Harry Shearer devotes much of his creative energy to voicing a rogues’ gallery of characters on “The Simpsons” and hosting his weekly radio news spoof “Le Show.”

But he occasionally sprouts a shaggy muttonchop/goatee combo to assume the persona of Derek Smalls, bassist for heavy metal parody Spinal Tap.

The original “This Is Spinal Tap” mockumentary in 1984 starred Shearer, Christopher Guest, Michael McKean and, as faux-director Marty DiBergi, actual director Rob Reiner. Their "research" included attending a Judas Priest concert at the Long Beach Arena in southern California.

Shearer, for one, is still not a metal fan. But he and his co-stars cranked up the amps once again for “Spinal Tap II: The End Continues,” which was shot in New Orleans.

I sat down with Shearer following a recent

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