“…Kick it out, with no doubt, shout it out, that’s what it’s all about
Because it’s true, through and through, dreams come true, it’s what we do
Living the moment, energy around, feel the excitement, hear the thundering sound
Badass Rock n Roll, a window to your soul
Badass Rock n Roll, having fun is our goal…” Lips Kudlow, the Harb July 18, 2025
The metal tribe, jean vests and jackets mosaic-ed with band badges, gathered on the red faux leather diner seats in the glow of electric palm trees and neon ‘The Harb’ signs. Lynda was cracking the tops off some Crystal, in her usual pro way. Robbo’s wife was ready at the merch table, disclaimers warning of the second band’s uncompromising dedication to “dirty, sleazy rock n’ roll”, offensiveness be damned, were strewn throughout the place as all eyes were drawn to the altar of this dark ritual: the speaker and amp studded stage, a kit covered in black cloth, taking up most of it.
Karnivor Media and The Harb (with a slick new look) teamed up to put on a rock n’ roll show like no other. Local four piece From Within began the incantation with a Sabbath cover before chugging through a set of originals and heavy metal classics, vocals soared (think Judas Priest), drums rolled as the guitars and bass tore through heavy riffs, whetting the appetites of the heshers in the crowd.
Thunderfuck and the Deadly Romantics held the crowd spellbound, ripping through songs like Do You Wanna Rock n Roll (yes, yes, yes and yes) and leading out of leftfield heavy metal singalongs to Hungry Like A Wolf and Pink Pony Club.
The band clearly had a great time: “The people of Owen Sound were brilliant, they showed up in their numbers and got involved in the show. Everyone in the band had nothing but great things to say about this weekend, and The Harb is a diamond” waxed Thunderfuck in a post after the show.
The Deadly Romantics’ drummer is the stick spinning epitome of rock n’ roll made flesh, the kind of skins-man whose whole body channels the “thundering sound”; having such a living example onstage doubled down on the feeling in the room that we were in the presence of rare mortals who were born to rock.
And then Anvil took the stage.
Anvil’s trailblazing drummer Robb “Robbo” Reiner quit school at the age of 16 to gig full time, the same year the band’s frontman Steve “Lips” Kudlow graduated from their North York high school. Lips himself, who kicked off Anvil’s Friday night set with a shred fest, ground level, surrounded by awestruck metal disciples, oozed the hard won metal cred one only gains by creating the blueprint for bands like Megadeth, Metallica, Slayer and Anthrax, touring with Motorhead, getting royally screwed by a record company and a manager, refusing to quit despite everything, and eventually finding justice with the release of a doc in 2008 that saw the band perform at a Sundance premiere with Slash and Anthrax’s Scott Ian.
For all unlearned acolytes of the Anvil opus, the movie and accompanying book penned by Lips and Robbo stand as eternal testaments to the power of Anvil and their music; there’s a lot here to live by, whatever your flavour of tunes.
Talking to Lips after the show, the running theme was that it’s “like magic,” he says. “Everything has to work in order for it to work”.
Twenty album titles, all alliterations, “have to work with a piece of art” and be “saying something that pertains to either the band or the actual Anvil itself,” Lips tells me. “Everything’s tied together”.
Despite keeping a running list of “thousands” of alliterative album names “you end up calling it something that just happened at the moment”
Anvil certainly made magic and seized their moment at the Harb, from the first ringing wail of Lips’ red flying V and Robbo’s blistering fills to Chris Robertson’s last breakneck galloping bass line. Playing in Owen Sound for the first time in their fifty-year career, Anvil proved themselves as top shelf showmen.
This is a worldwide touring band that has opened for ACDC, Saxon and Metallica and played meccas of mayhem like Wacken and Hellfest. Lips’ solos from within the crowd, to Robbo’s masterclass of a solo Swing Thing (heavier than you can imagine, picture the walls of the Harb shaking), to Chris and Lips, against the backdrop of Robbo’s punishing double kick pedals, saluting each other before taking flight with Winged Assassin or doing what I can only describe as good old fashioned speed metal guitar duo choreography: Anvil kicked it out and shouted it out; we in the crowd were lucky enough to live the moment, feel the excitement and the energy around, hear the thundering sound and have our dreams come true.
Anvil, Karnivor Media, The Harb, From Within and Thunderfuck and the Deadly Romantics, more than delivered on their collective goal to have fun: they opened a window to the soul, it turns out Owen Sound’s heart is pure metal.
Words by Tom Thwaits
Photos by Raymond Wendego King
