The Story of Anvil: a heavy review

A little hype from Sundance ensured there was a full house last night to view The Story of Anvil as part of the Melbourne International Film Festival. Warmly received The Story of Anvil was definitely a testimony to tenacity and how life can be very financially unrewarding and sometimes unkind to those who have played a seminal part in influencing certain musical and artistic genres.

Of course, the reality of fame and fortune comes to few; but in this instance we actually bear witness to the shared sadness of family and friends who go on the journey with this Canadian metal band. You realise as you watch the film that director Sacha Gervasi must have had quite close connections with the band as he captures intimate moments of pathos. Sacha who had a relationship with Geri Haliwell and fathered a child with her called Bluebell Madonna would I suspect also know a lot about suffering too.

Although, The Story of Anvil is regarded as a Spinal Tap sequel by mainstream reviewers, I found myself thinking of more subtle linkages between Judaic suffering and atonement than weren’t overtly drummed into us. However real despair is not the currency of this film as the core members of the band ‘Lips’ and Robb valiantly press on, and if you think they need help — hell yeah!

The official Anvil website (hosted in Turkey) is a shocker and needs a desperate makeover. Worth watching though is a review of the documentary and trailer. Again it’s probably maintained by a devoted fan and devoid of gloss and glitz it’s probably well suited to carrying on in the great tradition of Anvil. The real message here is passion and love for what you do and keeping the dream alive!

ANVIL will be performing at Rock & Roll Heaven in Toronto, Ontario, Canada on August 8, 2008.

Anvil and other ‘old’ bands also provide a community and social service, as they continue to help challenge our prejudices against ageism. In a society obsessed with youth and record companies who want to commodify this fleeting period, older entertainers despite being sent out to pasture where they are meant to ponder the follies of their ‘années sacrées’ are actually rather hip (insert jokes about hip replacements here)!

Also enjoyed this past week was a visit from Devo – a more eloquent review of this high energy new wave romp has been kindly provided by Alex Burns. *mwah*

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