Rock-n-Roll Inspiration: Anvil

Today I slept in, after a long hard week of writing (by day) and rocking (by night). Work is challenging right now. I enjoy it, but it is like doing battle with Mongol hordes sometimes. Very satisfying when you decapitate your adversarial foe with a handy blow from your battle axe. My battle axe is, of course, my technical writing prowess, intellectual capacity, and motivational fortitude. In the old days, I could have said my weapon of choice was “the pen.” But in this modern age, we don’t use pens anymore for writing. We use computers, or “workstations” in the parlance of our times.

None the less, I try to keep a vision of medieval warfare in mind as I hew through the imaginary warriors who seek to scale the walls of the fortress and crush us. It turns work into a sort of video game in my head, which is kind of fun.

After I made some eggs for breakfast today, I opened up Netflix and watched the rockumentary film, “The Anvil Story.” I had been meaning to watch it for a while, and now I am sorry I did not watch it sooner. It’s a real life Spinal Tap-esque story of a band called Anvil that has been trying to make it big since the 80s. I actually remember them from the 80s. My family was living in Australia and I was doing volunteer work at a public radio station that had a metal show. One of my school mates introduced me to Anvil’s music during the show, which we co-hosted. I had always assumed the Canadian rockers had had a brief and successful career, then retired in riches. But it turns out, success was always just out of reach for them, and they have been spending the past 30 years trying to make their rock-n-roll dream come true, while watching other similar 80s hair bands (many of them influenced by Anvil) get fame and fortune.

This movie is their story, and it was both heart warming and heart breaking. Thanks to the film and a solid fan base in Japan, the band is actually doing decently well with their 13th and 14th albums.

I say CHECK IT OUT!

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