Original ANVIL guitarist Dave Allison has passed away at the age of 68, reportedly after a battle with cancer.

According to The Vinyl Frontier Canada, ANVIL said in a statement: “We’d like to send our deepest condolences to the Allison family and friends. 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 live on. Rest in peace, Dave Squirly Allison.”

ANVIL also posted the following message on Facebook: “Dave (‘Squirrley’) Allison was a member of ANVIL for 10 years and recorded six albums with the band, including classics such as ‘Metal On Metal’ and ‘Forged In Fire’. His final album with the band was the ‘Past And Present’ live album.”

ANVIL frontman Steve “Lips” Kudlow added: “Rest in peace Dave Allison January 5, 1956 to September 30, 2024…we will miss you brother!!”

ANVIL drummer Robb Reiner wrote: “The word just reached me… Original band mate R.I.P. Dave Allison has passed away…

“Had the opportunity this Spring to pay a 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”.

Allison rejoined his former bandmates on stage in April 2017 at Red Dog in Peterborough, Ontario, Canada to perform three songs: “Metal On Metal”, “Forged In Fire” and a cover version of “Born To Be Wild”. Fan-filmed video footage of his appearance can be seen below (courtesy of Scotty Flamingo).

After Allison and original ANVIL bassist Ian Dickson came up on stage for the first time since 1989 at ANVIL‘s July 2016 concert in Oshawa, Ontario, Canada, ANVIL drummer Robb Reiner told Planet Mosh TV: “Yeah, it was the first time in 20-odd years that the four original boys were hanging out at the same time. It was great. Dave got on the Internet recently. He discovered smart phones and all of this stuff, so he got on Facebook so he’s been following ANVIL. Next thing you know, he wanted to come and see the band. In that process, we phoned up Ian and told him, ‘Hey, man, why don’t you come and hang out with us since Dave is coming out?’ We didn’t jam onstage. They came onstage and sang ‘Metal On Metal’. It was a good time. Dave‘s been out of the business since back whenever… like 1984. He’s been out of it since then. Ian, he plays weekends in some band, like a hobby. That’s about all I know. We were talking about doing this ‘1-2-3’ tour where we’d have the original guys and do all of the stuff from the first three albums. It’s a good idea to do it for the fans where we play five songs from each album. We still might do it. The original guys… I don’t know. I don’t know if Dave is ever going to be up to it as a musician. I don’t know if he’s got it. He’s not in game shape.”