Spinal Tap Reveals What They’ve Been Doing Since the First Movie

No one could ever accuse legendary rockers Spinal Tap of being static. While fans reveled in the group’s heavy metal phase in the documentary This Is Spinal Tap, one of the U.K.’s loudest bands had already gone through many iterations. The boys once played skiffle as members of The Originals, a name that changed to The New Originals once they discovered another band with the same moniker, then back to The Originals when the original Originals broke up. 

Then the band became the Thamesmen, scoring a hit with their song, “Gimme Some Money.”

They eventually became Spinal Tap, but not the hard-rocking version chronicled in the movie. In 1967, the group sold psychedelic love with their smash, “Listen to the Flower People.”

So it makes sense that in the years since This Is Spinal Tap was released, the band has undergone more changes. In an interview with Empire (via Screenrant and MovieWeb), Rob Reiner revealed the fate of Spinal Tap’s individual band members in advance of 2025’s Spinal Tap 2:

• Nigel Tufnel, who once imagined a future running a haberdashery if his music career sputtered, does indeed open his own store — a combination cheese and guitar shop. 
• David St. Hubbins continued working in the music business, composing soundtracks for true-crime podcasts.
• Derek Smalls is the curator of a glue museum but didn’t entirely walk away from his musical roots. Since we last saw Smalls, he’s composed a symphony called “Hell Toupée,” an opus devoted to the Devil’s unconvincing hairpiece.

As for Reiner’s alter-ego, Marty DiBergi? His career has hit rock bottom, and he can’t “even get commercials anymore.” He’s making ends meet as an assistant at the Ed Wood School of Cinematic Arts. When he hears Spinal Tap is reuniting for a concert, he begs the group to let him document the spectacle.

The band will have new songs to play, Reiner confirmed, including “Rockin’ in the Urn,” Derek Smalls’ ode to “the fact that even after he’s dead, he’s still going to be performing.” 

Despite the diminished careers of its members, the band’s reputation has presumably grown in recent decades. How else to explain Spinal Tap 2’s impressive roster of cameos, including Elton John, Garth Brooks, Trisha Yearwood, Questlove and Sir Paul McCartney? 

Red Hot Chili Peppers drummer Chad Smith is also lined up to perform, although based on the band’s history with its percussionists, he may not see the end of the film.