Ashes of time: The Girlschool interview

Jag skulle ha intervjuat Girlschool till kommande DZ, men det gick åt skogen. Telefonintervju blev mailintervju blev telefonintervju igen blev för sent för att hinna med deadline. Men gitarristen/vokalissan/originalmedlemmen Kim McAuliffes svar dök upp till slut, så jag kör intervjun här istället. Jag önskar att jag kunde säga att nya albumet ”Legacy” är intressant eller ens lyssningsbart. Men jag ljuger aldrig om rock’n’roll. Det mest nämnvärda är faktiskt att de använder avlidne gitarristen Kelly Johnssons aska som maracas. Tyvärr

Girlschool interview, October 2008
Kim McAuliffe

1. Apparently, you used Kelly’s ashes as percussion on “Everything’s the same”. Exactly how did that work, who came up with the idea and isn’t a bit morbid?
I can’t remember exactly how it happened but we were in the pub talking about how sad it was that Kelly couldn’t be on the album - as she wanted to be - and then it hit us! Kelly had left Denise, Jax and I little urns with her ashes in and we jokingly talked about shaking them as percussion! The next thing I know is there we are in the studio doing it!! We know Kelly would have loved it - we also asked her Mum and Dad if it was ok and they thought it was great!!

2. Even though Kelly left the band for the second time in 2000, did you guys still hang out? What do you miss the most about her?
We’ve always been close with Kelly even when she wasn’t in the band - I knew her for over thirty years and she was like a sister! We still can’t believe she s gone and we miss her being in the world everyday!

3. Dio, Lemmy, Iommi, Fast Eddie, the Twisted Sister cats, Campbell – that’s quite an impressive assembly of old mates you have managed to collect as guest artists. Is there anyone you asked that couldn’t make it? Anyone you wanted to join the party but we’re too afraid to ask?
We were amazed when everyone we asked said they would like to be on our album – it’s a great honor for us! We didn’t ask anyone else as we were very happy with the people we had!

4. Why did you feel it was necessary to re-record “Emergency”? How do you think the new version stands up to the original? Which one do you prefer?
We re recorded Emergency as we wanted to update it and improve on the original - I still have a lot of affection for the original but prefer the new version - I think it sounds more powerful!!

5. You also recorded a cover of “Metropolis”, feat. Fast Eddie. Girlschool’s friendship with Motörhead goes back a long, long way. Do you ever feel envious over the fact that you never made it as big as Motörhead? Favorite Motörhead track? What do you think about their latest album?
"Metropolis" has always been a favourite Motörhead track - right from when we supported them on their first major UK tour - "Overkill" - of course the new album - "Motörizer" - is great as well!!

6. In 2001 you released “21st Anniversary - Not That Innocent”. Now, 7 years later, you are releasing your 30th anniversary record. The math doesn’t add up…
With our 21st Anniversary album that was actually recorded over a few years and so came out late! One of the reasons being that when we had the new line up of Enid and Jax we wanted to record some tracks with them on as well and so it took longer!!