Adam Kennedy
Photo by Adam Kennedy.
Girlschool performs at The King of Clubs on April 3, 2024.
When the members of Girlschool first hit the scene over four decades ago, they said (screamed) to the world of hard rock to make room for women.
The group’s unapologetic, in-your-face guitar-shredding sound goes toe-to-toe with bands that also debuted in the male-dominated late ‘70s and early ‘80s new-wave British heavy metal era such as Iron Maiden and Judas Priest.
In 2023, the group released its fourteenth studio album, WTfourtyfive? acknowledging, while feeling somewhat astounded by, its long-running 45-year career. The album is on par with the intensity of the group’s tried and true sound and shows no sign of the band quieting down anytime soon.
“I think we purposely just decided this album was going to be straight down, kick-ass rock and roll,” guitarist Kim McAuliffe says. “We decided to not balance, we’re not very balanced anyway. What it did to be hard and heavy and raucous, I think we achieved that very well, hopefully.”
To the rockers’ delight, the album did well right away.
“It got to the top of the charts (in the United Kingdom) and charted all over the place,” McAuliffe says. “So that was a big surprise for us, that people were still interested. They want to know our music, so that is lovely. There’s nothing to be worried about after all these years in our old age.”
This month was the start of their last North American tour, which will include a stop at The King of Clubs on April 3.
The last remaining original members, McAuliffe and Denise Dufort, both in their mid-60s, blame “stupidity and stubbornness” for their active touring and releasing of music over so many years, but it is obvious that their friendship as well as a love of music and performing played the biggest role in the group’s longevity.
“I think as long as you enjoy each other’s company (and) you enjoy what you do, there’s no reason not to continue,” McAuliffe says. “If you told us when we first started out that we’d still be going we’d say, ‘Don't be stupid.’ We really didn’t even think we could when we were 40, let alone 60, but we’re not giving up. Why would we?”
As matriarchs of all-female heavy metal, they’ve paved a path for girl-rocker bands such as Cobra Spell and Burning Witches who, along with Girlschool, are keeping the sounds and styles of the era alive.
“Basically, when we first had our big success in the early ‘80s, we were expecting loads of girls to come up and loads of female bands to sort of get together and follow in our footsteps, it just didn’t happen,” McAuliffe says. “It’s only really been in the last 10-20 years that women and girls are getting into it. I’ve seen so many female shredders now on Facebook and stuff like that where 45 years ago that just didn’t exist, so it now of course is brilliant.”
Not only have the band members noticed more girls and women playing hard-rock music but they’ve also seen an increase in women attending shows and joining their fan base.
“The more you see other people like you do stuff, the more perhaps you think, ‘Oh, well, I could do that,” McAuliffe says. “So, because women are more visible on the rock scene now, we definitely get a lot more women at our gigs now than we used to. We didn't even see a girl at a gig in the old days.”
Maisie Fitzmaurice is an editor at CityScene Media Group. Feedback welcome at mfitzmaurice@cityscenemediagroup.com.
