Success has come at long last to Steve "Lips" Kudlow, but the Anvil [ tickets ] frontman/guitarist is finding that success is both a blessing and a curse.

"I'm weary of it," Kudlow says of the long-awaited recognition that's come from the veteran Canadian heavy metal act's critically acclaimed 2009 documentary film "Anvil! The Story of Anvil," the band's 13th album (the appropriately named "This is Thirteen"), and even some shows opening for AC/DC.

The newfound noteriety "brings a lot of different things into the picture that weren't there before," Kudlow explains. "It's a bit concerning on a few different levels--not necessarily for me but for a lot of people around me. It brings out a lot of different emotions from a lot of different people. It's changed people's attitudes toward me. It's kind of weird. It's weird. Old friends are acting really strange to me. It's not like I've changed. Everybody else has. I didn't do anything. All I did was become famous. I didn't change. I didn't do anything to make that happen. It just happened. I didn't become someone else."

Kudlow spoke to LiveDaily about that recognition, the documentary and the new material he has written.

LiveDaily: What did you think about the documentary the first time you saw it?

Steve "Lips" Kudlow: What are you going to think of it? It's the best home movie I've ever seen. We've all seen ourselves in video at this point. This was kind of different because it was sort of really like an out-of-body experience. You don't really see yourself ... it's a little different than regular video. You're seeing yourself in a candid way. Like, there was a point where I didn't know I was being filmed. It's really natural, so you really get to see who you are, instead of, "Well, the camera's on me." But, overall, it's not really too concerning. It didn't really bother me. The finished product--because I was there for most of the building of the thing--was no surprise.

The documentary was definitely very moving.

Yeah, it was strange watching it being edited because I couldn't understand how some things fit in context. They're watching the fight scene over and over and over again, and I'm like, "Why? What is that doing in there? What is the purpose of this?" At first, you're wondering what the purpose of certain scenes were. How does that work in a movie? Once I saw it all in context, I was like, "Wow." Obviously, the first edits were longer. "Is that a little long?" "Am I feeling everything I could feel?" "Am I getting too much information?" As it turned out, some stuff was pulled because it just didn't add anything. It detracted from the actual story. The film crew came to my older brother's place down in Birmingham, AL, to film him because he was really ill. They filmed all that stuff, but at the end of the day it didn't really fit in the movie because it was another story. It actually detracted from our story. What happened was, I found out my older brother's dying and here I am on stage in Japan, and you're going, "Why would he even care he was there?" So we had to remove it. Of course, at this point my brother's gone. That's it. In the couple years from the time it was filmed until now, he passed away.

I'm sorry to hear that.

Yeah. But that's balance, right? You like balance. You get a bunch of good stuff going on and then something nasty [happens]. It's just the nature of life, I guess. What are you going to do? When you have no control over something and it won't make any difference, you can't do anything about it. You can't worry about it anymore. It was somewhat of a relief when it did happen. It was a very, very debilitating neurological disease that he had. Watching the deterioration was horrendous.

Did you think "This is Thirteen" was going to be the breakthrough album?

Hmm. I always hoped that every album I do would [be]. To me, it's been one long album, really, in a certain sense, because, as soon as you finish one album, you're writing another one. It's one long stream. The job never really ends. You're never really done. So it's not ... to me, it's one long stream. I really don't worry about whether I'm going to be big or small, whether it's going to sell a lot or a little. I don't really bog myself down with those thoughts. It's pretty much a waste of time. You can't predict it. It's impossible to predict, totally. To me, the newest record is by far the best thing we've done in years, but it's the first time we've used a producer in years. That makes a huge difference. It really, really does. Anybody thinking differently, they can go try it and they can go find out on their own. I went on a really long journey and found myself sort of the hard way. You can try all you want to produce yourself. You won't get what you would get if you really had a producer. There's just no way. You can't be yourself and outside yourself at the same time. You can't do it.

So are you working on new material now?

Yeah, we have 20 new songs. Oh yeah, like I said, it never stops. As soon as we finished recording, when we came home from England, we began writing again. Most of the reason for that is--particularly at this point--we really figured, or I did, that we're not going to have time. That movie was gonna open up and there's not going to be any time. We're going to be on the road, who knows? That's pretty much been the way it is. I'm really grateful that, before the movie even came out, we'd written most of the new songs. Part of it's very frustrating. I've been waiting around for two years to record what I've already written. It's a bit frustrating on that level, and then it's always hurry up and wait. At the same time, "This is Thirteen" just came out now and already everybody's going, "When's the next one?" Now everybody's saying, "Hurry up." I've been ready for two years. Why are you telling me to hurry now? It's really frustrating, actually.

Do you have a name for the new album?

"Juggernaut of Justice"

If there's one thing that you'd like people to take away from the movie, what would that be?

That it's never too late and dreams can still come true. I think it is true. The only time it's too late is when you're six feet under the ground. Where there's life, there's hope. That's just the way it is. Anything can change for anybody at any time. And you can die tomorrow. Anything is possible and that's why you have to do whatever you can while you're here.