<\/p>\n
S<\/span>pinal Tap are remembering the old days. It was 1966, and the young beat group from Squatney in east London \u2013 still, at that point, the Thamesmen \u2013 were honing their act in the tough clubs of the Benelux circuit. A young band from Britain could learn a lot, facing up to riotous crowds of Dutch, Flemings, Walloons and Luxembourgers. What lessons did Tap take from that year?<\/p>\n \u201cIf you speak really loudly, it\u2019s all right if you don\u2019t have any of the local language,\u201d says David St Hubbins, Tap\u2019s leonine lead singer.<\/p>\n \u201cThe Belgian beer is very good,\u201d offers Nigel Tufnel, the lead guitarist who inspired legions. \u201cAnd if you\u2019ve had enough of them, you can pretty much speak the language.\u201d<\/p>\n And is it true what they say about women from Luxembourg?<\/p>\n \u201cThe few women I met from Luxembourg, you\u2019d do a gig and a girl comes up and says something to you, and you say something to her. And she says: \u2018Not bloody likely,\u2019\u201d Tufnel says. \u201cThat\u2019s mostly what it was.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThey\u2019re not like the girls from Liechtenstein.\u201d That\u2019s Derek Smalls, bassist, pipe-smoker, vinegar expert, and enigma wrapped inside a riddle wrapped inside a moustache. \u201cDon\u2019t even talk about the girls from Liechtenstein.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWell, there\u2019s that Bertrand Russell quote about the Liechtenstein women,\u201d Tufnel says. \u201cBut I can\u2019t quote it, because it\u2019s rude.\u201d<\/p>\n What a thrill it is to hear these three undersung pioneers of British rock back together again, albeit briefly. In 1984, Marty DiBergi\u2019s documentary This Is Spinal Tap captured the band falling apart on a disastrous US tour, and somehow revived their flagging career. Now the film-maker and band have reunited, capturing the Tap reassembling for one final contractually obliged show in New Orleans, in Spinal Tap II: The End Continues.<\/p>\n