ANVIL's STEVE 'LIPS' KUDLOW: 'Everything Revolves And Moves Around Us, But We Remain The Same'

Germany's Gitarre & Bass conducted an interview with frontman Steve "Lips" Kudlow of Canadian metal legends ANVIL during the recording sessions for their new "Pounding The Pavement" album at Soundlodge studios in Rhauderfehn, Germany. You can watch the entire chat below. A few excerpts follow (transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET).

On why ANVIL chooses to record in Rhauderfehn, which is located in the northwest of Germany:

Lips: "It's a place where you can find peace and tranquility and make a lot of noise and disturb it. [Laughs]"

On the "Pounding The Pavement" album title:

Lips: "Some of you might be wondering: 'What does that mean?' It's really an English expression which is about really working and finding work and finding clients, rustling up money, rustling up a living, is basically, fundamentally what 'pounding the pavement' is. I don't think anything can be more fitting than what I've been doing for 40 years. I've been 'pounding the pavement' for 40 years. I've been rustling up business for 40 years and staying at it. That's where it comes from."

On the differences in being a musician today versus when he was starting out in the '70s and '80s:

Lips: "You know what's really interesting? The actual musical aspect, nothing's changed at all. Ever. Since I was a little kid, I hear music in my head and I create it and then we write songs and I put the lyrics to them and we end up in the studio and we put them together. I've been doing that over and over and over and over again. It hasn't changed since I was a little kid. Everything and anything around it, has gone through all kinds of metamorphoses, including band members, I mean, one solid aspect, I've been doing this with my drummer Robb Reiner since we were little kids. This is how the world has kind of been seen to us. We've remained the same and everything revolves and moves around us, but we kind of remain the same. Staying with our roots, staying with the music that we love, still not letting go of what we grew up with and still putting it in our music because that's what makes us feel happy. Just like anybody does. Everybody has moments in their teen years that they hold onto and they hold onto it for the rest of their lives and you don't stop liking it. It's much of the same thing in that way. We carry our style through our fortieth year. This is where we're drawing from and this is where we'll always draw from and we'll continue to do so. That's what is unchanged. Everything else has changed. All what's in style, what's not in style, what should you be doing, what you shouldn't be doing, what other bands do, what other bands don't do. It doesn't matter. We just keep it the same. Unfortunately, of course, the business aspect, the whole model of the way that everything works is completely upside-down. You don't pay for music. The music has now much become much like a jingle on the radio, if you get a radio, if you get so lucky as to have your commercial 'jingle' on the radio and then you'll generate sales that are a shadow of what they once were. Ultimately, what you're doing is, is you're creating this underground jingle and advertisement for people to come to your shows. Truth be told, that's where ANVIL is ANVIL, is in the live element. If I'm not doing it, it's just a copy of it in a recording, so what's the most real aspect of my life and doing it? It's playing in front of people. Ultimately, this is the only way that you can make a living and I'm good with that. So that means okay, the only way I'm making a living from this is by going out to be seen live and to sell my merchandise. I'm in the same business as my dad. We both sell garments. [Laughs] Only I have one advantage: I get to have fun while I'm doing it. I don't have to go to a store."

"Pounding The Pavement" was released January 19 via SPV/Steamhammer as a digipak version (including one bonus track and poster),two-LP gatefold colored version, digital download and stream.