Page 105 - Classic Rock (February 2020)

INTERVIEWS

Girlschool

’School’s in, not out, in
January and February.

uitarist/singer Kim McAuliffe
previews a rare headlining UK
Gtour by the veteran band.

Girlschool formed in 1978 because guys
wouldn’t let you join their bands. Does
that now seem like rock’s Dark Ages?
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 Five Finger Death Punch
that we never really thought about it
[laughs]. We just continued what we were
doing and picked up on opportunities that Catch one of just two UK shows, with Megadeth supporting.
came along. We still enjoy being a band,
and people want to come along to the gigs.
e catch up with guitarist We did the work. We were on the we were – I came from a freakin’
A year ago, co-founding bassist Enid
Williams claimed to have been dismissed Zoltan Bathory as road two hundred-plus days a year. communist country with a guitar
while she was out of the country. Wthe Las Vegas-based This [F8] is record number eight and a bag of clothes. Ivan was
We didn’t know that she was on holiday, metalheads return from a lay-off for us and we’ve been together for throwing it away for everybody,
only that she was with her boyfriend who that saw frontman Ivan Moody fifteen years. not just himself.
lives abroad. We thought it would be helpful enter rehab in a bid to save his life.
to have support when receiving that type And yet it could all have gone And Judas Priest’s Rob Halford
of news. I’m sorry that Enid saw that as A new press release claims badly wrong. Although Ivan helped with these issues.
nastiness. It’s never nice to hear something
like that, but we were trying to be kind. that 5FDP are currently the Moody is now sober he seemed Rob had gone through those same
third-biggest artist in hard rock to be in self-destruct mode. struggles. Jonathan Davis [from
It was the second time she’d been axed. when measured by sales and We went through a tornado of shit. Korn] told Ivan: “You’ve got the
Is life more peaceful with her replacement streams, surpassed only by Even sober, Ivan is like the Joker. world at your fingertips, don’t
Tracey Lamb, who’s now into a third stint Metallica and AC/DC. He will rob a bank just to set the throw it away.” And it worked. Ivan
with the group? When I saw that list for the first money on fire. The guy doesn’t has been twenty-one months sober.
Yeah. Relationships can break down over time I was shocked, but it’s now give a shit about anything. With He’s a completely different guy.
such a long period of time, but it [the
dismissal] wasn’t something we went very possible to measure music’s someone like that it’s tough to make
into lightly. Enid was and still remains an digital footfall. Megadeth are your ‘special
important member of Girlschool. Without guests’ on these dates. How do
her we probably would never have existed. With heavyweights such as “There’d be no you feel about that?
Black Sabbath and Slayer Megadeth were my favourite band
Did Girlschool pick metallers Evyltyde as retiring, it’s great that a new Five Finger Death when I was growing up. There
support act on this tour? tier of festival headliners is would be no Five Finger Death
Our manager recommended them, and ready and waiting. Punch without Punch without them – we’ve told
they’re a good band.
Yeah, and we were given a shot by Megadeth.” them so and there’s a mutual
It’s almost five years since Guilty As Sin. Korn, Disturbed and Slipknot, who respect. From the outside, people
Will there be another Girlschool album? allowed us to open for them, so we them see sense. I really thought he might wonder why Megadeth are
Definitely. But we are selling an album take great pride to give a helping was going to die. supporting these kids, but Dave
called Girlschool Live that features Kelly hand of our own. We are keenly [Mustaine, ’deth mainman] knows
[Johnson, the band’s former guitarist who aware of the need for fresh blood, so How did you make him get we’ve done the work, and, as
died in 2007] on our upcoming tour. It I manage a couple of bands and we himself into rehab? uncomfortable as it might be, it all
includes a never-before-released song
called Give Some Love recorded in 1995. DL take new bands out with us. He realised that we were serious comes down to numbers. DL
about throwing him out, also that
The eight-date tour begins on January 30. It begs the question: how did his actions weren’t fair. All of us had 5FDP play Cardiff on January 30
you manage such a feat? worked our asses off to get where and Wembley 31.

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