Anvil
They say that, without Anvil, there never would’ve been a Spinal Tap. These hard-luck hard rockers toiled in obscurity through years of dismal tours of subterranean clubs before a documentary film about their long road to nowhere actually brought them somewhere: rock stardom! Even though few seemed to take the Canadian trio any more seriously than the aforementioned parody band whose schtick borrowed liberally from Anvil’s real-life tales of bad breaks and blunders, two of the three members have been at it non-stop since 1978, with well over a dozen albums to their credit. So you’ve gotta give them at least as much respect as Slayer, if not AC/DC and ZZ Top, for finding a formula that works so well that there’s never been a need to deviate more than a few notes or measures from that tried-and-true equation. The tour that brings them to Brick by Brick on June 1 is in support of their 17th album, Pounding the Pavement, named for the career choice that has kept them wearing out vanloads of boots, britches, and fingerless gloves for 40 years now.