Recently, Mamarazzi was able to do the first EVER celebrity interview with Dan and Candi Spitz. Dan Spitz is a three time Grammy nominee and the former guitarist for the popular thrash metal band, Anthrax. He and his wife Candi have Identical/Mirror Image Twin boys named Brendan Alan Spitz and Jaden Michael Spitz, born May 29, 2007. Dan also has two teenage daughters, Julia and Lianna.

Check out the interview below to see what the happy couple has to say about their family and their new twin boys.

Telling the twins apart:

Dan: I can’t tell them apart. Candi writes their names on the car seats, and she does those little pads that go in the shoulders. Those are the only clues I have. The mirror image thing makes it completely freaky.

Candi: I am able to tell them apart. It’s more of a motherly thing. Personality wise they’re completely different. There are a few (physical differences) here and there. Jaden has a birthmark on his calf, so Danny can tell them apart–if he can find the birthmark!

Names are Critical:

Candi: We assumed the twins would be a girl and a boy, or two girls. On Dan’s side, he has two daughters from his first marriage, and all nieces. On my side, there are all nieces. We’d not had any history of boys for 30 years! So we picked out two girl names and I picked up one boy name just in case.

The first day after Christmas they did an ultrasound and they told us it was two boys. We didn’t believe it. It wasn’t a very thorough ultrasound, so we said we would wait and do a 4D ultrasound. In mid-January, we had the 4D ultrasound, where they shoot the video and you can see them on the TV screen on the wall, playing inside, it’s the most amazing thing you’ve ever seen. And it was very clear there were two boys. They were identical. There was a very thin membrane between them.

We had to start brainstorming for a second boy name very quickly. I gave Danny a list of five names that I would be happy with and he picked Jaden’s name out of the list. I went my entire life being very particular about the fact that, if I ever had a child, it would have a perfect name that wouldn’t classify what they would do for a living.

My mom was a singer and she just assumed I would be a singer, so she had a very unique name for me. I always said I would never have my kid prejudged. If they wanted to be a musician, or an artist or a Congressman, I would have a nice, neutral name.

I spent most of the pregnancy coming up with general names that really had no meaning, except that Brendan’s middle name is Danny’s middle name. They’re just nice, generic names—which I guess is rare for celebrities—but nice, generic names so they could have any future they wanted, and not hate me later on for giving them a horrible name!

The Nightmare of Double Cases of Colic:

Dan: We had such a difficult time with the twins. We had almost six months of colic, and when we say colic, we don’t mean three hours of the kids screaming. They’re identical, they’re mirror image, and we had approximately 16 hours of screaming almost every single day. The only time they would ever stop is when they had a bottle in their mouths. It was certainly louder than any amplifier I’ve ever had on any stage, anywhere. This is A1 on my list. I am going to concentrate on spreading the word about what it is, what we went through and what others go through.

It’s not normal screaming. It’s horrible. It never stops. We had a really rough time with them. People couldn’t even come over. That’s how incredibly bad it was. It’s not normal colic, let me stress that again. And I’m definitely going to do something about it. Because no matter where we went, from doctor to doctor, they just laughed and said “there’s no cure.” Some people think colic is stomach related, some think its nervous system related. We know exactly what it is because we had identicals that had it. And then, straight from that, they went into teething, which is quite difficult.

Trippy Mirror Imaging:

Dan: Because Brendan and Jaden are mirror image, their teeth come in on opposite sides of their mouth. And it’s the same tooth. Their hair goes opposite ways. Each kid’s right hand is exactly the other kid’s left hand. Every time they take a nap, it’s back to back and opposite. It’s beautiful and weird all at the same time. And when they watch TV, one is at a 45 degree angle one way, and one is at a 45 degree angle the other way. Or if their backs are to the TV and something comes on, they both spin their heads around in opposite, mirror directions. And we just laugh. It’s better than watching TV, for us.

It started when they were very young. I looked in the crib and said, ‘Candi, look, they’re sleeping but they’re back to back.’ We didn’t think anything of it. No one in our family has twins. You can’t have mirror image twins with fertility drugs. It just has to be a blessing.

Candi: We didn’t even know what mirror image twins were. We didn’t know they existed.

Dan: It just adds to the fun, and my daughters (teenagers, Julia and Lianna) enjoy that. They’re not nine-month-old little babies we have here—they’re half the size of me and Candi already! Lately, all you hear is Candi saying “Get off your brother, you’re killing him, you’re choking him.” You think they’re nine years old and outside with their skateboard. I’m hoping by this time next year they will have their bicycles and be at the end of the street playing with each other.

Road Trips, Religious Traditions and Rituals:

Dan: One of the main things Candi and I have in common is that we both feel most comfortable when we’re on the road, moving.
The only time we found them comfortable was when we took a road trip. We’d put them in a car seat and drive to Cleveland, for 8-9 hours, and they’d be looking outside, all smiling and happy. So I guess that will be our family trait. We’ll be on the road somehow, with them, someway.

Candi: One of our traditions is making chocolate chip pancakes. The boys love them! Right now were kind of still figuring the whole twin thing out. Our house looks like one big, giant playroom. We don’t have a normal life at this point. We’ve pretty much secluded ourselves at home with the kids, trying to figure out how to best handle two.

Danny comes from a Jewish Family and is now a born-again Christian, and I come from a Christian background, so for holidays were doing a little bit of both. We want them to grow up knowing their Jewish faith as well as the Christian faiths. At this point, we don’t go overboard with Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny.

Music in their Blood:

Candi: With twins, being that I am so tiny and they were such large babies, I would have to be at the doctor’s office, three to four times every week. I’m the type that has to blare the music and sing aloud in the car. We used to laugh because the boys, to this day, still respond to the same songs I would listen to in the car. Like Chris Daughtry. In the womb, they would start kicking when Daughtry came on. And when Nickelback came on. Mainly male singers.

But at home at night I would do the headphones on the tummy with classical music and lullabies. And they would just lay there. I don’t know if they were asleep, because they never responded.

We have one already that dances. Every single time. It can be a song or music from a toy; if there’s a song on, Jaden stops what he’s doing, and finds the rhythm. He’s a human metronome. He gets right in time, finds the rhythm and then starts rocking to the beat.

Dan: I started teaching my younger daughter guitar now. I don’t force it on them. She actually came to us. And I plan to do the same with the boys, except they’ll both learn all the same instruments and be able to switch them, so no one will be able to know who’s who and what’s what!

Already Celebrities in their own Right:

Candi: Since the article in Celebrity Babies Blog, the twins signed with a really big agency, which is wonderful. The boys are still with TwinsTalent, that’s their manager, and they’re also represented by Carson Kolker, one of the top children’s agents. He does mostly soap operas, Broadway.

When we found out it was identical boys, we knew we had to put them in the industry, because identical twins are so rare. But we had an agreement that we would put them in when they were little, and if they choose to do it, when they’re able to make that decision at three or four, that’s their decision. If they don’t like it, we’re not going to continue to do it—if they choose to play all day, that’s fine.

They love people. They never went through the whole ‘stranger anxiety’ phrase. They love the camera. They would have their picture taken even at four or five months old. JC Penney took their picture and had to put it up in their studio. They couldn’t believe twins would actually smile at the same time and actually like the lights and the flashes.

We lucked into a really great group in TwinsTalent. It’s run by mirror image twins, which is how we actually found out that Brendan and Jaden were mirror image twins. They’ve been enlightening us more and more about what it is like to be a mirror image twin, and how rare it is. They were up for a soap opera the week before the writer’s strike, but that fell through. Now they’re casting for catalogs. They can’t rely on Daddy’s fame. They have to make a name for themselves.

Baby Products They Can’t Do Without:

Dan: Fisher-Price’s Soothing Glider. It should be the first thing anyone with two babies buys. That’s the greatest invention ever. It works. They nap in those all the time and it’s always back to back, and opposite.

Candi: Yeah, it’s the greatest invention. I’m tiny, 5’2, 90 lbs. Mommy can only hold them so much at the same time. And with the colic, they needed that extra attention. Danny tried to do as much as he could, but it was too hard for him with the non-stop screaming. He couldn’t take it, anxiety-wise. With the gliders, I was able to put them down and sit between them on the floor with my arms around them both. They thought they were being held and being rocked, and it calmed them down. They pretty much lived in the gliders for the first four-and-a-half months of their lives.

Twice the Work:

Candi: I don’t know how these celebrity moms manage to juggle their careers and motherhood. Like Julia Roberts, Marcia Cross, with two babies, trying to work—I’m completely floored, because motherhood is a full-time job. I would never have believed that 24 hours a day I’m in baby mode. To get anything accomplished for myself or for Danny is pretty much impossible!

Dan: I just found out from Candi recently that she went to college for her Masters Degree in Cleveland. She lived the next town over from Twinsburg, and actually shopped in Twinsburg. That’s something she could’ve told me. “I did live near that water that runs in Twinsburg.”

We will keep you updated on the twins as they grow up. Seems like the Spitz’s don’t have a lot of time and will need to use BabyAge.com’s new diaper delivery service!

Thanks Candi and Dan for the interview and we look forward to hearing from you and watching your children grow up.