The following is a brief excerpt from an interview with ANTHRAX guitarist Dan Spitz conducted by metal-rules.com:

Metal Rules: So what initiated this reunion?

Spitz: "I left in 1995 after 15 years of being in the band. Me, Joey and Scott kind of started everything in the inception. I was in Switzerland for six of the last 10 years being a master watchmaker and earning my degrees in micro-technology and micro-electrical engineering so I been kinda busy fixing Rolex’s and all that kind of stuff. Very happy and staying home from the noise to quiet, really never played music or anything. I needed a good break. Kind of like what happened to Elton John; I kind of lost the love of it. The last year or two of that I was kinda getting some of it back and started to play a bit with Nicko McBrain from IRON MAIDEN and some other people. Actually jammed with Joey Belladonna for a while. While being a watchmaker I got an email from Charlie at a time where out of the few times I would have actually thought about it. Doing some shows over in Europe, the big festivals, the summer festivals. I said as long as it was Joey singing and the original line-up. It kinda just started from there and evolved into this. We just took each day one day at a time."

Metal Rules: How does it feel to be back in the band?

Spitz: "It feels really good. Like I said, it's one day at a time. For me more than anyone it’s the most adjustment. They stayed in music in some form or fashion, even Joey still made albums. I’m the only one who pursued another career. An extremely hard one that’s even more challenging than playing my guitar almost. It’s a 10 year schooling, learning curve. Now I’m finally becoming comfortable in my skin and comfortable re-acquiring the crazy equipment needed to fufill my Spitz sound per se of Anthrax that adds to this unit. It’s starting to feel really comfortable again, we’re starting to play really tight. I’m definitely playing better than I ever have ever."

Metal Rules: What sparked your interest in watch making?

Spitz: "My grandfather was a jeweler and watchmaker. I’ve been doing it since I’ve been eight years old. I just wanted to reach the highest level and attain the highest degrees. It’s a passion, you have to have a passion and a love for it because it’s so frustrating. It’s easy to get to a point where you can fix a Rolex, but to get to a point where you have something that’s half a million dollars or a million dollars laying on your desk. If you break a part, there is no more parts in the world and you have to go and make one. That’s a passion! It stems from my grandfather, same passion. Now I’m trying to hopefully work the two together cause there is a lot of people in heavy metal who are into watches and don’t know where to bring them. They’re on the road and busted so I got guys from every band you can imagine asking me to fix their Rolex which is kinda cool. I’ve got a website put up now called Spitzwatch.com Hopefully someday we can create the Dan Spitz watch. It’s where I’m headed."

To read the entire interview go to this location.