Squatney Calling: This Was Spinal Tap
Christopher Guest and Michael McKean were drama school pals in Manhattan. Harry Shearer's a vet of Credibility Gap, the Firesign Theatre's nemesis for topical radio gags way-back-when in LA.
Amidst various multi-media endeavors (McKean played in TV's Laverne And Shirley; Guest and Shearer will be part of this autumn's Saturday Night Live lineup), This Is Spinal Tap originated from a 1979 TV sketch where Rob Reiner — who produced and directed the film – played Wolfman Jack and the boys performed as a band (the historic "Rock And Roll Nightmare").
"When we started trying to get backing, heavy metal was nowhere in America; " laughs Guest. "Now Motley Crue are the act. Not, er… the most adventuresome musical experience, but…"
Shearer (chewing toast): "But they have major teased hair. We're talking little guys, 5'5", about 89 pounds in weight. They wear leather and stacked heels. You know, real originals. Completely indistinguishable songs. That's our small cheat, of course. Our lyrics are a little more clever than this particular band would've come up with. I mean, with HM funny is not intentional; funny is what we had to add."Guest: "But of course we didn't look to any one band; we went to see Judas Priest, AC/DC, the Crue…"
Shearer (protectively): "It's not just metal… songs like 'Stonehenge' are their drift towards progressive stuff. Uh, this is a band that's never been stylistically sure enough to stay in one place and, er, their success has never been such that they were able to."
The whole of This Is Spinal Tap is improvised. It was tightly-structured, however, and shot in just five weeks on a selection of locations around LA. Once the film was complete, Tap played three gigs in tandem with the re-formed Iron Butterfly. And they guested on chat-shows whose hosts took them entirely seriously.
Having played the hoax angle as long as possible, Guest says the trio now find it somewhat disconcerting that when "we play these gigs – our next one is Saturday in Seattle – it really is insane! It's packed, people are screaming, they know all the words and they throw things onstage. Underwear and bras –"
Harry: "Cucumbers and stuff."
But, unlike many of the Saturday Night Live stars who shot to fame on the strength of personality rather than music, you haven't fallen victim to the rock-lifestyle shtick? You aren't all running around in limos and trashing hotels; yet you DO play the stuff yourselves.
Chris: "Oh sure, everyone plays. The difference there is that people absorbed the idea into themselves, they thought this has to be me. Whereas we put on a wig and Spandex pants and play a show and two hours later we're back in the hotel room with this (pulls at the collar of his neat blue jacket)."
Harry: "These are still characters we're playing, so it's much easier. Of course onstage it's a little more complicated cause you can't do that without liking it and having fun. But at the same time we're acting. We are not those people."
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