Dan Spitz - Biography

Dan Spitz (born January 28, 1963) is a musician best known for his work as the lead guitarist of the heavy metal band Anthrax from 1983–1995 and from 2005 to 2007. He is the brother of former White Lion and Black Sabbath bassist Dave Spitz.

Personal life

Spitz was born in a small town in Rockland County, New York as the second son of a lawyer and a highschool substitute teacher. His parents were interested in music, his father liked the music of Dizzy Gillespie, his mother was into classical music. In the early 1980 David Spitz, the five years older brother of Dan, played bass and guitar. Dan got his brother's guitar and started playing. When he reached seventh grade his mother bought him his first own guitar. Spitz reached twelfth grade, went to college but left it after a few weeks without graduating and started his musical career with Anthrax.

Spitz comes from a Jewish family and converted to Christianity, Messianic Judaism in 2000. and is married with Candi. Their 2007 born twins suffer from autism and therefore the pair supports the organization Autism Speaks.

Career

Dan Spitz was the lead guitarist of the thrash metal band Anthrax from 1983–1995 and 2005 to 2007.

Before playing in Anthrax, Spitz was a lead guitarist for local thrash metal band Overkill, and also Thrasher, at which time he shared the stage with bassist Billy Sheehan.

In 1995, Spitz left Anthrax, due to a severe disinterest in playing guitar. In the meantime, he attended WOSTEP on a full scholarship and opened his own watch repair shop. On April 1, 2005, Anthrax announced an Among the Living reunion, and Spitz was reunited with the band. They embarked on a world tour and released Alive 2, a DVD with footage from those performances. Following the end of the reunion tour, Spitz again left Anthrax to concentrate on his watch designs. He has since been replaced by Rob Caggiano, who was Anthrax's lead guitarist prior to the 2005 reunion.

Equipment

Spitz was originally known for his use of Jackson Guitars (he was famous for his custom Jackson Randy Rhoads model with the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles painted on them). But most recently during the Anthrax Reunion tour he has been an endorser of Paul Reed Smith Guitars. Paul Reed Smith has created a special "Spitz" head stock (a first for PRS) and a new Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles rendering was painted on this new guitar by tattoo artist and lowbrow painter JR Linton. He possibly terminated his endorsement with PRS after leaving Anthrax in 2007. According to his main website, Dan also uses other brands of guitars; custom built ones by Cyan Guitars and Decibel Guitars, and an 8 string built by Jaden Rose Guitars. All of his 6 strings are now loaded with pickups by DiMarzio that were made to his specifications.

In the early days of Anthrax, Dan used Marshall amplifiers, using a JCM800. Later on around the time of Among the Living, he switched to Mesa/Boogie, using their Mark III heads. He could also be seen using a Mark III combo amp on top of a Mesa/Boogie 4x12 cabinet on the music video for Got the Time. It's unknown what amplifiers he used before he left Anthrax in 1995, he was possibly still using Mesa/Boogie Mark heads. During the Anthrax Reunion in 2005 - 2007, Dan used Matchless heads and Marshall Plexi-style heads he hand-built himself that were pushed by a Keeley-modded Boss DS-1. According to his official website, Dan is now an endorsee of Carol-Anne Amplifiers, having his own custom amp built by them.

Discography

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