Edie and Gina

Gina Schock grew up in Baltimore, where actors from John Waters movies were fixtures of her neighborhood. “Edie lived down the street from me,” Shock says of Edith Massey, featured in Pink Flamingos, Desperate Living, Polyester, and other Waters films. “She had a thrift store in Fell’s Point called Edith’s Shopping Bag, and I would go visit her because I just loved her. One day I went in and she said, ‘Oh, gee, I’m going to put together a punk rock band. You want to be in it?’ And I said, ‘Sure, of course.’ I was like, ‘Oh, my God, this might be my chance to get out of here.'”

Schock, pictured here with Massey in 1978, toured all over the country as drummer for Edie and the Eggs. “She was just a sweet little old lady, really,” Schock says. “I would have to strap her in, get her all ready in that leather outfit. And she would cry. She hated that, but she did love all the attention. She was just sweet. I remember whenever Edie was in the car, every sign that we passed, she would go, ‘Oh, Hardee’s, Hardee’s.’ ‘Oh, KFC.’ ‘Oh, California.’ Every sign she would read it when we passed it.”

Schock doesn’t remember what their repertoire was; she did not play on the version of “Big Girls Don’t Cry” that Massey recorded. But that’s not the point. “[The band] wasn’t that good, but it didn’t matter,” Schock says. “It was all about letting Edie have the time of her life.”

Touring helped Schock decide that she wanted to move to New York, San Francisco, or L.A. She ended up staying in Los Angeles. “If it wasn’t for Edie, who knows what would’ve happened with the Go-Go’s and who knows what would’ve happened to me?” Shock says.

Beginnings of the Beat

Gina Schock’s exhibition presents a full chronology of the Go-Go’s from their earliest days, when she replaced Elissa Bello on drums. Here is an early lineup of the Go-Go’s photographed in 1979 at the Whisky a Go Go. Schock is pictured standing up in polka dots.

The Right Beat

During the recording of 1981’s Beauty and the Beat, Anton Fig — who had been recording sessions with Kiss and would later become drummer for Late Night With David Letterman — helps tune Schock’s kit. “Richard Gottehrer, who was producing the record, brought him,” she says. “Only the best for the Go-Go’s.”

‘Beauty and the Beat’ Out on the Street

“Because we were so poor, our manager at the time went to Macy’s and got those towels and told us, ‘Make sure you don’t get them dirty, because we’re going to take them back,'” Schock recalls of the Beauty and the Beat cover art, shot by George DuBose. “We thought we would put cold cream over our faces because we couldn’t afford a makeup artist or a stylist. It worked out really well.”

Mixing It Up

One of the items on display at the exhibition is a mixing desk Schock has owned since the early Eighties, when the band’s lineup solidified with bassist Kathy Valentine, lead guitarist Charlotte Caffey, rhythm guitarist Jane Wiedlin, singer Belinda Carlisle, and Schock on drums. “When we started putting out records, Kathy actually encouraged me a lot to write because I had seen how Charlotte and Jane and Kathy were writers,” Schock says. “I felt like I had something to say and I wanted to be a part of it. … I would demo a lot of stuff on that board, all of my solo stuff, of course, and some Go-Go’s stuff. And I had it in my house in L.A. and we would do our pre-production there before we’d go on tour and use that board. So that’s seen a lot of action over the years.”

Skidmarks on Our Hearts

“We destroyed that van,” Schock says of the 12-seater the band took out on an early tour. “We wrote all over the interior of it with magic markers. By the time we were finished with that, we had gotten to Chicago. One of the guys [on tour with us] left it at the top of a ramp going into a parking garage, and he must have left it in neutral because it went down the ramp and slammed into a concrete pillar inside the underground parking and destroyed the outside, too. It’s a good thing we had insurance on that van.”

Birth of a Clown

At a stop on tour, Schock pretends to give birth to guitarist Jane Wiedlin as part of the “Clown Family” series of Polaroids Schock took to amuse her bandmates. “We all birthed the same clown and that was Jane,” she says. “She probably asked to be the clown baby. God, we had a blast.”

A Pryor Engagement

“We were managed by Irving Azoff at the time, and there was a fundraiser at the Pantages,” Schock says. “There were a ton of actors, comedians, singers invited to this get together, and the Go-Go’s were there, too. People were walking by and [Belinda and I] were like, ‘Let’s grab a photo with whoever’: Dolly Parton, Richard Pryor, who is a genius.”

Vacation From a Vacation

“We shot the ‘Vacation’ video the A&M soundstage, which was the [Charlie] Chaplin stage,” Schock says. “How cool is that? We wanted to get away from everything, so we thought we’d take a little walk down La Brea.”

Had to Get Away

“In the middle of the day, when we were taking a break, we all went out and sat on a bus bench on La Brea with those outfits on,” she says. “You can imagine people driving by thinking, ‘Look at these nitwits.’ Well, no, probably it’s typical for Hollywood to see people walking around and sitting at the bus stop wearing a tutu.”

On a Mission from God

John Belushi and his wife, Judy, visit the Go-Go’s at the studio where they were recording Vacation. “John came to the show, and he was a huge fan of the Go-Go’s,” Schock says. “When he met us all, he said, ‘I want nothing from you girls. I don’t want to sleep with anybody. I just want to be your friends. I love your music and I want to hang out.’ That was one of the nicest things a dude ever said to us, because there was always seemed to be an ulterior motive back in those days. John was such a gentleman all the time and a lovely, lovely man.”

Belinda, Belinda, Belinda

“This was one of my silly ideas: Just take a whole bunch of Polaroids and then put them all around her face and have her smile,” Schock says. “My bandmates would do anything I asked them to do. They were willing participants in everything.”

This Town Is Our Town

The Go-Go’s received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2011. “We were all pretty excited about it because that’s our hometown,” Schock says. “Everything started in Los Angeles for this band. On our flight cases, we had, ‘Go-Go’s, Hollywood, USA.’ So it was really an honor.”

She notes that their star is located in front of the former site of the Masque, a club where the Go-Go’s rehearsed. “It was in the downstairs of a porn theater. But the porn theater, of course, isn’t there anymore. [Blondie drummer] Clem Burke, God rest his soul, was a dear friend of the band, and he gave a little speech that day about the band and our importance. It was very special.”

This Is Club Zero

When the Go-Go’s were participating in interviews for the 2020 documentary The Go-Go’s, they decided to record a new song, “Club Zero,” which was their first new music in 19 years. “Someone in the studio said, ‘Grab a camera, hurry up and let’s document this.’ See, photography? It’s so important,” Schock says. “We’re not working on anything right now, but there’s a lot in the works that I shouldn’t even talk about.”

The Rock Hall

“I used that kit for [the Go-Go’s] Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction,” Shock says. “DW built me that kit last year. A lot of times when you’re not playing in the city or whatever, or if you’re not on tour, they give you a rented kit. But I actually had my drums brought out for that show for when we played, and it made me feel really comfortable.”