DVD - Anvil! The Story of Anvil

Dreams and passion can be a hard thing to balance with real life. When you're young, it's so much easier to take off and do your thing, at least for a little while. At some point, though, you either have to take flight, or accept the fact that you're dreams are grounded. This exactly what happened to the "almost-were" members of the 80's metal band Anvil, and the documentary Anvil: The Story of Anvil, is like a painful reminiscence of opportunities lost, but it's also a great story about the human spirits ability to endure when someone is passionate about something.

The story goes something like this - Back in the 70's, during the cold winters of Canada, two friends, Robb and Steve, decided they would create a rock band, and vowed to rock forever. Anvil was born, and the band toured relentlessly, becoming known by thousands along with other bands like Metallica, Megadeath, Judas Priest, and other denizens of Heavy Metal. Fast forward thirty some-odd years, and the members of Anvil are working day jobs in Canada, and playing the occasional gig, while their other contemporaries are millionaire rock stars. Steve and Robb, after realizing that people DO remember them from back in the day (with the help of a lot of name dropping by people like Slash and Lars Ulrich), decide they want to take the band back out on the road, and record a new record.

Anvil:The Story of Anvil shows the good, the bad, and the ugly of being friends, being in a band, and being older men with responsibilities. All of these things combine to add an unbearable weight on both the band, and everyone associated with them. But, I think what is amazing about this story is the resilience these guys show about their dream. As an artist, the one thing you crave the most is the recognition of others, and, although they get it from some of their peers, they are so incredibly unknown by the general public, it's almost laughable, but they keep pushing forward. They really do live up to that promise of rocking forever, no matter what. Anvil is inspirational in its tale of people not willing to give up, but its also a very real tale of the consequences of such dedication.