History & Biography Before there was a band called Girlschool there was Painted Lady, which was formed at a south London high school by Di Williams and Kim McAuliffe in 1975 and changed names upon induction of Johnson and Dufort. Enid Williams and Kim McAuliffe actually lived on the same street in their teenage years. Painted Lady played cover versions including of songs by Tom Petty, Thin Lizzy, Led Zeppelin and Jimi Hendrix.
Girlschool's first release was the Take It All Away 7" on friend Phil Scott’s City Records in 1979. It came a year after the band changed monickers. They toured in support of Motörhead for the Overkill tour (Girlschool was now managed by Motörhead's manager Doug Smith) and used the friendship and connection to sign to Bronze Records for five albums. The group’s debut album entitled Demolition, preceded by the Emergency single, was produced by Vic Maile, who had worked with Led Zeppelin and Fleetwood Mac in the past, over the course of three weeks. The band's first breakthrough came when they recorded the St. Valentines Day Massacre EP with Motörhead. The band appeared at the Reading festival near London England in 1981. Budgie, Saga and others opened. The 1981 album was called Hit And Run and would become the band's best selling record.
At a show opened by Mercyful Fate in 1982, Kim McAuliffe was electrocuted on stage. King Diamond was quick to claim responsibility for summoning the appropriate spirits! Enid Williams left the band in 1982 and went on to study opera and perform on stage in theatres. She would return in 2000. Ghislaine Weston, who was recommended by Lemmy, replaced Williams. Screaming Blue Murder was the 1982 album. It was produced by Nigel Gray who had produced Police and Siouxsie And The Banshees before. Unsurprisingly, the album was not a fit. Nonetheless, the band began impressive touring headlining over Raven, in the UK opening for Iron Maiden and Scorpions in North America and then trekking with Rainbow in Europe.
Johnson left in 1984. Australian girl Bonacci (who would later perform live with Samantha Fox!) and Jackie Bodimead replaced her. Jackie would also play the keyboards. For the next album, Weston had replaced Williams. Bodimead left Girlschool in 1985 (official reason: dislike for touring) and McAuliffe became the singer for the second time in the band's career. Further Motörhead connections occurred when the band signed with GWR the house-label of Motörhead's manager. The band’s poppy Mercury records with keyboards were selling less than Hit And Run. Mercury dropped the band. Around this time Philthy of Motorhead and Kim McAuliffe were in a side-project called B. Bondage, which went nowhere. The group had the opportunity to play in India and open for Deep Purple in the USA nevertheless. Weston left in 1988 and was replaced by Lamb. Girlschool toured everywhere and sold out most venues in England. The band broke up in 1988 after touring with Gary Glitter, but returned two years later again with Lamb. Bassist Jackie Carrera made a cameo appearance in 1992 replacing Tracey Lamb, but the latter was quickly reinstated. Kelly Johnson, who was living in the USA, was also redrafted replacing Bonacci.
Girlschool again reformed in 1999 and announced it would release a new studio album shortly! They were also releasing an official band biography in Europe. Both break ups were later denied and termed 'breaks' by the members. The band appeared at the Wacken Festival in 1999. However, 2000 brought with it a name from the past as 'Enid' re-joined the group after an absence of eighteen years. Jackie Chambers was also introduced to the group. Unfortunately, Kelly Johnson left Girlschool nearly at the same time. A new studio album was planned for early 2001. Not That Innocent was issued in 2002. It was Kelly Johnson's last. Girlschool appeared at Sweden Rock Festival. Communique Records (which was run by former GWR employee Tom Doherty who later move on to Plastic Head) issued a split CD with Oliver/Dawson Saxon and Tygers Of Pan Tang in 2003 called Second Wave. An autumn tour was cancelled in the last minute. Original guitarist Kelly Johnson died due to the cancer of the spine on July 15th, 2007. Another cancellation: The group was forced to abandon its US tour in autumn of 2007 after failing to get a visa for that country. Because of the members’ passports being holed up at the US Embassy the group missed the opportunity to tour Germany as well. The collegiates picked Legacy as the title for the 30th-anniversary album, which was out in October 2008 through Wacken Records (formerly Armageddon)/SPV. The album featured guest appearances by Lemmy, Dio and Tony Iommi. The band played Spain’s Martohell Oktoberfest 08. Girlschool joined the likes of W.A.S.P., Queensrÿche, Lauren Harris (daughter of Steve Harris of Iron Maiden), Rock Goddess and New York Dolls for 2009’s Hard Rock Hell festival, announced for December 4-5th at Pontins in Prestatyn Sands in Wales. Girlschool was again in the studio re-recording its 1981 album Hit And Run. The self-cover version of the album was to be released in 2011 to commemorate the album's 30th anniversary. Girlschool pulled out of a previously announced North American tour with Diamond Head and Holy Rage (the band of early Judas Priest singer Al Atkins) in 2011. The tour was scheduled for August. The band reported that the promoter did not wish the band to tour without a new album. Raven and Girlschool would tour Europe together using the British Classic monicker in November and December of 2013. The band were managed by GLM. In 2015, Girlschool unearthed two vintage recordings for release. London 1980 and Glasgow 1982 were being released before the group’s new album Guilty As Sin, which would be released later that summer through UDR Music. An EP, called Propaganda!, was also out. UK-based pop rock act Syteria, featuring Jackie Chambers of Girlschool and previously Blitzkrieg, released a 2018 music video for the track Halloween. The song featured cameos by Kim and Denise. The band again lost bassist Enid Williams to start 2019. Former member Tracey Lamb again replaced her, but apparently for concerts only pending a full-time recruitment. According to an announcement in 2022, the band was to tour the UK with Alcatrazz in the following winter. These bands shared a management. Girlschool uploaded a song called It Is What It Is in mid-2023, which was taken from the band’s WTFortyfive album. It was out through Silver Lining Music in July. The album’s title referred to the act’s age. The band appeared at Rising Fest Heavy Metal Show, The band toured Finland in October 2023. The group announced another tour with Raven and Alcatrazz for winter of 2024. Airforce was opening. Subsequently, an update from the band had it as the final tour, but in this case it was the “Final Full Tour.” Girlschool was to tour North America with Lillian Axe and Alcatrazz. The tour was to kick off on March 21st at Hell's Heroes festival in Houston, Texas, USA. The traditional final tour was followed by more touring. The Almighty, which had returned for shows in 2023, announced three UK concerts dubbed Three 'N' Easy for November 2024. Girlschool was opening.
Dufort is the sister of Angelwitch's Dave Dufort. Girlschool has played as far afield as India and has constantly sought success playing other bands' music as cover versions.
Reviews GIRLSCHOOL - LEGACY - SPV 
Legacy is both a new album from the English Girlschool and a commemoration of the band’s thirtieth anniversary. Many bands fade way long before that kind of an anniversary, many bands sell out and change styles, while others... well, who cares?
Legacy is a rush. This album holds the type of urgency younger bands never had in the first place and is certainly a musical milestone for the English girls who even in their own heady younger days could not or did not muster such hard rock or heavy metal. The album has urgency, power and rocks hard. The songs are good.
The album has many guest appearances, including ones from Ronnie James Dio, Neil Murray, Phil Campbell and of course Lemmy, but begins with Everything’s The Same featuring a 'ghost appearance' by dead Girlschool former member Kelly Johnson. Match that, death metal bands! The freaky appearance aside the song is really good. What a pleasant surprise seeing Kim, Denise, Enid and Jackie go for the throat like this. From The Other Side is again loud, hard and yet catchy and has a great full-blown sound. I Spy (Girlschool Mix - will be explained shortly) is freakier and has a serious vocal delivery. The backing chants help these unbridled vocals. The group has a pertinent and topical message that reminds one of Judas Priest’s Electric Eye with social ramifications. The first guest appearance proper comes on Spend Spend Spend and is by J.J. French. What the connection is one may never know, but the song is popper despite the cool solo. This one sports screeching guitars and a tight rhythm section. It is not difficult to hear who might have influenced The Donnas. Whole New World features Neil Murray and Phil Campbell and has a bottom-heavy tone. Kim McAuliffe raps on the song, but don’t stop reading. It is nowhere near as bad as it sounds. The song is angrier than the other cuts and certainly different. Vocals are both sung and rapped. Did somebody already say that? Just Another Day has more guest musicians, but is nothing special; while Legend is again pop-oriented. It is the story of a girl whom everyone misses, but cannot be about Princess Diana because the lyrics mention sex, drugs and rock and roll. Then again, maybe it is about Princess Di and her boyfriends! Still Waters mixes things up and is more diverse. There is some experimentation on this song with the tones and tempos, but the album is still an above average outing for the band nonetheless as a whole. Metropolis, featuring Fast Eddie Clarke, is of course a cover version of the songs Motörhead made famous. Do Motörhead and Girlschool still share managers? The song is really well done. Then again listen for the heavy metal riffing on Zeitgeist before deciding which song is the more impressive. Don’t Talk To Me features yet another Motörhead guest appearance, this time courtesy of Lemmy himself who manages to multi-task with his vocals, bass and... triangle. What a joke.
Legacy’s track line-up proper comes to an end here, but there are several bonus songs left to go yet, even though one can argue all these guest and special appearances, covers and good music have themselves borne some kind of a 'bonus' characteristic thus far. I Spy is back first this time as the 'Dio/Iommi Mix.' Ronnie puts in yet another great performance. Emergency is, of course, punkier and the album ends with a solid and wild run through London. Great singing and tight drumming on this track conclude the disc.
Legacy is a welcome surprise. Not only is it a rare great choice for hard rock and heavy metal fans, but it also puts anything the quartet has previously done to shame - my liking of the band’s early '80s output included. - Ali “The Metallian”
Interviews
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