Girlschool - Would You Buy A Used Washing Machine From These Girls?

Originally published in Rave-Up #4 (1982)

Interview by Devorah Ostrov

Ron Quintana showing issue #5 of Metal Mania to Girlschool
guitarist Kelly Johnson & drummer Denise Dufort 
during a record store visit in San Francisco.
Photo by Gil Weston (using Ron's Instamtic camera)

Still riding high on the UK chart success of Hit And Run and before the release of their third album, a short string of US dates (cheekily called the "Lock Up Your Sons" tour) brought Girlschool to the Old Waldorf in April. 

Following their soundcheck, we spoke to Kim, Kelly, Denise, and newcomer Gil about the tour, discovered what their parents think of their alliance with Motorhead, and uncovered scandalous tales of what went on at a real girls' school. Plus, Kim took the opportunity to quiz Denise and Gil about their work history experience! 

Q: With the massive success of Hit And Run, do the music papers tend to treat you with more respect?

Kim: I don't know. I think we got a bit of a backlash, didn't we? They built us up and built us up... We were always in the press for a while. And then we started doing really well, and the album started doing really well. Then suddenly, they thought they would start criticizing us!

Q: When you started out, did you have to prove yourselves to the audience because you were girls? Or didn't that matter to English audiences?

Kim: I don't know, really. We didn't think we had to prove ourselves, but I expect we did in a way. They [the audience] used to come along and pack down three drinks in the pub beforehand and then just come and have a good laugh. But a lot of them came back again because they liked the music.

Motorhead & Girlschool 
at Friars Aylesbury

Kelly: It's starting again over here because we don't know anybody and we're playing small clubs. 

Q: This is your first time touring America?

Kim: Yeah, it's been fab [sarcastically].

Kelly: Fun, fun, fun [also sarcastically].

Q: How are the mostly male audiences treating you here as opposed to England?

Kim: Really well, actually! We're quite surprised. A few of them know the songs. It's nice. We feel like we're at home!

Q: Have you been getting good reviews so far on the tour?

Kelly: Yeah! I don't know why. It's surprising.

Kim: I don't know why, either. But yeah, they've been really good. They think we've done these amazing things, like going way over the top, you know. And we're saying, "Wait, are they talking about us?" 

Q: Where have you played so far?

All Together: Baltimore, New York, Philadelphia, Boston, Trenton, New Haven, Chicago, Detroit, Cleveland...

Q: New Haven? Trenton? No one ever plays there!

Kim: We'd never even heard of New Haven and Trenton.

Q: Did anyone come to see you there?

Kim: Yeah! I suppose because they don't have many bands there.

Q: They didn't care who you were!

L-R: Denise Dufort, Kelly Johnson, Kim McAuliffe and Gil Weston
(publicity photo)

Kim: Exactly! We did a gig in Portland [Oregon], and that was sold out — 3,000 people! We were looking at the city and there was nothing to do at night. So it must have been a big event. A gig!

Q: Is the Old Waldorf the smallest place you've played in a while?

Kim: We've played a few over here that have been about this size. But we've never played to people sitting down eating dinner!

Q: Motorhead played here last year. It was amazing! 

Kim: Yeah, right! Steve, one of our guitar roadies was with them. He said they didn't have any tables or chairs for them. But they knew about it in advance. If we'd known... Nobody tells us anything! [Note: Most of the tables and chairs were removed before the show started.]

Q: Did your parents warn you not to hang around with Motorhead because they were a bad influence?

Mercury/Polygram Records publicity photo

Kim: No, not really. They all really like Motorhead. My mum and dad went to their last concert at the Hammersmith. They're really into the band; they helped us a lot in the beginning. They never said, "Oh no, we don't want you to do this. We want you to become a secretary." They helped us all they could. We're pretty lucky, really. 

Q: Did any of you actually work as secretaries?

Kim: I worked in a bank, that's pretty close. [Pointing at Kelly] She was various things. What were you, Gil?

Gil: A skivvy.

Denise: I used to sell washing machines and 'fridges and stuff in a big chain shop. They sold kettles, tea sets, paint, posters...

Kim: Did you ever sell anything?

Denise: Yeah! I used to get wages, but I'd get a commission on top if I sold a washing machine. I sold four in a week once.

Q: Were you more influenced by male heavy metal groups or Suzi Quatro and other female rockers?

Kim: Neither! I used to love Led Zeppelin, and I suppose they influenced me quite a bit. But we...

Kelly: She actually loves them!

Kim: I do, yeah! I think they're one of the best bands ever in the whole universe! I don't know really, there's so many. I think David Bowie is a pretty common hero with this band. He's just terrific! He's my hero. [Gil was wearing a David Bowie t-shirt.]

Q: Did any of you go to a girls' school?

Kelly Johnson posing for my camera at Grauman's Chinese Theatre, and walking
down Hollywood Blvd. before the show - Los Angeles, California, 2004 
(Photos: Devorah Ostrov)

Kim: I did, yeah. Denise did. They're good fun! I used to have great laughs at school. We used to cause riots!

Kelly: She used to beat people up!

Kim: I didn't beat people up! We just used to go out and get pissed at dinner time, go back and create havoc, you know. There wasn't much they could do with six or seven drunken girls. Our school had the highest pregnancy rate in London. We all had our own boyfriends who'd come and pick us up after school. I used to have this cute boyfriend with a motorbike who'd pick me up. But while we were at school it was just a lot of girls together. Like it is now, actually. From one girls' school to another!

The opening group, Stepmothers, start their soundcheck and everyone gets distracted...

Kim: Is this the support band? They're really good! They're heavy. I thought they were going to be punk rock. Or are they heavy?

Q: They're heavy metal punk rockers! The heavy metal kids don't like them because they're too punk rock. And the punks don't like them because they're too heavy metal.

Stiff Records advert for the US release of Hit And Run (a combination
of the first two UK albums) plus exciting tour information!

Kim: We had exactly the same problem. When we came out, it was the new wave era in Britain. So, when we used to play new wave clubs, they didn't like us 'cause we were too heavy metal. When we played heavy metal places, they didn't like us 'cause they thought we were too much like new wave.

Kelly: We got a little confused. We developed this neurosis.

Q: What did you finally decide you were?

Kim: The kids decided what we were.

Kelly: We wanted to be labeled!

Kim: We got labeled in the end 'cause Motorhead came along, saw us, and wanted us to support them on tour. We said, "Yes!" And then of course we started to play to all heavy metal audiences. After that, we were labeled as HEAVY METAL!

¿Dónde Está Girlschool? When Seeing A Band South Of The Border, It's Important To Know The Lingo.

Originally published in Rave-Up #17 (1989)
By Devorah Ostrov

Girlschool at the time of this interview (Enigma publicity photo)

L-R: Cris Bonacci, Tracey Lamb, Kim McAuliffe & Denise Dufort

It's been four years since I last saw Girlschool, two years since bassist Tracey Lamb joined the group, and eight long hours since my bus pulled out of the Hollywood Greyhound station bound for Tijuana, Mexico, where Girlschool are playing at Iguanas.

According to the original itinerary, the California leg of the band's Take A Bite tour was supposed to kick off at the Country Club outside Los Angeles. That show should've been followed by Iguanas and a private party at Raji's. Then there was a day off to drive to San Francisco, where they would've played two gigs at the Stone before returning to Southern California.

Take A Bite (Enigma/GWR 1988)

And that's exactly how my cheapo/non-refundable/un-changeable plane ticket was booked. But with a week to go before the Country Club gig, the whole schedule was turned topsy-turvy. Tijuana was now the first stop, with other dates canceled, changed, and added on. And trust me, the airline industry really didn't care.

Iguanas is located just across the border, in a mostly empty shopping center. You can't miss the place: the building's architecture is recognizable as "Old Mexico," but the garish yellows, oranges, pinks and greens of its paint job actually pulsate in the bright afternoon sun and give me a headache. Apparently, the club caters primarily to young punk and metal fans from San Diego, which is less than an hour's drive away. The only Mexicans I saw inside Iguanas were the guards and the bartenders.

While Girlschool prepared to hit the stage later that night, I asked bassist Tracey Lamb (who replaced Gil Weston-Jones, following stints in UK all-female metal outfits Rock Goddess and She) why the band didn't tour the US back when she first joined.

"There was talk of a tour," she explains, "but it didn't happen. It didn't have anything to do with us. It was delayed by management hassles and record company hassles."

Cris Bonacci and Kim McAuliffe in Tijuana
Photo: Devorah Ostrov

With Take A Bite (released last year on Enigma Records in the US/GWR in the UK), hopefully all those hassles will be a thing of the past.

"Things are starting to happen for us," confirms Tracey. "I think it's the right time, and we have the right record company."

"We're keeping our fingers crossed," adds vocalist/guitarist Kim McAuliffe.

The first single from the new album — a cover of the Sweet's '70s glam classic "Fox on the Run" — has already been picked up by 200 radio stations across the country. However, the promo video has received surprisingly little attention from MTV.

Directed by Jean Pellerin, the video incorporates scenes filmed on a park bandstand with live footage and quick cuts of the girls goofing around. Lacking any special effects, silly concepts, or staged choreography, much of it looks for all the world like a charming home movie.

"Our original plan was to shoot a live video while we were on the road with Gary Glitter," says Kim, referring to their support slot on the recent Gangshow tour. "But we didn't have our own stage set up, and Denise [Dufort, drums] was over to the right of the rest of us. So, we had to make it up as we went along. We went around to all these places and just shot film."

"There's this Victorian bandstand on the commons across from Kim's flat," reveals Tracey about the setting for the outdoor scenes. "We thought it was the ideal thing to do."

"It was ten in the morning when we were on the commons," grumbles Kim. "We'd only gotten back from the Gary Glitter tour at five the morning before. We were dying! But Jean was saying, 'Just jump around a lot and they won't be able to see how rough you look.'"

My backstage pass for the Girlschool show 

at Iguanas - June 17, 1989

Plagued by a late start time, Girlschool played a blistering gig to only a handful of diehard fans in Tijuana. The crowd, which had been bouncing enthusiastically during TSOL's opening set, was already driving home by the time the headliners went on.

The next morning found all of us back in California, in the tiny border town of San Ysidro, debating over eggs and sausages for here or to go. Then it was time for Girlschool's tour bus to head up Highway 5 to their next show in San Francisco (with a quick detour to drop me off in Hollywood, because according to my plane ticket, I wasn't going home yet).

Plans for a stop at the beach and a boat ride were soon forgotten as signs for the Orange County K-MART loomed in the distance. And there was no stopping Kim as she strode intently across the acres of parking lot and into the ultimate American shopping experience.

"Kim becomes a different person when she's shopping," confides guitarist Cris Bonacci (who replaced Kelly Johnson in 1984). "She gets really aggressive!"

With bags stuffed and everyone satisfied that no corner of the store remained unexplored, the tour bus again wound slowly up the freeway. I took advantage of a mid-afternoon traffic jam to ask Kim if a rumored move to Los Angeles was true.

Girlschool - publicity photo

"It does seem like the best time to do it," she allows. "We've got this interest from Enigma, which is based in LA. We've never had that interest from an American label before."

She also points to Def Leppard's US success as a reason to concentrate on these shores. "I told Joe [Elliott, Def Leppard's vocalist] we were going to try to crack America, and he said that's exactly what they did."

As the bus finally turned onto Sunset Blvd., the conversation shifted back to how it all began. It was 1978 when the group changed its name from Painted Lady and played its initial shows as Girlschool. Now the band, which Kerrang magazine termed "a great British institution," is being cited by more and more young female fans as a musical influence. It's a compliment Kim takes with a grain of salt. "It makes me feel really old," she laughs. "But then there's bands like Heart that are still going, and I'd heard of them before I ever thought about picking up a guitar."

The Heavy Metal Thunder of REDD KROSS: A Pre-Slims/Post-Fillmore Rock 'N' Roll Roundup With Steven & Jeff McDonald

Originally published in Teenage Kicks #2 (Fall 1997)
By Devorah Ostrov

Redd Kross - Show World back cover photo

L-R: Eddie, Steven, Jeff, Brian

Redd Kross (back when it was spelled Red Cross) played their very first show in 1979, opening for Black Flag (back when the lineup didn't include Henry Rollins) at a party in Redondo Beach. Their first "real" gig had them again opening for Black Flag (and UXA) at the Hong Kong Café in Hollywood. And for their next appearance, they opened for the Germs (back when Darby was alive). Guitarist/vocalist Jeff McDonald was 15 at the time. His brother, bassist/vocalist Steven, was 11.

But you probably know all that. So, we'll skip ahead to the present where the band (which now includes guitarist Eddie Kurdziel and drummer Brian Reitzell; keyboardist Gere Fennelly recently left the group) has a terrific new album called Show World (on the British indie label This Way Up) to talk about. And as we shall see, it is in no way heavy metal!

Redd Kross on the cover of Bucketfull of Brains #48

Teenage Kicks: I saw your show a couple of months ago with the Presidents of the United States of America. It was great 'cause the audience was filled with little kids, all excited and jumping around! That made it so much more fun than being in an audience of jaded 30-year-olds.

Jeff: We did that once before with the Lemonheads. It was a really young audience, a lot of kids with their parents. It was really fun!

Teenage Kicks: You've been with This Way Up for a couple of albums now. How does it work in terms of recording? Did you record Show World in LA and ship the tapes to England?

Jeff: Normally, we would do it like that. But Steven went to Abbey Road to master it.

Teenage Kicks: The Abbey Road?

Steven: Yeah! It was cool, but I didn't get to go inside Studio 2 'cause Bush was recording.

Teenage Kicks: Was Studio 2 where the Beatles recorded?

Steven: They recorded in all the studios. But Studio 2, which is the mid-size studio, was the one where they did the lion's share of their recordings.

Show World (This Way Up - 1997)

Jeff: I wonder if you saw the studio where the Zombies did Odyssey And Oracle, or Pink Floyd did Piper At The Gates of Dawn?

Steven: Well, I did walk into Studio 3 briefly, but there was a British band recording in there. I don't know who they were. And then I walked into Studio 1, the tracking room in Studio 1, which is...

Jeff: The Sgt. Pepper room.

Steven: It's the "Day in the Life" room, where they did the string section. Mostly, I was in the mastering room, which wasn't built until the '70s. So, the Beatles never mastered anything there.

Teenage Kicks: I want to talk about the heavy metal leanings I detect on Show World...

Jeff: Heavy metal?! That's what Rodney Bingenheimer said! So, to you, "Secret Life" sounds like a Bon Jovi ballad? There's a couple of heavy songs...

Teenage Kicks: Not so much lyrically, but musically...

Jeff: Heavier than Phaseshifter?

The Presidents of the United States of America & Redd Kross

at the Fillmore in SF - April 11, 1997

Steven: Heavier than "Jimmy's Fantasy"? No way! On "Kiss the Goat," which I assume is the main track we're talking about, we use a drop D. It's the first time we've done a drop D, which is...

Jeff: Very heavy metal, very Soundgarden.

Teenage Kicks: But generally, you don't think that Eddie's fondness for Ted Nugent is carrying over into your sound?

Jeff: No. Well, he has his own little position where he exercises a certain amount of...

Eddie Kurdziel in a Fender advert

Steven: I would say this... "Kiss the Goat" is my least favorite song on the record, and it's probably Eddie's most favorite song on the record.

Jeff: But "Kiss the Goat" is Stonesy.

Steven: Yeah, the demo is Stonesier.

Teenage Kicks: I also want to compliment your cover of the Quick's "Pretty Please Me."

Steven: We basically do an exact replica of the Quick. Well, not exactly.

Jeff: It is exactly like the Quick.

Steven: I don't think that's heavy metal...

Teenage Kicks: And I love "Follow the Leader."

Jeff: Which is not a metal song!

Steven: I'm assuming that heavy metal implies... Do you mean in a Sabbath-like sense? Or like a Ratt thing?

Teenage Kicks: Which will get me in less trouble? Like glam/pop metal...

Steven: I could see where "Pretty Please Me" might be mistaken for a Bowie/Cheap Trick deal. The term "heavy metal" just has such a negative implication.

Jeff McDonald (1997)
Photo: Devorah Ostrov

Jeff: Well, y'know what? We were trying to make a metal record, and we failed miserably! Sorry.

Steven: But now, "Follow the Leader," which isn't a heavy metal track...

Jeff: "Follow the Leader," to me, is the exact opposite of heavy metal. It doesn't even have distortion on it!

Steven: At the end it does, but that's like Mudhoney.

Jeff: Pink Floyd...

Steven: The Stooges... Who even termed the phrase "heavy metal"?

Teenage Kicks: I think it came from a William Burroughs' book.

Jeff: I thought it was from Steppenwolf's "Born to be Wild." They say, "Heavy metal thunder..." but I think they're talking in terms of a Harley Davidson or something. Now, the first heavy metal band was... I'd have to say Cream.

Teenage Kicks: Blue Cheer!

Jeff: Cream predates Blue Cheer. "Summertime Blues," their first record was what — '68? Cream predates that.

Steven: No! It was Sabbath and Deep Purple!

Redd Kross on the cover of BAM magazine

Photos: Vicki Berndt

Jeff: Yeah, but... I would say that the two bands which took the original Vanilla Fudge/ Cream/Blue Cheer sound and made it into what would become modern-day heavy metal are Black Sabbath and Deep Purple.

Steven: And Black Sabbath did it in a couple of different ways. They had Master Of Reality and Vol. 4, where they sort of perfected that era, and then later with Dio when they did the Heaven And Hell record.

Jeff: That was Van Halen.

Steven: That's not Van Halen.

Jeff: But that's when they went post-Van Halen metal.

Steven: But they sort of created a whole other genre of metal. It was post-Van Halen, but Sabbath did it in such a way that it was once again completely influential to the whole genre of metal music. They recreated metal for the '80s.

Teenage Kicks: That's not exactly what I'm thinking about when I listen to Show World.

Steven: Right, you're thinking of that late-'80s Sunset Strip...

Jeff: And I hated that kind of music!

Show World promo postcard

Steven: The lyrics to "Peach Kelli Pop" [from the band's classic '87 album Neurotica] do nothing but make fun of those people — the assholes at the Rainbow! I think for Jeff, there was a Quick influence, which was a Sunset Strip influence.

Jeff: But that's like 1975.

Steven: '75/76... left over from the glitter era, just pre-punk.

Jeff: Post-New York Dolls/pre-punk rock.

"Secret Life" CD single (This Way Up - 1997)
Photo: Vicki Berndt

Steven: Pre-Van Halen/pre-punk rock/post-New York Dolls Sunset Strip... Which was probably a really dead period for the Sunset Strip, commercially speaking.

Jeff: New York was starting to happen. LA only had like, Sparks.

Teenage Kicks: And the Runaways.

Jeff: But they were slightly post-Sparks.

Steven: Kim Fowley was trying to put something together.

Jeff: Kim Fowley was running the Sunset Strip.

Steven: You've seen Decline 2, right?

Teenage Kicks: Actually, I haven't.

Steven: OK, that's why... I don't wanna harp on the subject, but if you had seen Decline 2, you would know why we are so incredibly defensive about being associated with the words "heavy metal."

Teenage Kicks: But I don't mean it negatively. I really love this record!

Promo for the "Mess Around" single
(This Way Up - 1997)

Steven: Well... Sorry, we were so defensive about it.

Teenage Kicks: So, getting back to Show World, and specifically "Follow the Leader"... Does that song refer to the cult goings-on in Southern California?

Jeff: I think that song predates the mass suicide in San Diego. You have to listen to the lyrics, and you'll find clues. Take the first letter of every third word; every two words take the second letter for five words. Then go back to the formula of first letter/ third word again. Do it like that through the entire song, and there'll be a nice little message.

Steven: Does that include a's and I's?

Jeff: Yeah... I said it right. It does make sense! You'll see.

Teenage Kicks: And what's the deal with the not-very-well-hidden track #14?

Steven: It's really retarded. It was supposed to be like a minute after the record ended.

Teenage Kicks: It's not...

Steven: It's right after the record. It made me sick the day I heard we couldn't change that.

Jeff McDonald, his wife Charlotte Caffey from the Go-Go's & 

Evan Dando from the Lemonheads at a Live 105 show in San Francisco

Photo: Devorah Ostrov

Jeff: Never again will I be involved with a record that has a bonus track on it. I'm just gonna say, "No! Fuck off!"

Steven: Basically, what happened was... We recorded like 17 songs, and we couldn't decide which songs to leave off the record. We originally only wanted to do 12 songs, but when we tried taking songs off, we thought it was unbalanced on some level. So, putting that song — it's actually called "Sick Love" — on the American version was some sort of compromise. We didn't put it on the British version because there's so many singles. There's all these B-sides, so things aren't completely lost.

Redd Kross with Gere Fennelly 
from the "Trance" picture sleeve 45

Photo: Vicki Berndt

Jeff: If you buy every British single, you'll get almost every track we recorded.

Teenage Kicks: That's a lot of money!

Jeff: And y'know... I have to apologize for that, for allowing it to happen. It shouldn't be like that. I can imagine if the tracks are really rare, where it's worth it. I dunno... The single thing is fine, but the bonus track on the various domestic and foreign CDs...

Steven: And it's a bummer for us because what happens is... They want us to make as many bonus tracks as we do tracks for the record.

Jeff: And we end up giving away songs that are way too good to be B-sides.

Steven: Right! We end up giving away songs that we've worked on just much as the single. And especially in America, where we don't have these singles. We felt like the songs were just completely lost. That's why we did the bonus track. But it was supposed to be a minute after the record, so that the record would at least have a 13-song feel to it. I blame someone at our label totally for that.

Teenage Kicks: Do your singles chart in England?

Steven: "Get Out of Myself" charted in the Hot 100, somewhere in the upper 60s. Which is mildly impressive. Especially if you liken it to the US charts. If you were in the 60s in the US Hot 100, you'd be a superstar!

"Stoned" promo CD single

(This Way Up - 1996)

Jeff: You could go gold.

Steven: Over there it's not quite the same, but it's higher than we've ever charted. I dunno about any other chart positions.

Teenage Kicks: Have you toured the UK and/or Europe in support of Show World?

Jeff: Twice. We went over three times, but once was just for one show. We did two actual tours, one with the Foo Fighters...

Steven: Now, they are heavy metal!

Teenage Kicks: People have probably seen you more over there than over here lately!

Steven: In the last five years, definitely. When we signed to This Way Up, we ended up focusing our attention over there and sort of ignored...

Jeff: Neglected...

Steven: Yeah, neglected... not entirely. We toured so long for Phaseshifter — we did three tours of the West Coast for the last album, which was also like three years ago now. But it's a drag because I really like playing in the States, and I really miss concentrating on it.

Foo Fighters and Redd Kross at the Ancienne Belgique

in Brussels, Belgium - June 1, 1997

Teenage Kicks: We were talking about singles earlier... Wasn't "Stoned" supposed to be released as a single over here?

Steven: We tried to get "Stoned" on the radio, but it didn't get played anywhere.

Jeff: Because of the subject matter.

R.I.P. Eddie Kurdziel who passed
away on June 6, 1999.

Steven: It got banned!

Teenage Kicks: They thought you guys were encouraging it?

Jeff: Yeah... I guess I'm too vague for simple people. And I'm not talking about the fans! I'm saying the people in charge of the programming. You have to realize that you're dealing with peabrains.

Teenage Kicks: Finally, what happened to Gere? Was the parting amicable?

Jeff: She was just too busy. She had so many things to do. Being in San Francisco is weird for me because it reminds me of Gere. And I miss Gere. I love Gere! It was traumatic, but I think we're still friends.

Teenage Kicks: Do you miss having a keyboard onstage?

Jeff: Sometimes, but we've adjusted our set, our sound, to not need it right now. But I do miss certain things that we can't do; there's certain places that we can't go musically. We're just playing as a guitar band right now.

* I also interviewed Steven & Jeff about The Spirit Of '76. You can find that article here: blogspot.com/2018/04/redd-kross-spirit-of-76

Motörhead: It Took Three Of Us To Ask Phil Campbell Four Questions

Originally published in Rave-Up #16 (1989)
Interview by Devorah, Michelle & Scotty

Motörhead (circa 1988) - Metal Hammer magazine

L-R: Phil Campbell, Phil "Philthy Animal" Taylor, Lemmy & Würzel

Before the Motörhead extravaganza at the Omni (December 17, 1988), three of us cornered lead guitarist Phil Campbell to ask a few (four) spur-of-the-moment questions.

Q: How did you and Würzel go about joining Motörhead? Did you have to pass any tests?

Phil: Haha! An Olympic endurance test to handle loud volume! No, actually... I read in a music paper that the other guitarist, Brian Robertson [who replaced original guitarist Fast Eddie], had left. I had supported Motörhead with my band, Persian Risk, about four months before that. So, I contacted the record company and auditioned. They got in 80 tapes, auditioned eight of us, and it came down to me and Würzel. They couldn't decide which of us to pick, so we were both hired.

There are no photos of Phil Campbell from our interview,

but here's a pic of me (L) and Michelle (R) with Lemmy (obviously!)

Q: We've heard that this has been a real zig-zag tour. One night you're in the South, next you're up North, then back down South again...

Phil: It's been a crazy schedule! It's also been a real party tour. Last night we played in Santa Monica and hired a British pub for a drinking party!

Scotty bonded with Würzel!
Photo: Devorah Ostrov

Q: You guys took over a pub?

Phil: Yeah, we were there for hours and drank ourselves stupid! I think everyone is hungover today. I think I can just about get through this show. It's the last one in America.

Q: Now that people over here have finally discovered Motörhead, are you guys more serious about conquering the States?

Phil: We've got a new record company [Enigma] who seem to be pushing the new album [Nö Sleep At All]. We've always wanted to break America; start selling more albums so we can tour less often, play bigger places, and bring the whole stage show out here.

* Follow this link to read my 1992 interview with Lemmy & new drummer Mikkey Dee:  devorahostrov.blogspot.com/2020/01/motorhead-lemmy-&-mikkey.html