Irish rock band, Canadian metal trio added to bill for August 6 Magnetic Hill show

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BY GILEAN WATTS
TIMES & TRANSCRIPT STAFF

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Who will open for AC/DC?

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Anvil

The answer is The Answer. The Irish rockers and Canadian metal band Anvil will join AC/DC in the much-anticipated second instalment of the Magnetic Hill Music Festival.

"I know a lot of people have been anxiously awaiting to see who's coming with AC/DC," said Jillian Somers, event co-ordinator for the music festival. "We've been hearing it's the tour of the summer, so we're delighted to be hosting them at Magnetic Hill."

The Answer has been touring with AC/DC for the past eight months and will continue to tour with the mega-metal band's Black Ice tour until Christmas. This is their second North American tour with AC/DC, but the young band is excited to make a bigger mark on Canada with their Moncton appearance.

"We're very much looking forward to getting up there," said lead singer Cormac Neeson. "Canada's a country that we're still pretty much strangers to (but) I've never met a Canadian that I can't get along with so Moncton should be a lot of fun."

The band will play music from their latest album, 'Everyday Demons,' but will also play some older songs from their first album 'Rise.' Along with AC/DC, The Answer has opened for the Rolling Stones, The Who and Aerosmith. Their song 'Never Too Late' off their album 'Everyday Demons' is featured on Guitar Hero IV: World Tour.

"It's good time rock and roll with plenty of guts and blood, sweat and tears," Neeson said of his band's style. "We were influenced by bands as far back as the Rolling Stones and the Delta Blues, the Smashing Pumpkins and Pearl Jam."

Chosen by the Billboard as one of their 'Best Bets of '09,' the four-piece band from Belfast, Ireland anticipates a positive reaction from a Maritime audience.

"We hope that people going to our shows have already heard of us and those that haven't, we hope they go home saying good things about us," Neeson said. "It's such an amazing opportunity for us."

Canadian metal band Anvil are no strangers to touring with artists as high-profile as AC/DC, but it's been a while since they've hit the open road with mega stars. In 1984, the two-man band consisting of childhood friends and Toronto-natives Steve (Lips) Kudlow and Robb Reiner took the stage with The Scorpions, Bon Jovi, and Whitesnake in a Japanese supertour. But while those three bands made it to obvious stardom, Anvil never did.

"It's been impossible for us to break out, it's been an upward climb," said Kudlow. "I'm really hopeful that this AC/DC tour will help with exposure. I imagine this would have a profound effect on how people see who we are and what we're all about."

They've gained another member, bassist Glenn 'G5' Five, who joined the band in 1996. The band made a movie about their career mishaps, in U.S. theatres now, which seems to have brought them into the limelight yet again. In fact, it was the movie that gained them a spot on the AC/DC tour.

"We got lucky," Kudlow said. "Angus (Young) saw the movie and asked us to play a couple of shows."

Anvil will be playing mostly older songs during their 45 minutes of fame at August's Magnetic Hill Music Festival.

"We've already sold a huge number of tickets so hopefully having these two great artists added to the bill will mean that more people will take advantage of this opportunity," said Jillian Somers. "Everyone had a great experience this past weekend at Bon Jovi and we can guarantee that we'll have a similar experience coming up in August."

Somers predicts the crowd at AC/DC's show will be even bigger than at last weekend's Bon Jovi show, as ticket sales have been consistent since the city announced the big show in April.