Former Anthrax guitarist Dan Spitz, known for his impressive leads on tracks like “A Skeleton in the Closet” and “A.I.R.,” has transitioned from thrash metal to a career as a watchmaker after leaving the band in 1995, although he occasionally returns to music.
In a recent interview with Dean Delray, Spitz shed light on why fans won’t hear his iconic guitar tone from classic Anthrax albums like Spreading the Disease and Among the Living again.
“They all hang in the Hard Rock Cafe,” Spitz revealed (as transcribed by Ultimate Guitar). “I have 63 of my guitars. After the last one, I decided to semi-retire. I called them up, and for safekeeping reasons, I gave them all my guitars. They used to hang everywhere. Everyone always asks, ‘Where’s your ‘Turtles Guitar,’ dude?’ That one was last seen in the Hard Rock in Japan. They store them and keep them put away.”
In contrast, Spitz’s amplifiers didn’t fare as well. He lamented that he lost all his good amps in a fire. “If you remember, all our equipment burnt down. Our recording/rehearsal place burned down many years ago, and those were all my main amps. My sound burned that day,” he explained.
He clarified that while many fans inquire whether his guitars were lost in the fire, the answer is no. “No guitars were ever destroyed—mine, Scott’s, or Frankie’s—in that fire. Thankfully, they were on the opposite side of the building from the fire, all stacked up. But we lost all our amps, all our equipment, everything.”
The fire Spitz mentioned occurred in 1990 while Anthrax was working on material for their Persistence of Time album.
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