Heavy Metal Underdogs Anvil Will Finally Do Late-Night TV

By now you've probably heard of Anvil, the Canadian heavy-metal band that's been thrashing away from 30 years without ever finding major success. A documentary, Anvil! The Story of Anvil, was a hit at Sundance last year and has finally opened theatrically to wide acclaim (including from Cinematical's James Rocchi, who also interviewed the director and producer). The movie, which is equal parts entertaining and inspiring, follows the band's ongoing attempts to hit it big, and now it looks like they're on their way: Next week, they'll finally appear on a late-night talk show. It's only Jimmy Kimmel Live, but still!

Lead singer Steve "Lips" Kudlow and drummer Robb Reiner, the childhood friends who started Anvil in the late 1970s, will join Kimmel on Thursday, May 14. They'll be on the couch with Kimmel, being interviewed rather than performing a song, which speaks to the kind of success they're having as the result of the documentary: People want them to succeed without actually wanting to listen to their music.

The band is achieving a very strange kind of notoriety. They're famous for not being famous. If they'd actually hit it big all those years ago, along with Anthrax, Slayer, and others of their ilk, they'd now be just another aging heavy-metal band. Instead, their lack of success is what's making them successful now. But is it an ironic kind of success? They work in a genre whose fanbase is relatively small, and even if you like that kind of music, I'm not sure how good they are at it. Yet suddenly people are rooting for them, including plenty of people (like me) who hate thrash-metal. We want them to succeed because they're such nice, earnest guys -- but if success means we would need to, you know, buy one of their albums or go to one of their concerts, then, um, no thanks. But hey, good luck with everything!