In a new interview with Germany’s Rock Bottom, GIRLSCHOOL guitarist/vocalist Kim McAuliffe and guitarist Jackie Chambers spoke about the absence of original drummer Denise Dufort from the band’s ongoing European tour as the support act for SAXON. Kim said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): “Denise is still in the band, very much so. It’s just she’s having a few problems with her hands at the moment. And it is a long tour, obviously, and a lot of travelling and stuff, so she thought it better to sit out on this one.”
Jackie chimed in: “She can play a gig, but if her hands swelled up in the middle of the tour, she’d have to go home.”
As for Denise‘s temporary replacement, Larry Paterson, Kim said: “The thing with Larry is we’ve known him for a long time now, because he’s the drummer in ALCATRAZZ, who are great friends of ours, and we’ve toured with them many times. And he was a big fan of GIRLSCHOOL as well, back in his native New Zealand, so he was ideal, really. And he knew all the songs.”
GIRLSCHOOL originated in the U.K. during the New Wave Of British Heavy Metal scene in 1978 and is frequently associated with contemporaries and friends MOTÖRHEAD. They are the longest-running all-female rock band, still active and rocking hard after more than 40 years.
Formed from a school band called PAINTED LADY by McAuliffe and Enid Williams, GIRLSCHOOL enjoyed strong media exposure and commercial success in the U.K. in the early 1980s with three albums of “punk-tinged metal” and a few singles.
In the 1990s and 2000s, they concentrated their efforts on live shows and tours, reducing considerably the production of studio albums. During their long career GIRLSCHOOL toured all over the world, performing at many of the biggest rock and metal festivals as well as co-headlining with or supporting some of the most important hard rock and heavy metal bands in the genre.
They maintain a worldwide cult following and are considered an inspiration for many succeeding female rock musicians, such as THE DONNAS.
Original members McAuliffe and Dufort are still in the band to this day. Original lead guitarist Kelly Johnson died of cancer in 2007 and was replaced by Chambers in 1999.
Source: blabbermouth.net
