Dan Spitz Calls Out Former Anthrax Bandmates as ‘Fairytale Tellers’

Anthrax have gone through their fair share of members over the years and one of the band's former members is currently calling out guitarist Scott Ian and drummer Charlie Benante for allegedly rewriting the history of the band in interviews.

Guitarist Dan Spitz, who played with the band from 1983-1995 and returned for their Among the Living lineup reunion between 2005 and 2007, has pulled up a couple of interviews where the guys talk about the guitar parts on certain albums, and questions why he isn't given proper credit.

The first instance came from an older Guitar.com interview in which Benante is described by the reporter as "an extremely competent guitarist who actually writes many of the group's heaviest riffs and plays lead guitar on all of the albums." While it's not Benante who actually said that, Spitz still took offense, stating:

REALLY CHARLIE ??? YOU PLAYED ALL THE LEADS ON EVERY SINGLE ANTHRAX ALBUM ??
PARAGRAPH 3 .. EVERYBODY READ IT !!!
I CHALLENGE YOU TO PLAY ONE (1) OF ANY OF MY<<< LEADS (THAT'S ALL OF THE LEADS ON EVERY SONG ON EVERY ANTHRAX ALBUM I CREATED TO CHOOSE FROM) FROM FISTFUL OF METAL THROUGH SOUND OF WHITE NOISE. ... I ALSO HAVE EVERY TAPE OF MY <<<< ME<<< CREATING EVERY ONE OF THOSE LEADS FROM MY OWN HOUSE !!!! ...

Over the weekend, Spitz found another interview instance in which he claims the band is rewriting history. This one came from a Metal Hammer piece in which Ian is quoted as stating that on Among the Living, Benante wrote most of the music while he did the lyrics and that it was also the same way on their first two albums. Spitz's response can be read below:

IAN ROSENFELD QUOTE 2014. ..... “The way we worked on Among The Living, Charlie wrote most of the music and I did the lyrics. It was the process we’d used on the first two albums, so why change it?” ..... END QUOTE.
AGAIN.... FAIRY TALE TELLERS........
PLAY MY RIFFS, PLAY MY HARMONIES, TELL US ALL THE SCALES I USED, PLAY ONE LEAD ON ANY ANTHRAX SONG FROM FISTFUL OF METAL THROUGH SOUND OF WHITE NOISE !!!!!! GIVE IT A SHOT ... THEN I WILL ON A $100 GUITAR .... ANYWHERE ... ANYTIME !!!
We are ALL SICK OF THIS !!!!
AND CRACKING UP ...
GET HELP, PLEASE. WE ARE ALL PRAYING FOR Y'ALL...

Spitz was not finished as he went on to add in the Comments section of his post:

PUT UP OR SHUT UP.. C'MON IAN... NOW IT'S YOUR CHALLENGE... PLAY A G PHRYGIAN DOMINANT SCALE, DORIAN, LOCRIAN #9th with a b5th, MAYBE I PLAYED MIXOLYDIAN b13th WITH A b9th ??? IS THE HARMONY TO THE MAIN GUITAR RIFF A 7TH ? WHAT'S A 7TH? ... AEOLIAN MINOR WITH A DIATONIC MNEMONIC MIXED WITH A PHRYGIAN ?? WHAT SONG DID I MIX THOSE LAST THREE SCALES AND ON WHAT ALBUM??? PUT UP OR SHUT UP!!! ... PLEASE... PLAY US ALL THE ENTIRE ACOUSTIC INTRO TO ARMED AND DANGEROUS (ALREADY THE PRODUCER HAS STATED HE PRESSED "RECORD" AS I RIPPED THE SOLO, SO YOU'RE BOTH KIND OF ALREADY FLOATING IN HOT SOUP .... AND CHUCK.... C'MON.. PLAY THE MAIN LEAD... AND NAME THE SCALES I USED (I listed a few above this post for ya' to maybe help ya guess) .... YEAH ME!!!! NOT YOU!! ... THE METAL WORLD AWAITS. WHAT AMPS WHERE USED??? WHAT FX?? WHAT WAS THE SHELVING FREQUENCY OF THE LEAD? 180hz? maybe 220hz???? WAS A PULTEC USED? WAS IT AN 1176 BLUE/SILVER OR BLACK??? . DID WE PULL DOWN 2db on the 1176 ?? fast attack or slow?? HERE... YOU CAN TRY<<< TO LEARN IT FROM HERE... LOL ...

Carl Canedy, the producer of Fistful of Metal, got in on the discussion, telling Spitz that he was "a monster shredder," later adding, "Dan, we worked on three projects. You played every solo except one whammy bar riff Scott played. Every solon on each of those albums -- Fistful, Armed and Dangerous and Spreading. I'm not sure what's up or what's being said but I was there hitting record on every solo. It's sad things are so unpleasant." Spitz went on to show photo proof of him in the studio and brought up the special pick he used for the acoustic tracks.

Anthrax just passed the 30th anniversary of their Spreading the Disease album and recently announced plans for a special 30th Anniversary reissue arriving on Nov. 20. Meanwhile, the band is currently touring Europe with Slayer and they're preparing for a new album release in 2016. The band just released the song "Evil Twin," which you can hear by clicking the red button below.

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