Spinal Tap have never had much luck with drummers.
As fans of the parody British rock band will know, their original sticksman, John “Stumpy” Pepys, died in what was described in the original 1984 mockumentary as “a bizarre gardening accident”.
His replacement, Eric “Stumpy Joe” Childs, fared no better. He died having choked on (someone else’s) vomit, while the next man behind the kit, Peter “James” Bond, also perished in mysterious circumstances. He exploded on stage, taking the rock ‘n’ roll death cliche to its natural comic conclusion.
Now, more than 40 years after the release of This Is Spinal Tap – the film that would go on to inspire many other deadpan, fake documentaries including The Office – the band are back together for a sequel which finds them in search of a new drummer, to help them fulfil a freshly triggered contractual obligation: one last gig in New Orleans.
“We looked everywhere [for a drummer] but people knew our history somehow and they said, ‘no thank you’,” says frontman David St Hubbins, played by Michael McKean, but speaking to us in character alongside his two bandmates.
The film sees drum heroes Questlove, Lars Ulrich and Chad Smith all sounded out about taking on the most dangerous role in rock, but they decline, leaving room for newcomer Didi Crockett (Valerie Franco).
“They thought of all these reasons not to play, and then here comes this lovely girl who says, ‘I’ll play in your bloody band. I will dare the Reaper’,” he explains.
Bassist Derek Smalls, played by Harry Shearer – also the voice of Mr Burns in The Simpsons – confirms: “People made up excuses like, ‘I’ve got to wash the dog.’
“But the key was to get somebody who was fully breathing. And had no dog.”
“Yeah that helped a lot,” agrees guitarist Nigel Tufnel, portrayed by Christopher Guest in his best mockney accent. “Young is good as well because you’ve got a better chance of survival.”
In truth, Spinal Tap exist in a weird realm somewhere in-between fiction and reality.
While the hilariously inept “British” band were the brainchild of the American improvisers who play them, along with US director Rob Reiner, such has been their popularity since the first film that they have gone on to perform in real life to fans at Wembley Arena, Glastonbury Festival, the Royal Albert Hall and Carnegie Hall.
The foursome won a legal battle in 2020, after four years in court, to reclaim the rights to their own creation – which they claimed had earned them next to nothing due to some alleged “Hollywood accounting” – and potentially revive the franchise.
In Spinal Tap II: The End Continues, Reiner, who also directed Stand By Me and When Harry Met Sally, reprises his role as documentary filmmaker Marty DiBergi.
He investigates what the rockers have been up to in the 15 years since their tumultuous split as a way to immortalise their reunion gig.
The concert has come about after Garth Brooks and Trisha Yearwood’s country cover of the band’s track Big Bottom went viral, propelling them back into the charts (think Kate Bush and Stranger Things).
DiBergi finds Tufnel working as a cheesemonger in Berwick-upon-Tweed, Smalls as the proprietor of London glue museum and St Hubbins living in Los Angeles making answering machine jingles.
The groundbreaking first film – Ricky Gervais’s favourite – focused on Tap’s disastrous US tour, and the band still brand DiBergi’s treatment as “a hatchet job”.
It wasn’t a huge box office success at first but slowly became a cult classic (“a cult with no leader,” jokes Smalls), as videotapes (and later DVDs and links) got passed down the generations.
As well as their countless comically deceased drummers, the 1980s band were also known for being the loudest around. Their amps, like the volume settings on BBC’s iPlayer and Tesla cars, famously went all the way up to 11. Lesser bands stuck on 10 could only dream of such dizzy sonic heights.
In 2002, the phrase “up to eleven” entered an Oxford English Dictionary phrasebook to describe anything going beyond its supposed maximum.
I wonder, how will they sound in the modern era?
“Marshall made me a new amplifier some years ago,” reveals Tufnel. “It goes to infinity on the dial. It just keeps turning.
“There should be no boundary at all in terms of sound, of volume or anything else. And so they’ve done that for me as a custom feature.”
“They actually test those amplifiers on fish,” St Hubbins chips in.
“It’s carp actually, the saddest fish really, isn’t it?” Tufnel continues.
“But if you blast them underwater speakers, it’s the only time it makes them have an expression on their face.”
The film has received some positive early reviews. Awarding four stars, the Guardian said the “still funny” mockusequel was full of “pin-sharp laughs and melancholy”.
The Radio Times suggested “such beloved characters deserve a better film”, while the Telegraph offered only three stars, telling fans to “dial down your expectations to -11”.
“Despite some great lines and an inspired climax, the rock spoof’s sequel doesn’t come close to the comic genius of the original,” the newspaper said.
Actors Chris Addison and Kerry Godliman recently told The One Show it had become a sort of “holy text of comedy”.
Addison plays the band’s pompous new promoter while Godliman plays the daughter of their late manager who is now looking after their legal affairs in light of a newly discovered chart return gig clause.
While the likes of Steven Tyler, Axl Rose and Ozzy Osbourne didn’t find the original that funny as it was all too real for them, it has become a rite of passage for bands to experience their own “Spinal Tap moment”: when everything goes spectacularly wrong.
Some of the funniest moments from the first film, including the band getting lost backstage, or the ridiculous food requests on their rider, are at least in-part inspired by true stories. Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers apparently got lost backstage, while Van Halen prohibited the presence of any brown M&Ms.
Reiner recently told the Discourse podcast with Mike DeAngelo: “We tried to be as honest as we could as to what really happens on rock ‘n’ roll tours and I think that’s what resonates with people.
“When I first met Sting, he told me he’s seen it many times and every time he watches it he doesn’t know whether to laugh or cry.”
He added: “We love rock ‘n’ roll… but there are excesses that we can make fun of.”
No-one knows more about all that than actual rock ‘n’ roll knights of the realm, Sirs Elton John and Paul McCartney who both feature in the new film.
