ANVIL Frontman: GLENN FIVE 'Tried To Make It Difficult By Leaving Without Proper Notice'

Mohsen Fayyazi of Metal Shock Finland has just conducted exclusive interview with guitarist/vocalist Steve "Lips" Kudlow of Canadian heavy metal legends ANVIL. A couple of excerpts from the chat follow below.

Metal Shock Finland: With the recent news of [bassist] Glenn Five’s departure [from ANVIL], can you update me on the current situation in ANVIL as you are touring the USA soon?

Lips: We hired an old friend to do the tour and are currently working with a new, improved bassist. There was no major issue in fixing this at all, and in fact, everything was sorted out within a few hours of Glenn departing. Glenn tried to make it difficult by leaving without proper notice, but we've been preparing for this for quite some time. This did end up for the better, as it is a huge improvement with our new guy, both musically as well as personally.

Metal Shock Finland: Let's talk about [the latest ANVIL album] "Juggernaut Of Justice". How do you feel now after releasing such a metal piece of work? And how has it been received so far? And I’d like to know if you have any particular memories during the recording process.

Lips: We feel it is our best work ever. The sales have gone well, and even more importantly, people love hearing the new songs live. The recording and writing were great! It was a lot of fun recording the bed tracks at Dave Grohl's studio in Los Angeles. The huge MOTÖRHEAD flag hung up over the studio glass added an ambience of pure metal inspiration!

Metal Shock Finland: "I actually preferred being a King in Hell than a servant below" — you said this somewhere and also you advise younger musicians with this: "Never put a value of money on your music, and never depend on your music to make you money." I saw many younger musicians who produce great music but they weren't supported by record labels, so after several years, they gave up and disbanded. Do you think we need some changes in the music industry or do we have to learn how we can make a balance between economic issues and producing music?

Lips: There will never be balance between economic issues and producing music. This is even more true now than ever before. The reason is… people don’t buy music anymore… it's free! So how can bands afford to record if people aren't paying money for their music? The music has become nothing more than the advertisement to buy a t-shirt! We sell ten t-shirts to one CD a night. This is because the internet supplies the people with free music sharing, so the only reason to buy a CD is for a souvenir.

Read the entire interview from Metal Shock Finland.