Anvil's is a Cinderella story in slow motion, a pot of gold at the end of a very long rainbow. Though now considered legendary and cited as a major influence by heavy metal's big four --- Metallica, Megadeth, Anthrax, Slayer --- as well as countless other head-banger acts, Anvil never really got its due.

Guitarist Steve "Lips" Kudlow and drummer Robb Reiner had been playing together since their teens and formed the band in Toronto in 1978. Initially called Lips and known for its lyrical explicitness, the band changed its name to Anvil and re-released its debut, "Hard 'N' Heavy," in 1981. But it wasn't until the band released its second album, "Metal On Metal," that the weight and speed of Anvil's music was truly felt.

The band hit the road supporting acts like Iron Maiden and Motorhead, and played festivals in England and Japan. Anvil's metal was certainly heavy, but fast and a lot of fun. Lips' lips always seemed to be busy framing an impish smile as he did things like play his guitar with a dildo.

But things somehow never clicked, and the band watched as their contemporaries soared past them. They saw melodic metal, and then rap metal, get the spotlight and the gold records. Anvil got left behind in the underground where the band kept cranking out records (16 and counting) and playing live, believing in their hearts that it would all pay off. Eventually it would, when in 2005 filmmaker Sacha Gervasi (who worked briefly as an Anvil roadie when he was a teenager) looked the group up.

Gervasi began work on what would become "Anvil! The Story Of Anvil," a heartbreaking, heartwarming look at a band that never gave up. The film introduced the band to a whole new generation of metal fans and re-introduced it to those who now scratch their heads wondering why this band wasn't huge in the first place. Lips doesn't care, things have worked out the way he thinks they should have, and he said as much when I called him up at his crib in Toronto.

CITY: What's happened for you guys since the movie came out?

Steve "Lips" Kudlow: Everything. We've been traveling all over the world and we've become quite famous.

It's been a long time, huh?

I've been playing with Robb for 36 years --- most of my life.

What kept Anvil going?

What kept us going? Our love for music. I mean, what else? We love to do this. It's what we are. We're musicians, you know? What keeps anyone doing what they love? What keeps you with your wife?

Why do you think you were passed over for so long?

It happened as a result of what we are. We're not a commercial band.

But a good band.

What does that have to do with it? We have no radio. And where there's no radio, there's no massive popularity, there's none of those things the general public would ever be aware of. Metal exists on the underground, that's the heart and soul of it all. And most of it exists in that realm. Really, all that we did is what hundreds, thousands of bands did --- most of us don't make it.

Don't you think that in a way, you have?

Well, what is making it? It's subjective, isn't it? To me, I feel as though I made it years ago in the sense that I've been a recording musician for over 25 years, doing what I love without any compromise whatsoever. And that's 100 percent success to me. There's only one Home Depot but there are hundreds of independent hardware stores all over the world.

The big four --- Metallica, Megadeth, Anthrax, Slayer --- The Metal Home Depot, if you will, all credit Anvil as an influence. How does that feel?

Of course it's nice to know. We all influence each other. That's the whole beauty of what metal is really all about. And most of all musicians' favorite music is from the underground. It's not stuff you're going to hear on the radio. Musicians don't necessarily like radio music. Anybody that has any kind of integrity is going to find inspiration in things that most people don't know about.

For example, on the tour bus last week, driving through the UK with Saxon, we started listening to an old recording from Cactus --- most people don't even know what that is --- it's an obscure band from the late 60's and early 70's that actually influenced Led Zeppelin. But does anybody know that? No. So Robb's text-messaging Carmen Apice from the bus as we're driving down the road in The UK with Saxon... amazing. And people know Carmen Apice: "Didn't he play drums with Rod Stewart?" "Well yeah, but when he really played drums it was in Cactus."

With your newfound fame do you feel a lot of your fans are fair-weather fans?

Everybody's a fair-weather friend and fan. That's the nature of humanity.

If this all didn't turn out this way, when were you going to quit?

We just would have kept going and going. It's not about making millions of dollars, it's about making music, it's about making songs, and always has been for us.

How did you hook up with Sacha?

We met Sacha in 1982 when we were in Europe to do the Monsters Of Rock Donnington Festival. Along with that we had a couple of nights at the Marquis Club in London. Sasha, being under age, not only made his way into the club but into the back changing room. And he had a conversation with Robb, and being a drummer, they really hit it off.

And he impressed you?

Yeah, he was 15 years old. And we got excited about this --- we still do --- "Look, a kid." Usually you get 20 year olds, 25 year olds, whatever. But here was this kid and he was so impressionable and at the same time he was one of the most remarkable kids we'd ever met; really, really outspoken, an incredible sense of humor, he was like our little cheerleader.

So we took him out on the road as our drum roadie and he basically saw things and did things that no other kid can say that they did. We took him to Quebec, where in those days women were about as loose as you could get...and he's a 16-year-old in the parking lot with girls, living it up, having the time of his life. He went on to continue with school and he kind of disappeared from our lives.

It wasn't until 2005 that he contacted us. Well, he invites me down to LA; "Don't worry there'll be two tickets at your door tomorrow, Fed-Exe'd." And I'm like, "What? Where have you got the money for that? Are you nuts?" So I land in LA and I see him drive up in a little sports car...it's the same guy, grown up.

Why did he decide make this movie?

He realized that we had never given up. We were one of his all-time favorite bands. My view was I'm still at it, it can still happen. And he was really captivated by that attitude that people didn't have to like you, you could still get someplace.

What did you think about all this?

After he first decided to do the movie, I decided my ship had come in. He was a Hollywood writer, he wrote "The Terminal." Somebody that's worked with Steven Spielberg is going to make a movie about Anvil...hello! My lottery ticket of life just won, it's karma. One good turn deserved another I suppose.

So no regrets?

No, none at all. I never have. I love life without regrets. I would regret had I sold out. I probably would have regretted making it in 1982, when we had the opportunity, because I wouldn't be here; I would've been done, gone, and finished, or like a lot of bands out there, a failing shadow of myself. No thanks, man. I wanted longevity and I got what I wanted. I built a cake and now I'm putting the icing on it. Simple as that.