Spinal Tap

A hard rock parody band, made up for the mockumentary "This Is Spinal Tap", a satire of the hard rock and heavy metal music scene. It is both made-up and real because the band members are American actors posing as British musicians, yet they have performed concerts and released records under the name Spinal Tap (stylized with a dotless i and an n-diaeresis, mocking the heavy metal umlaut). The band has also given a number of in-character interviews over the years. John "Stumpy" Pepys (drummer) An original member of the Thamesmen and Spinal Tap, Stumpy died in a "bizarre gardening accident". When asked about it, Nigel says, "It was really one of those things the authorities said, 'Well, best leave it unsolved.'" Eric "Stumpy Joe" Childs (drummer) Childs was the band's second drummer, replacing gardening victim Stumpy Pepys. He died from choking on vomit, which, as the band helpfully points out, was not his own. Exactly whose vomit was never determined by the police. As Nigel so aptly put it, "You can't dust for vomit." Peter "James" Bond (drummer) Replacing Childs, Bond played with the band for three years before spontaneously combusting onstage. Nigel described it: "He just was like a flash of green light, and that was it. Nothing was left. Well, there was a little green globule on his drum seat. It was a small stain, actually."