RIDGEFIELD - When The Go-Go's drummer Gina Schock and her plucky posse - Charlotte Caffey, Jane Wiedlin and Belinda Carlisle - bring their Farewell Tour to The Ridgefield Playhouse on August 10, it may mark the end of an era, but to the band, it is just the close of another chapter in their somewhat storied and often challenging career.Beauty and the Beat, hit #1 on the Billboard charts for six consecutive weeks, selling three million copies, and holding its place as one of the most successful debut albums of all time.The Bee ahead of their swing through Connecticut, Schock talked about how the groundbreaking ensemble has persevered, often for a collective purpose that outweighed momentary concerns or objections that any of the band's individual members may have voiced over the course of a 39-year history.Beauty and The Beat, penned primarily by Wiedlin and Carlisle exploded onto the charts driven by the infectious Schock-induced rhythms on their enduring singles "We Got the Beat" and "Our Lips Are Sealed."The Accused, and the wildly popular Kevin Costner baseball flick Bull Durham.Billboard article, and bringing on Abby Travis to complete the Farewell Tour line-up.Live in Central Park.The Bee as she tooled toward a California rehearsal for the Farewell Tour, Schock talked about how as a young rocker from Baltimore, she turned her attention westward with aspirations of joining a band that would have some staying power, and how the band's now 50-something sustaining members are still punks at heart.Newtown Bee: So back in the days before Beauty and the Beat when you were slamming the drums at gigs at clubs and even an occasional high school dance, did you have any aspirations of making this band a lifelong career?Gina Schock: Absolutely. It was all I lived for and the only thing I was thinking about 24 hours a day. It was insane, but at that age you can believe that [your band] will last forever, and you know, sometimes it really happens. You dreams really do come true. It's dorky sounding, but it is what it is. I am in a constant state of being very grateful because The Go-Go's happened in a very beautiful way. It happened organically - nothing was put together. There was no Svengali. Nobody but us was behind the success of this band.The Bee: I guess that doesn't happen very often in your industry?Schlock: Oh my God, not about many things these days John, that's for sure. But you know what, speaking from the point of view of an artist, however they get there, I'm happy, because it's a (expletive) tough business and everybody has their own way of hopefully becoming successful at what they love doing. And being the artist, I know that's a pure thing, that's what it's all about. It's what you focus on - not all the ugly stuff that goes on behind the scenes.The Bee: Early Go-Go's bootlegs from that period evidence a really raw, almost punk attitude that seemed to have gotten really refined in the final Beauty and the Beat mixes. But throughout all the live shows I've seen from clubs to stadiums, even on TV, you guys still can deliver some edgy stuff.Schock: Absolutely, John. We were a punk band and in our hearts we still are a punk band. And when we play live it shows. When people come out to see us in Ridgefield they'll see. We are a rockin', what you see is what you get band. The way we sounded on our first record. We hated the way our first album sounded, you know? We all thought it was a disaster… way too poppy. Of course our songs always had great pop melodies, we were just playing them with a punk sound, and (Producer Richard Gottehrer) came in and did what he did for us. But six months later as Beauty and The Beat was edging up to number one, we realized our producer Richard was brilliant, from then on we were all saying he was a genius.The Bee: I guess musically speaking, you may have played the most important role in the Go-Go's success - because after all, the song is titled "We Got the Beat," not "We got the Belinda" or "We got the Charlotte" - and without you, the Go-Go's got no beat.Schock: Look, to make a band successful, it takes a group of talented people who can work together. I feel we were all very lucky to be those people coming together to create the Go-Go's at that time. I appreciate what you said about my drumming, John. I'm very confident about what I do, and the truth of it is, Belinda is our front person handling the singing, Charlotte and Jane both wrote some incredible songs, and I've written some stuff I'm pretty proud of and happy with, so it all worked out the way it was supposed to. I'm proud to be part of something that's bigger than me individually.The Bee: You're a Baltimore girl, and early on you were lucky enough to work collaterally with an important Baltimore personality, John Waters, and directly with Edith Massey. Did that experience, or the folks you worked with at that point, give you the inspiration or the courage to pack it all up and move to LA?Schock: No. You know it wasn't that particular group of people, although that was great fun. The truth of it is, Edie was the vehicle that got me playing in front of people, and she got me out of Baltimore and into Los Angeles, into New York, into San Francisco. So after I experienced that and got back home, I was 21 and I said I'm gonna go for it. And God bless them, my parents said, 'Gina, you can always come back if it doesn't work out.'The Bee: So your parents were pretty supportive of their little girl who was aspiring to be a rock star?Schock: My parents had a lot of faith in me, and they helped me believe what I was telling everybody, which was 'I'm leaving Baltimore, and the next time you see me I'm gonna be a rock star.' I really did believe that, John (laughing). So I was on a mission. And Edie unknowingly paved the way for me to make that journey and to try and become a success at what I was doing.The Bee: Your solo breakout with Vance DeGeneres in 1987 yielded one album, but I understand that project marked a turning point for you because it prominently featured you as a songwriter. Up until then, how did you fit into the creative picture behind the scenes as your Go-Go's bandmates developed their songwriting skills?Schock: Charlotte and Jane really wrote that first record. That was way before even Kathy entered the picture. They were the prominent songwriters and it was already established who was going to get the lion's share of their songs on the record..and it wasn't going to be me (laughing). But you know what? It all worked out. It's great to be in a band with songwriters whose material is still withstanding the test of time. Then I got to do my own record, which helped me hone my songwriting and vocal skills as well. That allowed me to go out and get publishing deals as a songwriter back in the '90s. And I just kept writing. Then I went back to working with the Go-Go's and it changed for me again when my partner and I got the Miley Cyrus cut and the four songs on the Selena Gomez record.The Bee: I've talked to a lot of female rock stars from Pat Benatar to Cyndi Lauper to Dolores O'Riordan to Sarah McLachlan - and they all talked about the immense challenges coming up in the music business during the '70s and '80s. Do you think it is harder for a band of five women to tackle those challenges than it might have been for individual woman musician or front person of that era?Schock: It's easier for a single woman. I think a band, whether it's guys or girls is really (expletive) tough. Try being married to the same person for 37 years, then try it with a band of five women...it's not (expletive) easy. But there's a bond - we're family. And in this day and age, I don't see why there hasn't been a band of girls who have been as successful as the Go-Go's. I wonder why, but don't know.really hard for us when we went looking for a record deal.The Bee: Sad to say, but they all seem to be stuck trolling around in the indie scene.Schock: You're right. I've been working with a great band called Potty Mouth, and so we wrote a song with Abby Weems called "Fence Walker," and we were really psyched to walk in and work with them, and maybe we'll do some more and even produce a record for them.The Bee: By now you must have met a million women musicians who may have never picked up an instrument if it wasn't for the Go-Go's. That's got to be really special.Schock: For me, John - it doesn't get any better. When I hear that it melts my heart because that really makes me feel like I've done something. I've really contributed to this world.The Bee: Is this final tour providing an opportunity to dip into the catalog for some deeper or rarely played numbers?Schock: Absolutely. We're playing a long set with all the hits. Then we're doing a song we haven't done since 1979. We're going to do a couple of punk numbers. And we'll be doing "The Whole World Lost Its Head" from Valley of the Go-Go's - and we had some fan send in some new lyrics and we're also doing that. We're doing "Wrecking Ball." It's a chance to do some band favorites and some fan favorites. Can't wait to see you there.The Go-Go's 8 pm show August 10 at The Ridgefield Playhouse features openers Best Coast and singer-songwriter Kaya Stewart. For remaining tickets ($150), contact the box office at 203-438-5795, or visit ridgefieldplayhouse.org.Check out a vintage video of The Go-Go's performing "Vacation" on German television in 1982:Flash forward to 2016 for The Go-Go's performing their hit "We Got The Beat" on [mappress mapid="301"] from Los Angeles:

The group made history as the first, and to date only, all-female band that both wrote their own songs and played their own instruments to ever top the Billboard charts. Their debut album,

In an exclusive chat with

A permanent shift away from punk-oriented roots that Carlisle and Wiedlin planted in 1978 happened within a year as multi-instrumentalist Caffey and Schock joined the outfit, both bringing a degree of previous experience to the table.

From day one with the band, Schock said the chemistry was unmistakable.

Up until then, three of the four members were honing their musical skills as part of the late 1970s music scene in Los Angeles, while Schock was slamming the skins in her home town of Baltimore. It was there that she was discovered and recruited by cult film maker John Waters to play in a band he first featured in two of his films.

That group, Edie and the Eggs, was resurrected under the leadership of Edith Massey for a national tour that exposed Schock to possibilities and opportunities on the West Coast. So with the unwavering support of her parents, Schock said, she headed for California.

That's when things really started happening.

By the time the Go-Go's took their first hiatus in 1985 with a Grammy Award and several more hits to their credit including perennial summer anthem "Vacation," "Get Up and Go" and "Head Over Heels," several members - particularly Carlisle - were ready to pursue solo projects that delivered various degrees of satisfaction and success.

That break may have yielded the least evident amount of commercial success for Schock, who went on to work with Ellen Degeneres's brother Vance on a one-off project called House of Schock.

But she explained that time away from the Go-Go's provided an opportunity to work on developing both her talents as a vocalist and more importantly as a songwriter. Those skills resulted in early solo material being featured in film soundtracks including the Oscar-winning

Over the course of the 1990s, the Go-Go's came together for gigs featuring their familiar lineup that also included long-time bassist Kathy Valentine. That on-again, off-again period also produced one of the band's final Top 40 hits, "The Whole World Lost Its Head," and a popular cover of The Capitols 1966 hit "Cool Jerk."

The Go-Go's have toured regularly since 1999, losing Valentine in 2013 to "irreconcilable differences," according to a March 2016

On her own as a player, songwriter and producer, Schock has worked with or for a diverse cross-section of music industry talents, from the Norwegian pop outfit A-ha, soul singer Nona Hendryx, John Mellencamp and Little Richard to Alanis Morissette, Carnie and Wendy Wilson of Wilson Phillips, and most recently Miley Cyrus and Selena Gomez.

And when it looked like the one and only attempt at generating a Go-Go's concert video was about to go south, Schock jumped in to produce the 2001 concert DVD,

Calling in to

I started out playing bass, then guitar, then I tried playing drums. And I just started playing. It came very easy for me to have all four of my limbs going their separate ways playing music. I would come home every day from school, put on my headphones and play along with records for hours in my room. Can you imagine? I don't know how they did it. And the neighbors, especially in the summer when I had to open my windows. But I guess they would just say "That's Gina playing her drums." They didn't give a (Expletive). It was a different time.

Everybody was way cooler. And my parents are still around, they're still my best friends and I love them very much.

Maybe I'm crazy, but I feel like gender never enters the picture for me when I do what I do. I play drums and that was kind of weird in the '70s for a girl. But from my first concert when I saw The Who opening for Led Zeppelin, I knew that was my calling. I knew that was what I wanted to do. I didn't know what role I would play.

I believe if you write some great songs, and you persevere, and you don't let the people in this (expletive) industry beat you down, you can make it. But you gotta stay strong, you've got to believe in what you're doing and the people who you're working with to get there.

And remember - you're going to be turned down by 99 people. But there will be one, and it only takes one, to make it happen for you. If you've got the goods, it can happen, and the Go-Go's are living proof of that. And it was really,

So I think it's a lot easier today for a woman to get out there and be successful as a single artist. I don't see why people wouldn't go crazy today over a badass female band, but nobody is doing it. I think it would get a lot of attention.

I don't know where that project stands now, but we were really excited to be working with Potty Mouth. They are going to be successful. Abby is a really great songwriter, and the rest of the band loved that song we did together.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZrSvjhXX3ho

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tVi7MTdp7tY

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