Gelap Pekat

Former ANTHRAX guitarist Dan Spitz was released from the hospital last week after he received treatment for complications from his 2009 heart attack.

Spitz is currently hard at work on the debut album from his DEUXMONKEY project, which also features ACCEPT bassist Peter Baltes, vocalist Wade Black (CRIMSON GLORY, SEVEN WITCHES, LEATHERWOLF) and drummer Patrick Johansson (YNGWIE MALMSTEEN, W.A.S.P. ).

Commented Spitz: "We certainly have a legendary CD here in our hands.

"The song topics are just mind-blowing!

"The music is by far the best I've ever written. The guitar tone is awesome and the lead guitar tone is just sick.

"More than 12 songs [have been] completed [thus far] by Wade, and some other oddities I've penned as well. [There are] lots of brutal riffs, and, of course, my lead guitar work is light years above anything of the past.

"I've been hard at work getting to a new level of expertise in my playing these past few years since the ANTHRAX reunion ended. I'm actually working on classical guitar a lot these days as well for something special in the future. Of course, my southern rock- and blues-based memorable lead guitar stories will play a large role in DEUXMONKEY.

"There's a bit of everything for everyone to enjoy here for sure.

"DEUXMONKEY certainly has its own identity. The hardest thing for me was to achieve this goal.

"Wade has been a trooper! He has come through the recording process with flying colors. He's been known to completely finish two songs in a day, including learning from scratch lots of material. Un-freakin'-believable!!! His opera voice training certainly has paid off in this case. I've never witnessed anything like it. So very talented.

"I'll be tying up some loose ends with Peter Baltes and off to the mega-producer's SSL for the mixing, who I will be announcing shortly as well.

"We are in the best of hands for mixing anywhere on planet earth.

"Again, thank you all for wonderful emails and concerns regarding my health.

"Tentative summer tour already planned leading into global touring.

"We'll let the music do the talking.

"Just know I'm glad to have a guitar in my hands each day and my passion for my instrument and this band is really deep.

"I will not stop playing and touring ever again."

DEUXMONKEY is:

* Dan Spitz (ANTHRAX) - Guitar
* Peter Baltes (ACCEPT) - Bass
* Patrick Johansson (YNGWIE MALMSTEEN, W.A.S.P.) - Drums
* Wade Black (CRIMSON GLORY, SEVEN WITCHES, LEATHERWOLF) - Vocals

For more information, visit the DEUXMONKEY MySpace page.

Spitz underwent open-heart surgery on June 5, 2009 after it was discovered that the main artery to his heart was almost "completely closed."

Spitz took part in the reunion of ANTHRAX's classic lineup in 2005 and 2006 but left the band after ANTHRAX's most recent split with singer Joey Belladonna.

In a January 2007 interview with Eddie Trunk of the "Friday Night Rocks" radio show on New York's Q104.3 FM, ANTHRAX guitarist Scott Ian stated about Spitz, "Whether people are aware or not, Danny's, like, a big deal in the really, really fancy, expensive watch world — like crazy, super-high-end watches — and he's got his own line of watches coming out. It's weird, because before the reunion I would read this stuff online, and I would just kind of be like, 'What the hell…?' But then like after hanging out with the guy for 20 months and you actually talk to him and see the watches and what-not, I was like, 'Holy crap!' It's a pretty big deal."