Sunday, May 31, 2009

"Anvil! The Story of Anvil" a hit film


I'd never heard of the Canadian heavy metal rock band Anvil. That was until this morning, when I was listening to my local NPR station in Seattle (KPLU) and one of the band members presented a prize on the air during the weekly Sunday Puzzle with Will Shortz.

Unfortunately, my laptop died while in the ferry line back to Whidbey Island early Sunday morning (I'd just flown in from Zurich the night before), so Googling would have to wait until I arrived home.

Anvil is in fact a heavy metal band from Toronto, and the subject of a recent documentary titled Anvil! The Story of Anvil (love the original title). Here's the opening of a recent feature in the LA Weekly about the band and the film:
A funny documentary has endlessly quotable lines. An even funnier documentary has endlessly quotable lines delivered in a Canadian accent. Sacha Gervasi’s Anvil! The Story of Anvil, a chronicle of the forgotten Maple Leaf metalers and their last-ditch effort for commercial and creative success, has given the band its second wind twice: first, as a sleeper hit that made the film-festival rounds, including Sundance, last year, and now as a nationwide release. So don’t feel too bad if you don’t know much aboot Anvil just yet.
I doubt if I'll be purchasing any of their music, but look forward to seeing the documentary. Coincidentally, it's playing just across the water from Whidbey Island in Port Townsend, at the wonderful Rose Theatre. June 5-11 at 7 PM. I may take the ferry over!

Anvil photo by Brent J. Craig

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