Rob Reiner’s legendary spoof This Is Spinal Tap remains a mandatory VHS tape among rock bands everywhere. But what happens when moments from the cult music mockumentary enter real life?
“Everything that happened in that movie is based on shit that happened or easily could have happened to any touring band,” Rex Brown told Guitar World. “We were a professional touring machine and Spinal Tap shit happened every day.”
To mark the release of Spinal Tap II: The End Continues, which features cameos from Paul McCartney and Elton John, we look back on 10 real-life ‘Spinal Tap’ stories from some of the bass world’s biggest names.
1. Victor Wooten
Over the years, we've collected dozens of real-life Spinal Tap stories. This Victor Wooten tale, however, is definitely one of our favourites so far.
“I was wearing these basketball-type pants that button down the side,” said Wooten in this clip from the Beneath the Bassline documentary.
“I was doing something crazy with my bass and the horn of the instrument caught the inside of my pants, and when I went to swing my bass my pants ripped down to my ankles. The show’s still going on, so what do you do?!”
2. Thundercat
Thundercat was recently recruited for a rendition of Spinal Tap’s 1984 track Big Bottom, but it was on tour with Erykah Badu that his real-life Spinal Tap moment actually took place.
“I was playing at the Opera House in Sydney, and I’m trying to make sure there’s a lot of bass onstage. So I’m using an Aguilar DB 751 and I’ve got the wall of doom speakers. There’s this moment where you think everybody’s cheering, but then I look back and the amp is literally on fire.”
3. Robert Trujillo
Robert Trujillo has played bass in the world's biggest metal band since 2003, but his real-life Spinal Tap moment dates back to before Metallica's self-titled 1991 album when he was performing with skate-thrash mob Suicidal Tendencies.
"I was warming up behind my bass amp and a bottle came flying over the backline and slammed me in the top of my head. I go to the front of the stage and I start calling everybody out. It was like I wanted to fight everybody.
“My bandmates actually went out into the audience and proceeded to knock a few people out. I got rushed to the hospital right after.”
4. Nathan East
It was back in 2010 that top session bassist Nathan East bounded across the stage in order to impress his bass hero, Verdine White, but his performance would become memorable for all the wrong reasons.
“It was a double bill with Earth, Wind & Fire and Toto, with probably around 30,000 people gathered around, and Verdine was in the front row.
“With him being one of my biggest influences I start trying to show off with this big high-step thing when all of a sudden it felt as if the stage had gone out from under me. I’d snapped my achilles tendon.”
The incident was captured on camera by a member of the audience, and if you watch closely you can pinpoint the exact moment where East’s tendon tears.
5. Bakithi Kumalo
One of the most memorable scenes from This Is Spinal Tap sees the band take a long walk through the backstage area as they try to get to the stage at Cleveland’s Xanadu Star Theatre.
Best-known for his epic bass break on Paul Simon’s You Can Call Me Al, Bakithi Kumalo is a bassist who can sympathise with this scenario.
“I had picked one dressing room for myself so I could stop being nervous, but I could hear them announcing the start of the show. I had to get out of the dressing room, but I couldn’t open the door! I still had my in-ear monitors, so I could hear the rest of the band saying, ‘Where’s Bakithi?!’”
6. Duff McKagan
One day a film will be made about Duff McKagan, the punk rocker from Seattle who moved to Hollywood, joined Guns N’ Roses and became a star. Needless to say Duff was happy to oblige when asked to reveal his own Spinal Tap moment.
“I had a belt that had crosses on it and it had this buckle, and I wore it to every gig. We also had this grated metal stage that we’d take around the world with us, but if it got wet outside that stage would get slick.
“I slipped and I fell, and my belt got stuck in one of the grates of the stage floor. We’re in the middle of a song and I’m stuck, and I’ve got roadies trying to undo my belt while I’m still trying to play!”
7. Andrew Gouche
Having held the bass chair with the likes of Prince and Chaka Khan, Andrew Gouche needs no introduction as one of the bass guitar world’s top groove players. Back in 2015 he told his side of the story surrounding the events of a tour bus altercation in Texas.
“We were in the middle of Texas when the air conditioning went out on the tour bus. In that kind of heat and with the frustration of being on a sucking gig that you weren’t making that much money on, two of the guys got in a fight.
“One guy pulled a knife out of one of those big holster things and almost sliced his thumb off. We dropped him off at the hospital in San Antonio.”
8. David Ellefson
Megadeth’s debut album, Killing Is My Business… And Business Is Good!, was released on June 12, 1985. Two weeks later, the thrash metal band set off on their first US tour, an undertaking that could quite easily have been a scene from This Is Spinal Tap.
“It was the Killing Is My Business… album, which already had a fateful title for a tour! And after the second show our van broke down and I had to rent a car.
“Our drummer happens to be driving and he reaches back behind the seat to grab his DW foot pedals and drives off the road at 85 miles per hour, going over a concrete culvert and nearly killing us.
“So we pull into Cleveland to play the show that night complete with real whiplash, not just from headbanging!”
9. Nick Campbell
Having graduated from the University of Southern California, Nick Campbell has gone on to perform with the likes of Charlie Puth, Josh Smith, Peter Erskine, Vulfpeck, Pomplamoose and Scary Pockets. You may have also seen him in episodes of Glee and the Glee Project.
But his most memorable Tap-style fiasco occurred at Disneyland, and it is so Spinal Tap it makes you realise just how genius a parody the film is.
“A friend got asked to put together a band for Disney, and they wanted smooth jazz arrangements of classic Disney songs. They brought out all these pirates from Pirates of the Caribbean as we played the finale. We hung out there all day and the pirates didn't break character. They were all freaking terrifying!”
10. Billy Sheehan
As the world of bass guitar has evolved, we’ve watched Billy Sheehan ascend to its very zenith – touring relentlessly and still being a man that you’d love to sit down and have a beer with. That is unless you’re a short-changing club owner.
“We were set to play at this club, but when we got there the stage was so small that there was no way we could make it work. We contacted the agent and the owner was real pissed off.
“He said, ‘You guys will never play within 300 miles of this club!’ So I get on the phone and I call the fire department. All I said was, ‘We’re playing at this club and they told us it would be OK to hot clip onto the mains power. Are we liable if anything happens?’ They shut the guy down completely!”
11. Nik West
Known for her jaw-dropping stage persona, Nik West once had a spectacular wardrobe malfunction.
“I had this outfit, and I was going so crazy onstage that the skirt part of it started to slide down. I had on leggings, so I just let it fall. Then I picked it up and I threw it in the audience.”
You must confirm your public display name before commenting
Please logout and then login again, you will then be prompted to enter your display name.
