It performed its own accompaniments to silent films of the classic movie era on an unusual collection of found objects (horseshoes, plumbing pipes, and a bedpan, which comprised their so-called "rack of junk"), homemade instruments, accordion, clarinet, musical saw, and a sampling synthesizer, the group scored and performed with 40 feature-length silent films or collections of shorts.

[2][3][4] Percussionist Ken Winokur and keyboardist Caleb Sampson founded the group on June 12, 1985, to accompany a theatrical production of Rainer Werner Fassbinder's Marilyn Monroe vs. the Vampires.

[5] In 1991 Coolidge Corner Theatre director David Kleiler invited Sampson and Winokur to write a new score for Fritz Lang's science fiction film Metropolis.

Miller and Donahue continue the tradition of performing live music to silent films as members of the Anvil Orchestra.

[14] The collection Silents from 1997 brought together the contemporary scores for the films Plain Crazy, The Lost World, Nosferatu, Metropolis, and The Unknown.

For instance, they performed a new score to accompany the recently restored version of Fritz Lang's Metropolis at the TCM Classic Movie Festival in April 2010.

[28] Alloy's director, Ken Winokur, restored and released new 35mm and digital prints of Phantom of the Opera, Son of the Sheik and The Eagle.

[14] The collection Silents from 1997 brought together the contemporary scores for the films Plain Crazy, The Lost World, Nosferatu, Metropolis, and The Unknown.

[14] The collection Silents from 1997 brought together the contemporary scores for the films Plain Crazy, The Lost World, Nosferatu, Metropolis, and The Unknown.

[32] Anne Midgette of The New York Times said the orchestra was "fast becoming the country's leading avant-garde interpreter of silent films.

"[33] She noted that the group had been producing at least one score yearly since 1991, and that Blackmail "showed it to have the ideal qualities one hopes for in a fusion of elements: attractiveness combined with endurance".