The years were rock ‘n’ rolled back last night when Girlschool played a blinder of a gig in Dublin’s Voodoo Lounge.
With founder members Kim McAuliffe and Denise Dufort still on board, Tracey Lamb back for her third stint and Jax Chambers clocking up her 20th year as a member, this is a seriously seasoned line-up of the band who, like their pals Motörhead, blurred the line between metal and punk to the point where it stopped existing.
We’re reminded of this wanton genre-bending when Kim tells the story of how the UK Subs mainman, Charlie Harper, blagged them the studio time that resulted in their debut 1978 single, ‘Take It All Way’.
It eventually made it onto Demolition, the classic NWOBHM album, which is also represented tonight by ‘Demolition Boys’, ‘Nothing To Lose’, the song they later loaned to Motörhead, ‘Emergency’, and their even beefier than the original cover of The Gun’s ’60s chestnut, ‘Race With The Devil’.
While the rest of the guys are no slouches, it’s Dufort’s intercontinental ballistic drumming that really kicks you in the gut. No wonder that she looks in need of an oxygen tent afterwards in the dressing-room. When lists of all-time great rock tub-thumpers are compiled, Dufort needs to be on them.
Lemmy, Fast Eddie and Philthy Phil get a namecheck as they launch into the song they got in their swap deal with Motörhead, ‘Bomber’. Air guitaring furiously to it down the front is Stacia Blake, the former Hawkwind dancer, ‘artivist’ and future independent election candidate who’s currently living across the road from the Election Picnic site in Stradbally.
Performing in front of the obligatory stacks of Marshall amps, it's easy to see – and hear – why L7, Kim Deal, Babes In Toyland and The Donnas have all cited them as an influence.
Girlschool are in The Limelight 2, Belfast tonight; do yourself a favour and go see ‘em.

Photo credit: Graham Keogh