SHE GOT THE BEAT, AND A BOOK
Go-Go’s drummer Gina Schock shares 40 years of stories and photos as the band heads into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
Sifting through decades of memorabilia, flyers and old Polaroids, Go-Go’s drummer Gina Schock didn’t know how she was going to include all the things she wanted to in her book, “Made in Hollywood: All Access With The Go-Go’s.”
But she had a deadline and had to hold up her end of the bargain. So she enlisted the help of those in her close circle to provide some objectivity, because the more she looked at each item, the harder time she had deciding.
“There was a picture of my feet that I took, but I loved it,” Schock said as she sipped her water and settled into a cozy chair inside Harley Laguna Beach, a restaurant that will host an in-person book event Nov. 5. “Everything was precious, had a story and was somehow important. So yeah, I needed help.”
She’s happy with the end result as she picks up the large, coffee table-style book, filled with stories, photographs and memories. It will be published Tuesday by Black Dog & Leventhal.
“Just lifting the book in my hands and going, ‘Oh my God, everything is finally in one spot.’ … It’s such a wonderful feeling,” she said. “This is all mine. These are my photos, these are my words and it’s 40 years of my life with the band and my own personal journey as well.”
The book arrives just four days before Schock and her bandmates — guitarist Jane Wiedlin, vocalist Belinda Carlisle, guitarist-pianist Charlotte Caffey and bassist Kathy Valentine — will be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. The 36th annual ceremony will include fellow inductees Tina Turner, Foo Fighters, Jay-Z and Todd Rundgren and will air at a later date on HBO and stream on HBO Max, as well as be broadcast on SiriusXM.
“Our manager called and told us, ‘You’re in,’ and there were a lot of texts going back and forth like, ‘Finally! My God, we finally made it; it’s really happening,’ ” Schock said of finding out the induction news. “I think it’s overdue, for sure, but nonetheless it’s happening and I’m super excited. In this moment, I am so grateful. It just feels like a dream.”
Having the book come out at the same time the band is receiving one of the music industry’s top honors is especially sweet for Schock, who has spent some time reflecting on these milestones.
“When everything was going down, we were just so busy doing it,” she said. “We didn’t have the time to appreciate what was happening and it’s only in retrospect that you look back and go, ‘Wow, that was amazing.’ Look at what we’ve achieved. We kept pushing and pushing and we were never going to let anyone stop us. The five of us are a force to be reckoned with. Get the five of us in a room and it’s scary.
“Now, with the book, I have a chance to pull back and look at the whole picture.”
Schock has always had a passion for photography and was never without her cameras on tour. There are dozens of Polaroids in the book, with candid shots of the band and artists they toured with including David Bowie, The Rolling Stones and The Police.
Flipping through the pages of the book, she paused at the photos she’d taken of Sting and Stewart Copeland and turned the page to a photo of her alongside the Stones’ Ronnie Wood and the late Charlie Watts.
“Oh, Charlie,” she said. “I actually got to not only meet him but sit on his throne. What a thrill that was. He was such a gentleman. Always well dressed, so very quiet and soft-spoken. You can see in interviews that he was the rock of that band. He had such a style.”
Though the book is mainly Schock’s viewpoint on the Go-Go’s career, she invited others to contribute their memories, including all of her bandmates and The B-52’s Kate Pierson, actress and director Jodie Foster, Eurythmics’ Dave Stewart, actress and former MTV VJ Martha Quinn and comedian and actor Paul “Pee-wee Herman” Reubens.
“It was really neat to see the things from their perspectives,” she said.
In the book, Foster recalls actor Rob Lowe inviting her out for a night with the Go-Go’s in New York City in 1983. She remembers the women as being “wild, mouthy girls, who were up for any dare.”
Reubens reflects on the time he was asked to introduce the Go-Go’s at The Greek Theatre in Los Angeles in 1981 dressed as his Pee-wee Herman character. “I loved every single thing about the Go-Go’s,” he wrote. “Their energy, their personas, and especially their music.”
But it was bandmate Valentine’s foreword that really got Schock choked up.
“Oh my God, I cried,” she said. “I read it and could hardly speak. I never think about myself in those terms. I told her, ‘Jesus, I can’t believe you wrote that about me.’ If I’ve had that effect on anyone, then I’m just happy.”
Valentine wrote about Schock’s “view from the throne” perspective.
“I could tell you stories, lots of stories, from my point of view,” writes Valentine. “Any of the GoGo’s can do that. But only Gina can tell you her stories and show you, actually show you, what she was seeing. Her perspective manifested in photographs from the very beginning, when she joins the Go-Go’s. Gina whipped the potential of the band into straight-up contenders for everything that followed and documented the whole ride.”
Though the Go-Go’s are spread out across states and even countries from each other now, Schock said they keep in touch. Last year, the band was part of “The Go-Go’s” documentary on Showtime and released its first new single in nearly two decades, “Club Zero.” The GoGo’s have slowed down on touring but will be playing a few shows this year and in early 2022, including a hometown gig at Microsoft Theater on Dec. 29. Schock does co-write music with others, including Miley Cyrus and Selena Gomez, but she’s happiest behind the drum kit playing with the Go-Go’s.
“I get to see their four butts and all of the fans,” she said with a laugh. “It’s the best seat in the house. There’s no better feeling than stepping out on a stage and having thousands of people cheering for you and loving what you’re doing. You feed off of each other, and that’s food for the heart.”