Who and what is Anvil? Thirty two years in the broadcast industry and suddenly this band name’s been popping up everywhere. Rock God’s three hundred feet tall praise the path of these Canadian singer/songwriters and I’m left sitting in a radio station production room biting my lower lip wondering, “Where did I screw up?”
Seriously! Looking in the mirror at the self I’ve become the uttered words were, “Do you know who I am? I, you, we…have read every music book at Barnes and Nobel and neither of us have a clue who Anvil is. For God sakes we’re from Montana! Something surely had to cross the boarder late at night! How could you mess up like this?”
My addiction to American Top 40 and Casey Kasum forced me into a lifestyle of turning every inch of this scratchy career into years of constant research. I honestly don’t recall hearing a heartfelt teary eyed Long Distance Dedication or behind the scenes story about these metal monster or I swear their 8-track tape would’ve been part of my collection of dust keepers.
Wait! I blame this lack of knowledge and total disconnection on my 1985 decision to leave KOOK in Billings, Montana to be an 80’s Adult Contemporary on-air radio talent dominated by Phil Collins, Steve Winwood, Michael Bolton and Celine Dion in Charlotte, NC.
Once locked within the walls of four in a row without talk, where playing Main Street from Bob Seger earned me an angry late night call from Bill the program director; the only metal shoved into my ears was usually a rugged pair of heavier than a case of boxed wine Koss earphones who’s ear padding had faded with the success of John Cafferty’s Beaver Brown band.
Anvil has earned the right to be in the Rock n Roll Hall of Fame and yet record company and top secret ballot voting politics and Bon Jovi will see it can’t be. Gut’s, dedication, loyalty and six oceans of sweat poured into the weathered cracks of weak stages no longer turn the page Bob Seger once sang of.
The idea of this Canadian act getting credit for slipping metal between the electronic sheets created by an 80’s British invasion doesn’t seem to be reason enough to hold up their vow to being different. Without Anvil there wouldn’t have been a hair band movement.
Before Alex Van Halen and Motley Crue madman Tommy Lee…Anvil drummer Robb Reiner put his trap set in the history books thanks to a need for speed…Robb didn’t rob past trend setters he set a new technical standard by pioneering the double bass drum technique that's become a staple of much extreme metal since.
Then it happened…when one is hungry for success one doesn’t like to settle for anything less than the best. Rather than having a nice clean sliver of the melodic pie the group’s manager wanted more than what the label was willing to cut loose. Being in the right place at the right time for Anvil meant letting go to get a better offer and during those negotiations the music industry was introduced to Def Leppard, Poison, Ratt, Cinderella, Sebastian Bach, Kip Winger, White Lion and Joan Jett…
To watch their story on VH-1 Classic’s is like being in the seats at a local YMCA during a three on three basketball tournament. The best of the best almost never make it to the major leagues of success.
Anvil isn’t coming to Charlotte or anywhere close this summer. The American leg of their bar tour puts them in Chicago July 26th, Cleveland the 27th New York on the 30th the Boston the next night.
Out of all the bands and musicians that have scraped the surface of my radio speakers…I have to say Anvil is probably the only one I’d invite to dinner. It’s not the music that’s rocked the old man attitude inside a mind that’s still sixteen…I just wanna know where they get the guts and courage to continue being true to their art. It would be the spaghetti dinner of a lifetime to sit and listen to what it’s like to be a real rock star.
The band that influenced music to become real again in the 80’s is the Ford Mustang or Corvette millions dream of owning but wait until they hit their midlife crisis. This garage band never stopped fine tuning the engine that always whispered, “Yes I can.”
arroecollins@clearchannel.com
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