Girlschool
’School’s in, not out, in January and February.
Guitarist/singer Kim McAuliffe previews a rare headlining UK tour by the veteran band.
There’s a hell of a lot more female musicians around now, sure. It’s taken a long time to become more acceptable, not just in music but in every walk of life. And that can only be a good thing.
Although the band’s star faded during the mid-80s, you never gave up. Those must have been tough times? Not really… We are so stupid and stubborn that we never really thought about it [laughs]. We just continued what we were doing and picked up on opportunities that came along. We still enjoy being a band, and people want to come along to the gigs.
A year ago, co-founding bassist Enid Williams claimed to have been dismissed while she was out of the country. We didn’t know that she was on holiday, only that she was with her boyfriend who lives abroad. We thought it would be helpful to have support when receiving that type of news. I’m sorry that Enid saw that as nastiness. It’s never nice to hear something like that, but we were trying to be kind.
It was the second time she’d been axed. Is life more peaceful with her replacement Tracey Lamb, who’s now into a third stint with the group? Yeah. Relationships can break down over such a long period of time, but it [the dismissal] wasn’t something we went into lightly. Enid was and still remains an important member of Girlschool. Without her we probably would never have existed.
Did Girlschool pick metallers Evyltyde as support act on this tour? Our manager recommended them, and they’re a good band.
It’s almost five years since Guilty As Sin. Will there be another Girlschool album? Definitely. But we are selling an album called Girlschool Live that features Kelly [Johnson, the band’s former guitarist who died in 2007] on our upcoming tour. It includes a never-before-released song called Give Some Love recorded in 1995.
The eight-date tour begins on January 30.