Sky Arts’ resident Canadian/marketing manager/Anvil fan, Alyssa Bonic, managed to sneak into one of metal’s biggest award ceremony of the year where she successfully batted her lashes to win over some interview time with her childhood heroes. Here’s what happened…

As someone who spent far too long listening to rock and heavy metal in their misspent youth, I was blown away to find myself even in the same room as a Metal Hammer Golden God Award. Sponsored by Metal Hammer magazine, this year paid homage to some of the biggest names from the world of heavy metal, and best of all was that many were of true homegrown Canadian ilk. Rock on Canada!

The mighty Def Leppard picked up the Legends Award, with Saxon winning the Spirit of Metal award and Iron Maiden scooping two wins with Best UK Band and the Golden God award. Whilst braving it on the red carpet we were graced with the presence of multi-talented and multi-instrumentalist Steve Vai - who started off his career as Frank Zappa’s ‘stunt guitarist’ and now has 13 solo albums under his belt - winning the Riff Lord award. His latest album, Sound Theories Vol. 1 & 2, a double album recording with the Holland Metropole Orkest, stands out as a dazzling technical accomplishment, the culmination of a 25 year friendship and a dream come true for the artist.

Fond favourites, and now infamous Canadian metal band, Anvil - thanks to the recently released documentary Anvil! The Story of Anvil - won the Metal as F****! award. A bunch of great guys who graciously stopped to talk to have a chat. I took the opportunity to ask them how the film has changed their lives over the past year given they started the band in 1978 and have only just risen to worldwide popularity. Quick to answer with a, “Well we’re famous but were not rich yet.’ A fitting follow on from the theme of the film. As a fellow Canadian I also asked them if they thought being from Canada, a country that’s musical talent is often overshadowed by the neighbouring United States, had anything to do with it. Their response was a resounding ‘Most definitely!’ The trio rocked out with an electrifying performance of trademark tune, Metal on Metal, leaving the audience with a reminder of why they were such an influence to so many of today’s successes,.

Other performances to note included 15 minute sets from Devil Driver, the Santa Barbara band who lit up the stage with what seemed like enough power for the entire state of California, and Trivium, fresh from their appearance at the Download festival. It was great to see such a range of ages in the audience, signaling metal music is here to stay. Awesome!

For a complete list of award winners, images and clips visit www.metalhammer.co.uk