Steve Kudlow, centre, Robb Reiner, left, and Glenn Five, of the band Anvil, arrive at the premiere of Anvil! The Story of Anvil in Los Angeles in April. Steve Kudlow, centre, Robb Reiner, left, and Glenn Five, of the band Anvil, arrive at the premiere of Anvil! The Story of Anvil in Los Angeles in April. (Matt Sayles/Associated Press)

Canadian heavy metal band Anvil will open for AC/DC this summer in arena shows in Boston and New Jersey.

They will be opening for the Australian rockers at Giants Stadium in New Jersey and Gillette Stadium in Boston next month.

Anvil is also headlining the heavy metal Download Festival in the U.K. and will play at the Rocklahoma Festival in Oklahoma.

It's a vindication of sorts for the band, which spent more than 30 years in near obscurity before a film about the group became a hit.

Anvil: The Story of Anvil, a documentary by Sacha Gervasi, opened at the 2008 Sundance Film Festival, played at Cannes and has had an extended commercial run.

The band accompanied the documentary — which tells the story of their determination to remain in rock 'n' roll — throughout the film circuit.

Since March, Anvil has played more than 30 concerts at sold-out screenings in a combination music and film package dubbed the "Anvil Experience."

Anvil is Steve (Lips) Kudlow on vocals and guitar and Robb Reiner on drums, who first got together in 1973 when they were still in high school in the Toronto area. Anvil had a brief period of fame in the 1980s, but the pair stuck together in a continuing quest for rock stardom. Glenn Five accompanies them on bass.

Coldplay's lead singer a fan

The film and the return has struck a chord with many musicians, including Coldplay's Chris Martin, who gave the band a standing ovation on their return to the Bowery Hotel in New York last week.

On his website, Martin called Anvil: The Story of Anvil, a "brilliant" film.

"There's a scene in it between the drummer and the singer which makes you cry, especially if you're in a band and you know what it feels like to love another man so much, but also fight so much," he said in a web posting.

The Anvil Experience now looks set to take the band on tours of Australia and Japan.

A soundtrack and book deal are soon to come and they'll release a 13th album, This is Thirteen, in August.

The DVD release of Anvil: The Story of Anvil is scheduled for the fall, with the band hoping to do more live performances and schedule a run of TV appearances in support of the film.