t even been able to get out of bed.

Is doing press inrerviews the worst part of being in a band?

No, the worst part is waiting backstage when you’re going on after the support bands. More than half the time they’re horrible.

The younger bands?

Yeah, sometimes they’re younger and sometimes they’re older, which is even more interesting (laughs).

Are you a music fan? Do you like any of these newer bands you’re hearing?

Um, no. Basically, I like the music I grew up with and I’m still very much living there. You know what I mean? I can’t relate to the “Cookie Monster Metal” singing things and it will never, ever impress me. A guy who’s yelling into the microphone just isn’t interesting to me.

But it’s nothing new. I mean, death metal first came out in the late ’80s.

Yeah, I guess. I don’t know. As far as I’m concerned, when metal branched out into all these different sub-genres, and this and that, I didn’t listen to it. I just always sort of listened to what I grew up with and I think everybody tends to do that as well.

Yeah, your teenager years tend to be your favorite era in music. I don’t know why that is.

That’s when you’re most impressionable. Your first impression will last forever. I imagine that if I listened to Cookie Monster Metal when I was 14 or 15 years old, I’d want to hear it.

That’s me. Being a teenager in the ’90s, that’s what was new at the time.

Yeah, so to you that’s normal.

One of my favorite Anvil videos I’ve seen on YouTube is the interview between you and Phil Anselmo of Down and formerly Pantera. Pantera to me is one of my favorite bands ever.

Oh yeah (laughs). And I’m in one of his favorite bands ever (laughs).

It’s great to see the generations there. He’s my idol, you’re his idol.

And I love Lemmy from Motorhead (laughs). You know what I mean?

What about when Pantera came out, did you like them?

They opened up for us when we went down there in 1989, and at that point they were probably one of the best opening bands we’d ever had. There was enough melody that it wasn’t so far removed at that point. It was just a shade darker than Motorhead to me, or maybe Metallica. Once we started getting into bands like Death, um… who else? There’s tons of them.

Cannibal Corpse?

Cannibal Corpse (laughs). I mean, even just the names are ridiculous. I think part of it is pretty funny. Like, Cannibal Corpse. What kind of a name for a band is that? It’s whatever. It’s like Anal Blast. That’s a great name for a band. Or Anal Cunt.

What is the obsession we have with age? In this culture it seems we are so obsessed with youth.

What it actually is, is human nature. Everyone is in denial of growing old. Everybody has a fear of growing old and dying. It’s a ticking clock. I mean, look at Mick Jagger‘s face and ask yourself, “How old am I?”

We’re all so willing to postpone certain things in life, and we don’t realize the whole world is going to come down on us some day. But the real truth is you are what you are, and age has nothing to do with it. It’s just a number.

Also, age and time are both subjective. Someone who’s 19 is going to think that 30 is old, which might seem young to someone who’s 50.

Why is that young girls end up with older men?

Because we’re all immature and stupid?

No, it’s because growing old is involuntary. Growing up is optional.

And that’s something you said in the Phil Anselmo interview, is you grow old but you don’t grow up.

That’s right. If your spirit is young, you die with a young spirit. If you’re 60 and you feel as though you’re 11 years old, then you’re 60 and 11 years old. It’s all on the inside.

Did you see Lemmy’s film?

It was okay. It wasn’t amazing. If I wasn’t a real Motorhead fan, I wouldn’t give much of a shit about it. It wasn’t much of a movie, really. No real plot, not much of a story. It was just pretty much about how great Lemmy is.

I mean, there were a lot of things I didn’t know about Lemmy in it. I liked it.

Yeah, because you don’t know him.  I mean, for me, everything about his philosophy on marriage and all that shit is stuff I discussed with him years ago. Like, in 1983 we talked about all the stuff he talked about in the movie. And he’s the same guy. He has not changed at all. He’s gotten older but the guy is still the same, so what difference does it make? It’s like he’s gotten older but he doesn’t know it. He still thinks the same. He’s still a very, very wise, clever man and always has been. He has the same philosophies at 60 years old that he did when he was 30.

He told me, “Don’t ever get married. Stay married to your music. Don’t ever get married, it’s a big mistake.” Well, I did but he never changed. My first marriage, as he predicted, would go down horribly. But my second marriage worked. In hindsight, it’s because if you make it big and then you get married, as opposed to being married and then you make it big, it’s more likely that your marriage will last a long time.

Yeah, so many things change so quickly.

That’s right. And that’s what happened. Everything changes quickly. But with my second marriage the foundation had already been set.

And the financial situation changes.

Yeah, you know. It’s like that movie Scarface with Al Pacino, “First you get the money, then you get the power, then you get the pussy.” Well, for me it was the exact opposite. I got the power, then I got the money, then I lost the pussy (laughs).

Basically, I got married and everything changed. I wasn’t around. I was on tour, this and that. I was lucky that I was able the second time around to build a relationship, build the foundation after 15 – 20 years, and now all this happens. So if I’m gone for a few weeks at a time I can come back and know that everything will be in place.

Thank you very much for the interview, Lips and good luck with Juggernaut of Justice.

Thank you. Nice to talk to you.

The Story Of Anvil & Juggernaut of Justice

Thanks again to Steve Kudlow for doing this interview with us about the Anvil band! It was a real treat!

Anvil releases their 14th studio album, Juggernaut of Justice, on May 10, 2011. You can find out more on Anvil on their website AnvilMetal.com or follow/fan them on a variety of social media networks including Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube. The trailer for the Anvil movie is embedded below. Enjoy!

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