Original Anvil Guitarist Dave Allison Has Died, Band Pays Tribute

Original Anvil guitarist Dave Allison died yesterday (Sept. 30) of unspecified causes at age 68. He played on the group’s first five studio albums before departing in 1989.

“We’d like to send our deepest condolences to the Allison family and friends,” the band wrote on X. “Dave passed away this morning. He was a close friend and we will miss him. He was proud of his early contributions to Anvil and his name and legacy lives on.”

No details were made available of the rhythm guitarist’s passing, although unconfirmed reports said he had been suffering from cancer.

He was a member of the pioneering Canadian metal band from its formation in 1973 as Lips until his departure after their 1989 live album Past and Present.

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Robb Reiner, Anvil’s drummer since the band’s inception, paid tribute to his late colleague: “The word just reached me. Had the opportunity this spring to pay an unplanned surprise visit to Dave’s isolated cabin. Loneliness was no stranger to him: to say he was in shock was an understated fact. Blown away was more like it. And so was I.

“The visit covered memories (many) and exposed his dire state. He was not well, clearly. Together we planned a dinner that unfortunately never happened. R.I.P. my old friend.”

In 2017 Allison reunited with Anvil for a one-off show near his home. Around that time he told Alikivi.com the band had worked hard for 10 months before playing their first concert. “We [did] seven days a week, eight hours a day.

Dave Allison’s Six Albums with Anvil

“We already had the first album written long before the first gig. During this time we self-recorded and self-produced the Lips album which eventually became the first Anvil album Hard ’n’ Heavy.”

He recalled: “We… played mostly original music and all the clubs wanted tribute bands, so we bullshitted… and said we played all the current hard rock band stuff. But of course, we didn’t. We did do a lot of Ted Nugent though.”

Discussing the six Anvil albums on which he appeared – including Hard n’ Heavy, Metal on Metal, and Forged in Fire – Allison reflected: “We always took recording very seriously and worked very much as a team to achieve the end result. This would often create a bit of tension between us – but that’s just the nature of the beast; and the end result speaks for itself.”

Watch Dave Allison Reunite with Anvil in 2017