I Saw Anvil Today...

It was a particularly rough day today. Normally, Saturdays are pretty easy but today, a lady that was sent from corporate over 6 months ago and screwed things up, decided to give 5 drivers the day off. I ended up having to do two routes. The morning I was fighting off a migraine so that didn't make the morning run with both routes any quicker. For my afternoon run, the headache was gone but I had even more product than that morning (though luckily neither route took me to their furthest points) and didn't leave the warehouse until after 4pm.

When I went to my second stop, which was on my regular route, I was surprised to see that they ordered a lot more beer than normal. I figured they had something going on but had no idea what it was. When I went in with my first load, I saw a guy with an Anvil shirt. I complimented him on it when I saw this behind him:



Anvil were having a show there promoting the new album. I was shocked, a band I actually like was at a regular customer's bar. I was thinking about trying to maybe meet them, but I had a lot for them. However, it's not everyday I have a chance to meet a band I like. So I rushed to get the delivery done so I could do this. However, when I had the time, they were in the middle of sound check and I kind of had butterflies in my stomach. While not a huge fan, these guys are metal legends and not being a fanboy, what would I say? "I'm a fan of a lot of your music."  I also only have  a vague idea of what they look like. There were several guys that could have been Lips but I couldn't really tell. The only one I knew for sure was Robb Reiner (that hat he wears all the time) and he was on his drums for the sound check.

All this coupled with the fact that I still had a lot of deliveries left I couldn't hang around (if I didn't have the other route to do, I could have taken my lunch break, but I too much work. So instead, I took a picture and a short (and very wobbly) video of Reiner on his kit and got a shirt. They had autographed CDs but I already had my copy a week earlier. However, I decided "screw it" and got the CD (at least it had an extra song on it). Besides, it was $10 which is actually less than I paid for my CD from Amazon.

I was sort of bummed about missed opportunity, but I reminded myself that I'm just a casual Anvil fan. They probably don't even make my top 50 band list. It sucks I couldn't meet them but that's the way it goes sometimes. I hear they've performed at that bar before, so perhaps I will have the opportunity again in the future if I stay with this employer.

The shirt I bought:




The autographed CD:



Robb on his drums:



BTW, anyone want to buy my non-autographed copy of Pounding the Pavement? $8 plus shipping. Let me know.

I admit I haven't listened to anything from them except for the songs that appear in the documentary on them. They seem to be touring constantly though.

Awesome DB! Yea they play anywhere they can. Pretty cool but I wonder how
Many people show up. The movie died down so I’d imagine the popularity did as well. According to lips on Facebook tho they are very busy and doing well so who knows.

It was a pretty decent crowd for a hole-in-the-wall bar. Also, this was probably several hours before the show, so more probably showed up after I left. I actually went back briefly (I delivered the wrong stuff to them and had to get it back) and the crowd had grown quite a bit. Someone tried to collect the cover charge from me because I was wearing a Number Of The Beast shirt (we have uniforms but most of the time I just go casual). He thought I was a concert goer . I explained I was just making a delivery and it was just a happy coincidence that I'm a metal fan.

glassprison wrote:

I admit I haven't listened to anything from them except for the songs that appear in the documentary on them. They seem to be touring constantly though.

They are one of those bands like Motorhead or AC/DC that pretty much stick to one sound. As the saying goes: If you've heard one album, you've heard them all. However, they are very good at what they do IMO.

Love the early stuff, and like the newer stuff I've heard, but not a huge fan. I did start getting into them again after I saw that documentary a while back, but my interest is pretty non existent now. I sill play the old stuff though, Forged in Fire is one of my favorite albums.

I saw them a few years ago, and it was a really good show I must say. Kinda bummed, I took video of the drum solo, but I had my camera set wrong and it only took like a minute worth then shut off. Should have gotten the guitar solo, it's not every day you see someone do a solo using a dildo lol



Damn, time flies. Looking at when I posted those, it was eight years ago lol

That's a cool shirt, by the way!

Cool story DB, I saw Kerry King on my route at John Wayne Airport a month ago.

Cool story and cool shirt !

Anvil and Overkill are 2 bands that still play around that I have never seen and I like both bands just fine. I should remedy this.

Thanks for sharing the story.

Good stuff, DB. Thanks for the cool read. Anvil is one of those bands that I keep wanting to get into but something else always gets in the spot first. A lot of the catalog was re released a few years back after the documentary came out, and a buddy of mine bought the first couple releases and let me borrow and burn them. I wasn't super impressed by what I heard. I think I got caught up in the hype and expected to be just floored by the music coming out of my speakers. Also, at the time, my interest in Saxon and Raven (two others with hard to find back catalogs) was taking flight. It's funny, the timing of your posting, DB, as I just started to frequent a local place again that I hadn't been since high school, and she has a bunch of those Anvil re releases relatively cheap. So, the idea of jumping in headlong with the band is a possibility now.

I saw them live in 2002 or so.

Cool that you got to see'em soundcheck & stuff. So why didn't ya go back after work to catch the actual show? I would've!

Fat Freddy wrote:

Cool that you got to see'em soundcheck & stuff. So why didn't ya go back later to see the actual show? I would've!

I was finished at 8:30 at the end of a 62 hour week and the headache I had that morning was creeping back in. I had just enough energy left in me to get home.

Had I known they were going to be there I would have taken the day off but the bar never had any advertisement for them so I didn't even know until I made the delivery. Any other week, I might have gone back. Normally Saturdays are easy (this past Saturday had me done with my deliveries by 3) but that Saturday and the Saturday before it were screwed up leaving me with two routes to deliver.

DallasBlack wrote:

Fat Freddy wrote:

Cool that you got to see'em soundcheck & stuff. So why didn't ya go back later to see the actual show? I would've!

I was finished at 8:30 at the end of a 62 hour week and the headache I had that morning was creeping back in. I had just enough energy left in me to get home.

Gotcha. Well, now you know to keep an eye on that bar for future gigs.

Fat Freddy wrote:

DallasBlack wrote:

Fat Freddy wrote:

Cool that you got to see'em soundcheck & stuff. So why didn't ya go back later to see the actual show? I would've!

I was finished at 8:30 at the end of a 62 hour week and the headache I had that morning was creeping back in. I had just enough energy left in me to get home.

Gotcha. Well, now you know to keep an eye on that bar for future gigs.

Indeed!

These days it seems like there isn't much advertising for bands unless you are one of the real big names like Ozzy. Metallica, Priest, Maiden or so. In fact, the other night I was walking out of a Newbury Comics store (in Norwood, MA) and there was a small poster for the latest incarnation of Quiet Riot playing at a small place about 15 minutes away on Thursday night. I know they aren't really relevant anymore and we are a long way from Metal's heyday; but it's just another reminder of how times have changed.

They played Eugene the other day but I missed em.

Quote :

hese days it seems like there isn't much advertising for bands unless you are one of the real big names like Ozzy. Metallica, Priest, Maiden or so. In fact, the other night I was walking out of a Newbury Comics store (in Norwood, MA) and there was a small poster for the latest incarnation of Quiet Riot playing at a small place about 15 minutes away on Thursday night.

I guess the reasoning is that online publicity is more effective. Still I don't trust any platform as a go-to source for concert info. I try to cycle through Songkick, Bandsintown, Pollstar, and local venues' websites to keep up.

the sentinel wrote:

These days it seems like there isn't much advertising for bands unless you are one of the real big names like Ozzy. Metallica, Priest, Maiden or so. In fact, the other night I was walking out of a Newbury Comics store (in Norwood, MA) and there was a small poster for the latest incarnation of Quiet Riot playing at a small place about 15 minutes away on Thursday night. I know they aren't really relevant anymore and we are a long way from Metal's heyday; but it's just another reminder of how times have changed.

Funny thing is, a local band was advertised for a few days later. But not Anvil.