Coverville does Spinal Tap

So what possessed you to embark on this project?

This is something I’ve wanted to do for a couple years now. I wanted to put together some sort of Coverville tribute album, and work with some of the artists who I’d been in touch with because of the show. And looking at some of my favorite bands, there were only a couple who didn’t already have some sort of cover/tribute album already. Spinal Tap didn’t have one, and it seemed like the perfect choice.

Is there an irony in that it’s a tribute album for a band that’s basically fictional?

Definitely – and I think that’s part of the allure of the project. And I think it lends credence to the fact that Spinal Tap has become a real band. They play their own instruments, they tour, they’ve released a follow-up album. They may have started out as a fictional band, but they’re as real as just about any other band out there.

And I can’t take credit for this being the first tribute to a parody band. In the 70’s, some British comedians, including Neil Innes and Monty Python’s Eric Idle, formed a Beatles parody band called The Rutles. And in 1990, some performers got together and recorded a tribute album called “Rutles Highway Revisited”.

But mine goes up to 11.

The album includes some heavy hitters from the indie scene, Chance, Paul and Storm, etc. – how hard was it to get everyone on board with the project?

I think that some musicians have a special appreciation for Spinal Tap. Everyone’s got stories about gigs gone awry, marketing fiascos and really ridiculous in-band fights and squabbles. So there are some folks that really wanted to be a part of this. And the lineup really fluctuated over the couple years I was putting this together. Both Richard Cheese and Jonathan Coulton were on tap to take on “Big Bottom” at different points, but had to drop out due to other commitments. (But if you ask me, I think after his cover of “Baby Got Back”, I think Jonathan is just afraid of being typecast…) And indie favorites Uncle Seth, and Pat Dinizio of the Smithereens were tied to “Gimme Some Money”, but for similar reasons couldn’t work it out.

But Jonathan Coulton put me in touch with Paul and Storm, and they were really happy to be a part of this, and I couldn’t be happier to have them! They knock “Big Bottom” out of the park, with almost a Double Fantasy-era John Lennon-styled chorus treatment. And Brian Grosz tackled “Gimme Some Money” beautifully, even adding a subtle cash register sound effect.

Chance’s “Stonehenge” is a brilliant mash-up of the Spinal Tap song with another cover, which I’ll make folks listen to so I don’t spoil the surprise. He’s such a talented artist, and he really knows how to turn a cover inside out.

I could go on about each of the tracks and how much I admire the direction that each of the performers took, but I’d be here all day writing it.

You’re giving it away for free. Why don’t you want our money? There has to be a catch, right?

No catch. I want to get this into as many ears as possible and get some exposure for these artists!

I see you’ve done previous Coverville tributes to Supertramp and Squeeze. Do you have any more of these tribute projects planned?

Definitely. Next year, I want to do a Talking Heads tribute. And at some point, I want to do a multiple-act cover of Meatloaf’s “Paradise By The Dashboard Light”. The trick of covering that song is that it’s really about four or five songs all mashed together, and that’s too lofty a project for one band to take on, and try to make it their own. So I want to have different bands each take on a different section of the song, and then let folks download all the pieces and put their favorite parts together to make their own cover.

Coverville surpassed the six hundred episode mark earlier this year. How are things going over there?

They’re going like gangbusters. The regular Coverville show is still going strong with the same formula that has worked for over five years, and I’ve added a paid subscription for folks who want to get even more episodes and t-shirts and DVDs and such. And I’ve been able to spin the Musically Challenged trivia segment into its own call-in music trivia game show podcast, called Coverville Musically Challenged (of course).

And as always, I’m always looking for great artists who have recorded great covers to air on the show!