STACK #251 September 2025

MUSIC FEATURE

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SPINAL TAP - IT’S MY LIFE Words Stuart Coupe

W hen the so-called released in 1984 – yes, that long ago – I went and saw it in a cinema in New York City with two Australian friends. All three of us had extensive experience in and around the Australian rock ’n’ roll industry. Therefore, none of us found it all that funny. It made us uneasy. We cringed. We had sinking feelings in our stomachs. We rolled our eyes. We grimaced. At the end of the screening we walked out in silence, all of us thinking (as I found out later) exactly the same thing. We know these people. They mockumentary This Is Spinal Tap was first

any time – literally go straight to the airport.” OK, why might this happen? “Look, don’t say anything to anyone but we might be signing Radiohead.” It was true that Radiohead had just parted ways with their label and were talking about signing with independent labels, but this was several bridges too far – and my musician/label guy never flew to London.

And hello Spinal Tap. Have I told you about the Christmas morning (hold that thought) when my phone rang at 2am. I was – what a surprise – asleep and there was a very new child in the house (and I’m not talking about the person who was calling). The member of a band that I managed was insisting that – “Hey, you’re the manager” – get up at 2am, catch a taxi to a location a good 40 minutes away from my home where the musician was currently hanging. I was to bring my credit card, which would be used to withdraw money from a hole in the wall so he and I could go (this would be around 3.30am) visit somebody where we would – with my money – party into Christmas Day. Yes, dear STACK reader, these things really happened. I could tell you about another manager spending a day doing phone interviews pretending to be a member of the band: “Hi, this is xxxxx – yes, the tour’s going well and we’re really excited about our new album.” Or the visiting international artist I worked with who ran up a room service bill of more than $1000 in four days. When I checked the bill, the repeated order was bacon, eggs, toast – and six bottles of wine. Repeatedly. And that was just before midday. Now you can maybe understand why Spinal Tap is not totally hysterical to some of us. It’s just a documentary about our world.

walk among us. They are our world. Anyone not intimately familiar with musicians and the machinations and trials and tribulations of the rock ’n’ roll world thinks that Spinal Tap is hysterically funny – and they’re lining up for the latest instalment 41 years later. But for some it is too close to home and the backstage areas and tour buses we’ve inhabited. OK, as the years have gone by, I find it funnier – but only just. Let me explain a little of why I feel that way. In what seems like another lifetime, I managed an up-and-coming rock ’n’ roll band. From starting out as an independent outfit they’d found themselves signed to a big-time record label. Let’s say it went to their heads just a little. One day they had just arrived in Melbourne for a series of shows. My phone rings. It’s the drummer. He’s not happy. Not one bit. “Stuart, we’ve checked into the hotel and my f-cking pillow is just too hard – and all the others in the room are the same. There is no way I’ll be able to sleep on this. Can you sort something out?” Hello. The.Pillow.Is.Too.Hard. And what am I supposed to do from Sydney that our

Yes, dear STACK reader, these things really happened

hero calling or walking to the front desk couldn’t achieve? No, they have a manager. That’s what managers do. Sort out hard pillow issues. In another instance, an artist I was involved with took me aside one day at a lunchtime gig. As well as playing in the band, he was a partner in a fledgling independent record label. What he told me was delivered with no sense of irony. “Stuart, I can’t commit to any band gigs for the next fortnight – we’re going to have to cancel the ones that are booked.” Of course, I asked why. “I need to be on call to fly to London at

18 SEPTEMBER 2025

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