“Nigel has been running a cheese and guitar shop in Berwick-upon-Tweed”: Rob Reiner shares some details about Spinal Tap II

Spinal Tap in 2009
(Image credit: Getty/Tabatha Fireman)

One of the many things to look forward to in 2025 is the long, long-awaited Spinal Tap sequel. Now, director and co-writer, Rob Reiner has shared some details about the new movie. In a new interview with Empire, Reiner has spilled the beans about what Mssrs St Hubbins, Tufnel and Smalls have been up to since we last met all the way back in 1984.

“Nigel has been running a cheese and guitar shop in Berwick-upon-Tweed,” Reiner explained. “He’s also been performing with a local folk band in the village that play penny whistle and mandolin, and he plays electric guitar with them. We show a little clip of that.”

“David St. Hubbins has been living in Morro Bay in California, and he’s been writing music for podcasts, particularly this one true-crime podcast called The Trouble With Murder. He also writes the music that you hear when you’re on hold on the phone.”

“Derek (Smalls) is living in London and is now the curator of the New Museum of Glue. He’s curated glue from every country in the world – the whole history of glue – and he shows me around. He’s also been performing with a philharmonic orchestra, and he’s written this kind of symphony about the fact that the devil wears a bad hair piece. It’s called Hell Toupee.”

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Both Paul McCartney and Elton John have cameos in the movie and Reiner confirmed that both will be featured on the soundtrack, which will also feature a whole load of new Spinal Tap songs. “It’ll have a couple of cuts by Elton John and one cut by Paul McCartney – songs that they sing in the film, which aren’t Spinal Tap-type songs, they’re ones that people know. But the rest of them are new.”

He provided some background about one of the new Tap songs: “There’s a scene where Henry Diltz, the very famous rock photographer, takes them to a cemetery in New Orleans. Nigel’s like, ‘Why are we here? All these people are dead.’ And Henry says, ‘Well, you’ve got to get used to this idea. You know, it’s going to happen.’

“Then Derek has this idea of what it’s going to be like after he dies. So he’s got this song called Rockin’ In The Urn which is all about the fact that even after he’s dead, he’s still going to be performing.”

There’s no firm release date yet for the movie, though earlier this year Reiner did talk of it coming out “late spring or early summer 2025”.

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Will Simpson
News and features writer

Will Simpson is a freelance music expert whose work has appeared in Classic Rock, Classic Pop, Guitarist and Total Guitar magazine. He is the author of 'Freedom Through Football: Inside Britain's Most Intrepid Sports Club' and his second book 'An American Cricket Odyssey' is due out in 2025