Back in 1975, Enid Williams (Bass, Vocals) and
Kim McAuliffe (Rhythm Guitar, Vocals), both from South London,
formed an all girl rock covers band called ´Painted Lady´. After
playing the local pub scene and numerous line-up changes (Deirdre
Cartright, Kathy Valentine, later of the GoGos), Kelly Johnson and
Denise Dufort came on board and in April 78 they changed their name
to ´Girlschool´ and hit the road touring venues around France,
Ireland and the U.K.
In December 78 they released their
first single ´Take it all away´ on the independent ´City Records´
label which led to interest from Motorhead´s management and a
support slot on the Overkill tour in the spring of 79. After signing
with Lemmy´s record company Bronze later that year, the band
released their first album ´Demolition´ alongside the singles ´Emergency´
and ´Race with the Devil´ in the spring of 1980. Tours around
Europe and a support with ´Uriah Heep´ followed and in 1981 they
teamed up with Motorhead again as ´Headgirl´ on the classic single
´Please Don’t Touch´ (St. Valentines Massacre) which went silver
and reached no.5 in the U.K. The album ´Hit and Run´ was released
in March, going gold in Canada and a sellout tour of the U.K, gigs
with Black Sabbath and Rush and a Friday night headline slot at
Reading Festival followed.
After playing Japan in 1982, Enid
left and was replaced by Gil Weston of The Killjoys and Girlschool
recorded their third album ´Screaming Blue Murder´, hitting the
road in the U.S. to play stadiums alongside Iron Maiden, Deep Purple,
The Scorpions and Blue Oyster Cult. In 1983 the band went back into
the studio with Noddy Holder and Jim Lee of legendary band Slade for
their fourth album ´Play Dirty´, charting in the U.S.
After Kelly left to live in L.A. she was
replaced by Cris Bonacci on lead guitar and singer Jackie Bodimead
on lead vocals for the 1985 album ´Running Wild´, released on
Mercury records alongside a live video from the Camden Palace,
London. In 1986 Girlschool signed to GWR records and reunited with
original producer Vic Maile for ´Nightmare at Maple Cross´, minus
Bodimead and now back as a four piece with Kim on vocals.
The following year Gil called it quits and
Tracey Lamb (Rock Goddess) took over on bass for their next album ´Take
a Bite´. Kim, Cris, Denise and Enid teamed up with punk singer
Toyah Wilcox under the name ´She Devils´ for the Women in Music
festival in December 90 and summer 91 saw Lydie Gallais replacing
Denise on drums under the new name ´Strange Girls´ for a three
track demo, U.K. dates and festivals in Germany as support to the
Beach Boys. ´92 saw the band releasing the album ´Girlschool´
with Jackie Carrera on bass and in ´93 the return of Kelly and
Tracey resulted in extensive touring and in March ´95 the CD ´Girlschool
Live´.
In 2000, original bassist/vocalist Enid
and lead guitarist Jackie Chambers joined and in ´02 they released
the ´21st Anniversary – Not that Innocent´ album, recorded three
years earlier with the previous line-up, now with the addition of
two new tracks, ´Coming your Way´ and ´Innocent´. Since
releasing their latest album ´Believe´, Girlschool have been
playing headline gigs, festivals and with Alice Cooper, Twisted
Sister and support to Motorhead on tour in the U.K. 2008 sees the
release of new material and a DVD for the 30th anniversary of the
original and longest running female rock band in the world!
Cheers you lot!
