By Andrew Mayes

Hard rock legends Anvil brought their Pounding Out the Past tour to Cranbrook’s Key City Theatre on June 30.

Praised by the likes of Lars Ulrich of Metallica, Slash of Guns N’ Roses and Scott Ian of Anthrax, Anvil delivered a master class in classic heavy metal, playing songs from their first four albums released between 1981 and 1987.

Guitarist and lead singer, Steve “Lips” Kudlow, jumped from the stage into the pit to start and end the show to bring his guitar work closer to the audience.

He also entertained the crowd with tales on the road. These tales included a humourous account of a 24-hour stretch of partying with Lemmy of Motörhead.

Robb “Robbo” Reiner, stood out with his thundering percussion driving the band forward. While most heavy metal drummers favour the matched stick grip, he instead uses the traditional grip, a technique with roots in jazz drumming.

Anvil’s work ethic and musicianship have earned a loyal following amongst fans.  Showing his appreciation for the fans, Lips, stayed in the pit and shook hands with audience members after finishing off the night with their classic “Metal on Metal.”

It was the fans that helped Anvil out when their tour bus suffered a significant transmission failure mid-tour. Fans donated to a GoFundMe campaign to help raise over $11,000 to pay for the repairs to allow the tour to continue.

Long time local fan Connor Phenuff described Anvil’s performance as, “Canadian metal at its finest.”

Supporting act Midnite Hellion from New Jersey also had some bumps on the road with personnel changes mid-tour. Despite this, their eight-song set was tight and well received.

Local prog metal band, Phaeton, opened the night with their acoustic set featuring driving drums and guitars.

Lead image: Steve “Lips” Kudlow rips on his Flying V to the glee of local metalhead.  Photos by Andrew Mayes

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