Radio 2 to air Tap documenary

Radio 2 has commissioned a documentary to mark Spinal Tap’s 25th anniversary, featuring exclusive interviews with the spoof band.

For the hour-long programme, rock journalist Peter Curran travelled to Washington DC, Baltimore and a rehab facility in the Deep South to visit David St Hubbins, Nigel Tufnel and Derek Smalls (aka Christopher Guest, Harry Shearer and Michael McKean)

They then talk through the tracks of their comeback album, Back From The Dead, ahead of their one-night-only ‘world tour’ at Wembley Arena on June 30.

Curran said: ‘ I can promise you more than a sniff of these visionaries in spandex.’

Lewis Carnie, head of programmes for Radio 2, said: ‘There are key moments in cultural history and the reformation of Spinal Tap will be one of them. I\'m delighted that Radio 2 has scored such a huge exclusive.’

According to the band’s detailed mythology, since their peak, David St Hubbins has been managing hip-hop artists such as Milton Hynes: Big Fat Black Guy and working part-time at a school sports department; Nigel Tufnel is breeding miniature horses but can’t find the 26-inch tall jockeys to ride them; while Derek Smalls has been in rehab for addiction to the internet.

In the documentary, St Hubbins said of the comeback: ‘We weren\'t even speaking to each other, then someone made us an offer and we thought, “Well, a good a time to sell-out is when you\'ve got a buyer.”’

And Smalls reveals: ‘I had a bad divorce but I\'ve heard recently that she ate the Koi carp and is now living in the Lamborghini.’

The documentary also includes interview with those who say they were influence by Spinal Tap, including Jarvis Cocker. He said: ‘A lot of people rightly concentrate on Tap\'s music but for me the lyrics of Big Bottom really opened my eyes because when I began touring myself, well... I came across a lot of big bottoms.’

The band have yet to announce their new drummer.

Back From The Dead: The Return Of Spinal Tap will air on Radio 2 at 10pm on June 20.

Published: 4 Jun 2009