The Go-Go’s want to know ‘where the f—k’ are the new Go-Go’s

After 38 years in the music industry, The Go-Go’s — the only all-girl group to write their own songs and play their own instruments to ever top the Billboard Charts — are saying goodbye.

Well, just to touring.

This summer, the band that wowed the 1980s with such hits as “We Got the Beat” and “Our Lips Are Sealed” is on its farewell tour. But we haven’t heard the last of the Go-Go’s, a Gwyneth Paltrow-produced musical, “Head Over Heels,” which marries a 15th century story with the Go-Go’s songs, is due to open on Broadway next year.

We spoke with drummer Gina Schock just before the first date of this final tour, and she was fired-up and ready to go.

It’s days before the first gig of what will be your farewell tour. Does it feel any different to the lead up to any other tour?

I’m like a f—king madwoman. It’s crunch time; the pressure is on. It’s cool; it’s part of the job. We can do this.

Is this the end of The Go-Go’s?

The musical should open next year. It’s mind-blowing and gorgeous. We will continue to work together as projects come up. But this tour is the final tour.

Was putting together the last setlist tough?

We’re doing a longer set than usual. We will be playing new songs — we will be playing our version of “Wrecking Ball.” The arrangement is fantastic. We’ll be doing some songs we haven’t played since we wrote them in 1979; one is “Screaming.” We’re pulling out everything and seeing how it goes.

No city puts the famous on a pedestal quite like L.A., so being a young famous band in L.A. must have been amazing?

It was insane and beautiful at the same time. It was magical. I grew up dreaming of being a rock star: I had an epiphany when I was 11 and my brother took me to see Led Zeppelin opening for The Who. I drove to LA in my father’s pick-up truck with everything I owned. I am an American success story and proof that dreams can come true.

Nearly 40 years on, The Go-Go’s is still called an all-girl rock group, not just a rock group. Does this show how little things have changed for women in the music business?

That doesn’t bother us at all. The music business has gotten better for women. But we often talk about this and say, where are the new Go-Go’s? Why hasn’t that happened yet? That we are still the most successful all-girl group is what makes us wonder. Where the f—k are they?