Makeup Secrets Of Five Wild & Crazy Girls

Were animals! We take care of each other like a pack of wolves." Gina Schock, the surprisingly petite power drummer of the Go-Gos, talks in exclamation points while her four colleagues poke at, bite, nuzzle and tease each other on a pair of sagging Holiday Inn beds. Sounds like a voyeurs delight, right? Well, except for my hubby, watching with amusement from a corner of the room, the scene was all girl talk and the kind of hysteria that ensues from too much road life. Afterwards, Don ventured that it would only be a matter of time before L.A.s finest flower of womanhood started pitching television sets into the swimming pool,.

Several weeks into a lengthy club tour, the Go-Gos had some vague idea of where they were. Were on Long Island...its a long island," ad nauseum. Where they had been the night before was Washington, D.C. Where they would be in the next day was Providence, R.I. After a six hour drive in a van about which they have many unladylike comments, the Go-Gos have arrived in Hauppauge, close to East Islips 2001 Club, capacity 2001, all of whom would hopefully rusl) out and by at least one copy of Beauty And The Beat.

At 5 p.m., unshowered and partially fed, the Go-Gos bear little resemblance to the five frothy creatures laced in suds on their LP jacket. Instead of intricately made-up faces, learned from tiny guitarist Jane Wiedlin, there are scrubbed and shiny countenances, looking more like their parents children and less like the troupe of Foxes," to whom they have been compared. Theyve been performing for three years, first in Los Angeles, then in Europe supporting Madness and the Specials, finally on a U,S tour with a hit single, Out Lips Are Sealed" and album. Yet the Go-Gos are obviously young (average age 23) and giggly with the excitement of their lives.

We say whatever we want to each other," explains blonde guitarist Charlotte Caffey, who looks like shed fit into the lineup of Eight Is Enough as Susan Bradfords understudy. We dont have any physical violence, just verbal," in order to stay pals at such close quarters. Adds bassist Kathy Valentine, then the things you say that people get mad over, they always turn into a big joke and youre constantly reminded of what you said for at least a week." Charlotte: You mean the day you told me I was ugly and fat—oh, I laugh about that every day! Also," she quickly interjects, heading off another row, being able to play every day." That releases a lot of aggression," agrees Jane, whose wispy voice contrasts with her determined stance.

While 1 wouldnt call the Go-Gos live performance aggressive, (defined as jamming their female-ness down anyones throat), Ill quickly say that its full of confidence and pride, as five girls dressed in thrift-shop finery make their audiences dance to thfe power of pop. Beat isnt just another four letter word to them. Vocalist Belinda Carlisle wails like the country singers, Patsy Cline and Brenda Lee, she admires, while she swishes the voluminous skirt of her 50s-era sundress back and forth, one shoulder tilted to look rakish, not sleazy. Jane, Kathy and Charlotte work so hard to get the rhythms right that their clothes get stiff with sweat, Wiedlin openly admitting that on a great night shell make only one mistake.

Their harmonies are faultless, boastful choruses of girls together that make you feel this is where the Shangri-Las wQuld be if they sang songs about life, not death. And in the1 back, Gina propels the sound with a force that reveals her lengthy study of John Bonhams thunderous style. The Go-Gos may have been the opening act for the Specials at New Yorks Dr. Pepper Festival on a west-side pier, but the audience of 8,000 called them back to do an encore of Surfin and Spyin," their song which, said Belinda proudly, the Ventures recorded.

Charlotte brings up the question of exploitation, inevitable when a group finds itself in the unique position of being the only female band to have a current hit record and get played on the radio with songs completely written by the group. There was something in an article about us being hyped and I thought about it for awhile, but you know, a lot of the difference between us and other bands in the L. A. area is that we went out touring before we even got a record deal and we laid a lot of groundwork, which a lot of other bands didnt get a chance to do. So when our album came out there really were a lot of people who were looking forward to it.

At a press conference held the day the Go-Gos played on the pier, the group surprised an interesting mixture of teen magazine reporters and rock press by displaying an acute business sense, which several of the male writers didnt expect form five cute girls. They announced that the Go-Gos were able to stay on tour in 198ls depressed economy because they hadnt gotten themselved in debt to their label, IRS, nor had they asked for any tour money from its president, Miles Copeland.

Said Charlotte, Miles theory on record advances just happens to co-ordinate with our theory on record companies giving advances. Weve been self-sufficient for a long time. We have everything we need. What makes a big difference is having the backing of the label, which we didnt have when we had the single of ˜We Got The Beat out on Stiff in England. That record had no promotion whatever and it sold a ton of copies."

The Go-Gos fielded other, more smartass questions, like what do your parents think about your being in a band" and do you have boy groupies" with equal cool, though they admitted to me that being trapped in a room with 30 journalists busy scarfing a free lunch was somewhat disquieting. The press conference revealed such world-shattering tidbits as the girls admission that their boyfriends are also musicians, that they save on pressing their clothes enough to make em stand up and then slipping them on (just kidding, I hope) and their desire to write about other subjects beside teen romance, which they do quite well on This Town" and We Got The Beat," for instance. Inspirational verse: Kathy Valentines Cant Stop The World"—Your heart, yourwill, your car— Theyve all been broken." Not too many folks thought to ask them about one minor accomplishment—their excellent record.

Beauty And The Beat is Richard Gottehrers most successful introductory album production since the first Blondie LP, and technically, its a hell of a lot better. The girls feel that he helped them make what

they call a rowdy" album, not really slick and not totally raw," says Charlotte. Like Richard said at the beginning, he wanted to skip the first album and make this the second one, so that everything would have been improved...What an ugly painting!" she shrieks, totally diverted by two views of dark green, evil looking mushrooms adorning the Holiday Inn walls.

All five Go-Gos are in such a state of exhaustion from their long haul drives that they have the attention span of small children. One moment Belinda is enthusing about cruising for new clothes, the next Jane and Gina are jabbering about how theyve managed to stay friends in such clos§ quarters, and before another minute passes, Belinda and Gina, who are sprawling over the same rumpled bed, are giggling so furiously you can see the tee hee hees" rise like a warm cloud over the room. This is a crew thats going to be in People Magazine?

They wont find any dirt on us," warns Jane, sounding woeful over the fact. Wed love to be in the National Enquirer or the Globe. I love trash." (So where do you think you are?) Insists Kathy, We worship sickness in every form," but thats hard to believe when what you see of the Go-Gos is a bunch of swell gals who play great tunes because nobody ever told them they couldnt. However, maybe therell be a real sexy photo of the group accompanying this story, and that would definitely result in at least a few copies with sticky pages, which would be enough to put the Go-Gos in seventh heaven.