The word trailblazer is bandied about in the lexicon of metal fans and media. Few have done more to live up to the lofty moniker than Britain’s badass quartet Girlschool.

Comprised of Kim McAuliffe (guitar/vocals), Denise Dufort (drums), Jackie Chambers (guitar/backing vocals) and Tracey Lamb (bass), Girlschool broke down barriers of gender-normality in the wild and turbulent era of ‘80s hard rock, cutting their teeth alongside genre greats Motörhead, Deep Purple and Rainbow. 

Now, after 45 years of blood, sweat and tears, Girlschool is set to drop their long-awaited 14th studio album, WTFortyfive? on July 28 through Silver Lining Music. 

“Well, obviously the main thing is it just doesn't feel like it. I mean, that's where the title came from, because we were all like ‘wtf? forty five years?!’ And then we suddenly thought, that's a great title. That sort of summed it all up really, ‘what the fuck basically is going on?!’ We don't know,” shares founding member McAuliffe during a sit-down with Brave Words, delving into the lengthy journey to their 14th record. 

“We're always saying that it possibly could be our last album, really, when you think about it. It only took us eight years to do this one from the last one (laughs). If it took us another eight years, then I'd think we wouldn't be able to pick up our guitars. No, I'm joking. So we really wanted to make it as heavy as possible. Fun, of course. Fun and heavy.”

WTFortyfive? serves as more than a time-capsule or legacy project for the band. Hard, fast and racy while never skimping on songwriting quality and earworm-ready hooks, the record is buoyed by chart-friendly singles “It Is What It Is” and “Are You Ready?”, featuring friend and frequent collaborator Joe Stump of Alcatrazz. 

“We are, amazingly, getting quite a lot of airplay with those two particular tracks over here, “McAuliffe shares. “And that hasn't happened for a while, that's for sure. So we're sort of thinking, what's going on? You know, it shows our stubbornness is probably paying off. Well, it's either stubbornness or stupidity (laughs). It's one or the other, or a bit of both, that we haven't given up and that we still keep going.”

In tried and true Girlschool fashion, the album features a soaring cover of Motörhead’s “Born To Raise Hell”, boasting a who’s who of special guests in the form of Motörhead’s own Phil Campbell, Saxon’s Biff Byford and Guns ‘N’ Roses bassist Duff McKagan. 

“We always do a cover version on our album, a song that we've all loved. And of course we just thought yeah, it's time we did another Motörhead one. Why not? We just suddenly thought about this song because we all love this song. And of course it's great because Phil obviously is a great mate of ours. It's great that he could actually play on it on a track that he actually played on, as opposed to Eddie, bless him, Fast Eddie's stuff. So yeah, he was quite pleased about that,” shares McAuliffe.

“And then we just thought wouldn't it be good to actually get someone to duet on it, you know? And then we thought of our Biff, Biffy boy. And so, yeah, he was up for it. So that was quite fun. And then, of course, a friend of mine said, ‘I'll tell you what, I know Duff really well.’ He said, ‘I know he's a big fan, he was a mate of Lemmy's’ and all the rest, blah blah. ‘You want me to ask him?’ And I thought yeah, like hell. As if, sort of thing. And he asked him, and he literally got back the next day. He said ‘whatever they need.’ So that was lovely of him.”

Girlschool’s perseverance, riding out changes in genre and industry trends, lineup shuffles and even the death of founding vocalist Kelly Johnson, all add to the band’s legacy as one of the most tireless and endearing factions in rock.  

For McAuliffe, a proud flagbearer of the old guard of rock and metal, questions often loom as to the heir apparents to the genre.  

“I've been doing quite a few interviews and a lot of them always ask about which bands do you think are going to eventually take over from all the old bands, like us sort of thing, and a lot of them say there doesn't seem to be any. So yeah, it's quite strange because when all of us lot reach a certain age and won't be around forever and ever, I really don't know what's going to happen in the future as far as other bands taking over goes. Because it all seems to just be us old lot out there, I think. I don't really see that many new ones coming up, which is a bit strange.”

Don’t get it twisted, Girlschool have inspired more than a few budding rockers in waiting, particularly as it came to breaking down barriers for women in what was at the time a predominantly male dominated medium. 

“It's great every time we have girls come backstage and tell us that they started playing because of us and everything. You know, that's always a great compliment and really, really good to hear. But even then, when we first had our biggest success, you know, back in the ‘80s, we were expecting loads of female bands to sort of come out the woodwork, but it just didn't happen. It's only been in the last 20 years that there has been bands coming out with sort of female heavy rockers. So that's always good when you hear that.”

Parting thoughts, on four and a half decades of living the life of a rocker, pounding pavement and blowing minds, and all the memories in between, go to McAuliffe.

“Funnily enough, when the COVID thing was happening and all the lockdown and everything, Jackie and I actually thought that that was going to be it. We couldn't see any way that we would get back on the road,” she shares, expressing enthusiasm to return to North America in 2024.

“I suppose my message would be really just to, if you love it, what you're doing, just keep at it because your time will come, hopefully.”

(Photo - Adam Kennedy)