Spinal Tap Plot New Material in 2009

Get ready to turn the amp back up to 11: Spinal Tap are hoping to record new songs this year, which would mark the semi-fictional band's first batch of new material since their 1992 album Break Like the Wind. "It'll be for download as well as on conventional media later this year," actor Harry Shearer told BBC 5 Live. Shearer performs under the name Derek Smalls when he plays bass with the mock rockers. The group, which also features actors Michael McKean, Christopher Guest and literally an army of dead drummers, last performed together at London's Wembley Stadium in 2007 as part of the Live Earth global concert.

"We've never recorded the song we did at Live Earth, 'Warmer Than Hell,' and I think they [Spinal Tap] are trying to revisit their old success," Shearer added. "Not that they were ever popular, maybe in their own universe." As for some other possible tracks, Shearer jokes, "We'll do a song called 'Gimme Some More Money,' probably with some dubious results." "Gimme Some Money" was one of the band's early "hits," along with tracks like "Stonehenge" and "Sex Farm."

The band's career was notably mockumented in the film This Is Spinal Tap, arguably the greatest rock & roll film not titled A Hard Day's Night. In fact, Rock Daily readers called Spinal Tap the Best Fictional Band Ever in a recent Rock List. 2009 marks the 25th anniversary of This Is Spinal Tap, so we have our fingers crossed that a celebratory reunion may be in order, but for now we'll gladly make room on our shelves between Intravenus de Milo and Smell the Glove for some new material.

Related Stories:

• Readers' Rock List: Fictional Bands
• Bottoms Up for Spinal Tap
• Album Review: Spinal Tap's Break Like The Wind

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Song Stories

“I'm Yours”

Jason Mraz | 2008

Jason Mraz re-emerged after his disappointing second album with this lead single, a Jack Johnson-esque ditty about giving yourself fully to someone else. The success of the reggae-tinged song (it earned two Grammy nods and a spot on the Billboard singles chart for well over a year) was something the folk-pop singer never predicted when he wrote it in 15 minutes at home. "I played a happy-hippie chord progression that would probably work without 50 different Bob Marley songs," he told Rolling Stone. "I thought, 'It's too novelty. This is a nursery rhyme,'" concluding that "you can never guess what's gonna be a hit."

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