Traditional music band, Shaskeen, has been a cornerstone of Irish Traditional music and song for over half a century and show no signs of slowing down, ahead of their appearance in the Town Hall Theatre on June 10 as part of Advertiser Events, group founder, Tom Cussen, discusses the glory days of Irish music, the importance of evolving as a band and the future.
The talent of Shaskeen cannot be understated, combined with drive and determination, the group have over half a century behind them and are eager to continue for as long as they can.
Founded in London in 1970 when Cussen answered an advertisement issued by the owner of The Oxford Tavern in Kentish Town which was then a lively hub frequented by Irish emigrants and their families, using music to help quell the pain in the heart caused by homesickness. Cussen, like many other Irish people of the time had left Limerick for the bright lights and opportunities of London, bringing his lifelong love of music with him, saw the advertisement seeking someone to create a Traditional Irish band to play on Friday nights, and the rest is history.. quite a substantial history.
The early days
Few bands have been going as long as Shaskeen, even marriages as long as the bands history are rarer than not. When asked what is the secret to a long lasting band that has seen the patchwork quilt of Irish music evolve and change, Cussen says there is of course, no one answer but instead that a willingness to evolve and remain driven has helped see the group through five decades playing together.
"When we first came on the scene, I can honestly say that we were the new kids on the block because we were young and bands at the time that would have been very well known would have been The Kilfenora Ceilí Band and The Tulla Ceilí Band had been together and playing for a long time and at a different stage of their lives to us, so we were considered 'fresh'. We played Ceilí music, but we were also doing something different, and it worked."
While the root of Shaskeen can be traced back to The Oxford Tavern, the London group was relatively short lived with Cussen returning to Ireland and moving to Galway for work in 1971. That original band had a five person line up, including Cussen and Benny O'Connor. Chance would reunite the two in Galway later that year.
"It just so happened that I came across Benny while driving around Eyre Square in 1971. He was driving an Austin A50 and had recently come back from England although I didn't know it at the time and I just said to him, 'what the hell are you doing here?' and the rest was history. In the meantime I had met P.J Hernon while playing in what was then P.J O'Reilly's in Foster Street which is now a hotel. I met P.J Hernan there at a Comhaltas meeting there and we got on OK. I was playing with John Dooley and Sean Deveney who used to play in a pub called The Oyster Bar which is where The Great Outdoors Shop on Eglinton Street is now.
"We used to play together, a lot of a certain style of music and I was getting sick of playing it so I restarted Shaskeen with Benny and the rest is documented history," said Cussen with a laugh.
Shaskeen take two
The reincarnated Shaskeen, made up of Cussen, O'Connor, Dooley and Hernon, would plough into the Irish music scene in the 1970's, balancing full-time jobs with playing for concert halls across the country during their free time. By the mid 70's, all the hard work had paid off, with Shaskeen being labelled 'The west of Ireland's leading Traditional group', and had, through continued success been a push back against the then rising and popular genre of rock'n'roll.
The decades that followed followed a smooth upward trajectory with multiple tours of the United States, the UK, playing concerts in Russia, West Germany and even teaching young Irish traditional music lovers in France, how to make their music resonate within the soul. The success of Shaskeen cannot be understated, by all accounts the music scene of the 1970's was a lawless place, it was a constant battle to keep booking, producing and touring, all of which had to have taken it's toll on the members and their families. To have made it through that in one piece is an achievement within itself, but to keep going for decades after is incredible.
With such a substantial history, the line-up would change every few years, though Cussen is quick to point out that splits from the group were amicable and often from a place of it no longer being suitable to maintain, after all Shaskeen never went 'professional' so all the achievements and hard work ultimately created another full-time job for the members, on top of their established careers outside of the band. The 1980's saw the introduction of members; Sean Conway, Mike Fahy and Charlie Harris and the moving on of others, keeping the bands number to a steady five. The decade before had seen the group work with musicians like Eddie Malony, Paddy McMahon and Carl Hession on LPs and albums.
Sadly, two long time members of Shaskeen, Loughrea native Pat Broderick and Pat Costello passed away within days of each other between the end of March and early April 2020.
"We have had many talented people join us in the band over the years. Unfortunately, in 2020, we lost two of our members, which was very sad and a big shock and to me, you don't 'replace' musicians, you can't replace a person."
The loss of the two 'Pats' as Cussen calls them is obviously very significant to both Cussen and the rest of the band. Following their loss, an interview with The Irish World at the end of April 2020, Cussen confirmed that Shaskeen would continue as a band, inspired by the determination of the two 'Pats' and he made reference to a phrase Pat Broderick would often say, to 'keep her lit'.
Evolution
The concert on June 10, will feature the band's now eight person line up with some relatively new additions, with accomplished musicians Katie Theasby and Mary Liddy having officially joined Shaskeen within the last three years. These two new members have, according to Cussen, ushered in the next stage in the Shaskeen evolution.
"We have had two new members, both women, join us by default by standing in and helping out and the change in line-up and they have brought an absolutely huge, new dynamic to the band and it's a dynamic that Patsy McDonagh, the oldest member in our band, was stunned by and said 'I can't understand what these young women see in us, and not alone that but they are into it', so that dynamic and fun is definitely there."
Throughout our conversation, I am struck by the way that Cussen talks about the band and its history. There is a great deal of love for Shaskeen and respect for the musicians who joined them, either long-term or short-term, along the way. With Cussen being the only member of Shaskeen currently that has been there from the start, a natural but incorrect assumption could be made that there would be a hierarchy within the group, but this assumption lives up to the famous saying and is quite evidently false. Instead Shaskeen operates under the mentality that everyone is to be treated the same a boundary cemented by how much the members love playing together in a band.
"Everyone is treated the same, I am the spokesperson for the group, but that's just because I happen to be the talker of the group, but everyone is treated the same. It is like one player being a captain of a football team, and they might be the best in the world but without the team, you can't do anything else."
Cussen and the two new additions, Theasby and Liddy make up three out of the eight, with the remaining five being accomplished and talented musicians in their own right.
Current line-up and guest appearances
The concert on June 10 is set to be a memorable one, with Shaskeen being joined by special guests Alan Wallace and founding member of Shaskeen, Benny O'Connor for a night that will showcase the group as a collective, but also the individual talents of the group seeing Tom Cussen, Geraldine Cotter, Patsy McDonagh, Eamonn Cotter, Mary Liddy, Katie Theasby, Dave Sanders and Johnny Donnellan bring the legendary Shaskeen to the stage in the Town Hall Theatre.
The night promises to be one full of talent, craic and surprises as Shaskeen unveil their new song to the lucky crowd, as well as sharing the stage with talented local dancers from The Hession School of Irish Dancing.
Doors will open at 8pm on Saturday, June 10 in the Town Hall Theatre. Tickets are €25 and are available from tht.ie by searching 'Shaskeen'.
Don't miss your chance to see one of Galway's most famous Irish Traditional music group.
