Anvil at The Craufurd Arms Aug 24th 2018
Towards the end of August, I went to a couple of cracking gigs at The Craufurd Arms in Wolverton. The first gig was Anvil on the 24th and the second was Electric Six on the 25th. I’ll write about the gigs separately.
Anvil is a long established Canadian heavy metal band comprised of Steve “Lips” Kudlow (guitar/vocals), Robb Reiner (drums) and Chris Robertson (bass). The fellas were only in the UK for a couple of gigs (the other was the Stonedeaf festival in Newark) and were promoting the new album “Pounding the Pavement”.
And it turned out that the album title was a nod to real life. During the set, Kudlow explained, the band is determined to keep working and making metal music despite increasing age, decreasing awareness and reducing incomes. He likened Anvil to door to door (in the band’s case gig to gig) salesman doing the hard yards and trying to make the sales.
Anvil’s heyday was the 1980s and the fellas are of retirement age now, Kudlow is 67. Like the band, the audience was an aging bunch too, I guess that those that followed Anvil from its early days are going to be a little long in the tooth by now. Lots of grey hairs were present and I fitted in just fine (though I’ll admit I should have worn a tour shirt of some description instead of my Adidas branded generic rugby shirt, which didn’t fit in at all).
To keep the earnings up and the costs down, I found out later that the band was travelling light … very light. The chaps turned up at the Craufurd with two guitars, some cymbals and a small quantity of merchandise. That meant the venue had to go into overdrive to provide and then set up the rest of the kit (amps, drum kit, microphones etc.) necessary for the gig to take place.
For the band, there were no back up guitars and no trusted roadies to “fix” things if they went wrong. Fortunately, there were no busted strings during the performance and so no one would have been any the wiser that the fellas were on a tight budget.
After the support act, “The Tony Rolfe Band”, had completed its set, Anvil took to the stage. Shortly after launching into action, Kudlow was off the said stage with his guitar and performing in the audience. I was very close to the front of the hall and that meant it was amusing trying to decide which way to look. Of course, Kudlow’s guitar’s power cable followed him onto the floor and that left me and many others passing it backwards and forwards over our heads as he meandered around the hall before returning to his band mates. When out of microphone range, which was an issue as he mingled, Kudlow had a neat trick of holding his guitar up to his mouth so that the pickups would act as a substitute.
In addition to Kudlow being enthusiastic off stage, he and Chris Robertson were very animated when on it too. Rolling eyes, big grins, lots of lip action and other exaggerated facial expressions were so common that I found myself thinking about Aardman Animations and Wallace and Gromit. Maybe the next time Anvil makes a movie, Nick Parks could be the man to sculpt it.
There were various other points of amusement during the evening. At one stage, Steve Kudlow played his guitar with the aid of a gold coloured, penis shaped vibrator. Then in between songs, he reminisced about times past and things lost. His stories about meeting Lemmy and engaging over drugs and booze, were entertaining and enjoyed by all present. He could do a good impression of Lemmy’s gruff voice too.
Here’s the set list:
During the set, Robb Reiner performed a belter of a drum solo. Bearing in mind that he wasn’t using his own stuff and wouldn’t have known until the evening what was included in the kit he was provided, he worked his magic with real aplomb.
At the end of the gig, I went to buy a copy of Pounding the Pavement but there were none left. The old hustlers lost themselves a sale, which is a shame bearing in mind how keen the band is to keep its flame alive. I’ll be able to get a copy on Amazon, but I regret that I didn’t get a copy at the gig and get the guys to sign it.
I can however report that the gig was good fun, good natured and top quality … and that I’d really like to see Anvil again.
I understand from the event team at the Craufurd that Kudlow/Reiner/Roberston had a great time too and are keen to play the venue again in the future. Hopefully next time, they’ll come slightly better prepared.
I’d bet that the fellas had a better time in Wolverton than they did in Newark. Playing at a festival just can’t be as immersive/rewarding as playing at a venue like The Craufurd Arms.
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Anvil is a long established Canadian heavy metal band comprised of Steve “Lips” Kudlow (guitar/vocals), Robb Reiner (drums) and Chris Robertson (bass). The fellas were only in the UK for a couple of gigs (the other was the Stonedeaf festival in Newark) and were promoting the new album “Pounding the Pavement”.
And it turned out that the album title was a nod to real life. During the set, Kudlow explained, the band is determined to keep working and making metal music despite increasing age, decreasing awareness and reducing incomes. He likened Anvil to door to door (in the band’s case gig to gig) salesman doing the hard yards and trying to make the sales.
Anvil’s heyday was the 1980s and the fellas are of retirement age now, Kudlow is 67. Like the band, the audience was an aging bunch too, I guess that those that followed Anvil from its early days are going to be a little long in the tooth by now. Lots of grey hairs were present and I fitted in just fine (though I’ll admit I should have worn a tour shirt of some description instead of my Adidas branded generic rugby shirt, which didn’t fit in at all).
To keep the earnings up and the costs down, I found out later that the band was travelling light … very light. The chaps turned up at the Craufurd with two guitars, some cymbals and a small quantity of merchandise. That meant the venue had to go into overdrive to provide and then set up the rest of the kit (amps, drum kit, microphones etc.) necessary for the gig to take place.
For the band, there were no back up guitars and no trusted roadies to “fix” things if they went wrong. Fortunately, there were no busted strings during the performance and so no one would have been any the wiser that the fellas were on a tight budget.
After the support act, “The Tony Rolfe Band”, had completed its set, Anvil took to the stage. Shortly after launching into action, Kudlow was off the said stage with his guitar and performing in the audience. I was very close to the front of the hall and that meant it was amusing trying to decide which way to look. Of course, Kudlow’s guitar’s power cable followed him onto the floor and that left me and many others passing it backwards and forwards over our heads as he meandered around the hall before returning to his band mates. When out of microphone range, which was an issue as he mingled, Kudlow had a neat trick of holding his guitar up to his mouth so that the pickups would act as a substitute.
In addition to Kudlow being enthusiastic off stage, he and Chris Robertson were very animated when on it too. Rolling eyes, big grins, lots of lip action and other exaggerated facial expressions were so common that I found myself thinking about Aardman Animations and Wallace and Gromit. Maybe the next time Anvil makes a movie, Nick Parks could be the man to sculpt it.
There were various other points of amusement during the evening. At one stage, Steve Kudlow played his guitar with the aid of a gold coloured, penis shaped vibrator. Then in between songs, he reminisced about times past and things lost. His stories about meeting Lemmy and engaging over drugs and booze, were entertaining and enjoyed by all present. He could do a good impression of Lemmy’s gruff voice too.
Here’s the set list:
- March of the Crabs
- 666
- Ooh Baby
- Badass Rock 'n' Roll
- Doing What I Want
- Winged Assassins
- Free as the Wind
- On Fire
- This Is Thirteen
- Mothra
- Bitch in the Box
- Swing Thing
- Daggers and Rum
- Metal on Metal
- Running (encore)
- Born to Be Wild (encore)
During the set, Robb Reiner performed a belter of a drum solo. Bearing in mind that he wasn’t using his own stuff and wouldn’t have known until the evening what was included in the kit he was provided, he worked his magic with real aplomb.
At the end of the gig, I went to buy a copy of Pounding the Pavement but there were none left. The old hustlers lost themselves a sale, which is a shame bearing in mind how keen the band is to keep its flame alive. I’ll be able to get a copy on Amazon, but I regret that I didn’t get a copy at the gig and get the guys to sign it.
I can however report that the gig was good fun, good natured and top quality … and that I’d really like to see Anvil again.
I understand from the event team at the Craufurd that Kudlow/Reiner/Roberston had a great time too and are keen to play the venue again in the future. Hopefully next time, they’ll come slightly better prepared.
I’d bet that the fellas had a better time in Wolverton than they did in Newark. Playing at a festival just can’t be as immersive/rewarding as playing at a venue like The Craufurd Arms.
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