collaboration , the Folksmen from Guest 's film `` A Mighty Wind . '' Now Shearer , McKean and Guest are hitting the road again , but not as Spinal Tap or the Folksmen . They 're playing ... themselves . `` We 're trying very hard to get across the idea that this is us , and only us , '' says Shearer in a phone interview discussing the trio 's `` Unwigged & Unplugged '' 30-date acoustic tour , which kicks off Friday in Vancouver , British Columbia . `` And because we do n't often appear as ourselves -- because we most often appear as characters -- we 're trying to dress it up as a treat , a rare treat , to see us as ourselves . '' The group will be performing both Spinal Tap and Folksmen songs , though , Shearer adds , '' -LSB- we 'll be -RSB- doing these songs kind of in a different way because we 're approaching them as ourselves and not as these characters . '' Have no fear , however , Tap fans : A new album , `` Back from the Dead , '' is due
-LRB- CNN -RRB- -- Twenty-five years ago , America discovered `` one of England 's loudest bands , '' courtesy of documentarian Marty DiBergi and his film , `` This Is Spinal Tap . '' Christopher Guest , Michael McKean and Harry Shearer will perform Spinal Tap and Folksmen songs on tour . It was all parody -- DiBergi was director Rob Reiner , and cohorts Christopher Guest , Michael McKean and Harry Shearer played the heavy-metal musicians in Spinal Tap -- but for a fictional band , Spinal Tap has had a long afterlife . The film gave birth to several catchphrases , including one -- `` up to 11 '' -- that 's made it into the Shorter Oxford English Dictionary . There are Web sites devoted to the Tap , including at least one , http://tap-albums.s5.com/ , that offers a complete discography of the fictional band 's nonexistent albums . And Guest , McKean and Shearer have never left their spandexed alter egos behind . The band reunited for a 1992 album , `` Break Like the Wind , '' and again for a 2001 tour . For the latter , the opening act was another Guest-McKean-Shearer