This is the latest and 15th album from Shaskeen

This CD is concert based with many arrangments of tunes & songs. With 16 tracks on the album this provides a huge variation of tunes & songs.

We hope you enjoy the music and that you can experience some of the fun and mischief that prevailed while we were creating it.

We leave you with an expression of affirmation by our good friend and mentor PJ Curtis; the Grand Master of production; who has made a wonderful contribution to this recording.

"The band has earned a well deserved international reputation for performing traditional music and song with style, passion and authority. There are few bands playing traditional music today that can claim such a history or heritage. Like a good wine, there is a maturity laced with a palpable sense of celebration, a musical richness played by a band at the zenith of their career. Enjoy!!"

PJ Curtis.

Press Reviews

Formed in London in 1970, at a time when Irish Traditional Music was at its peak, Tom Cussen responded to a request from the owner of the Oxford Tavern in Kentish Town to put a band together to play on Friday nights. Now hundreds of Friday nights later they are still a force in live music.

It's not easy to sum up the thirty-nine years of music making and entertainment that Shaskeen have been at the forefront of Irish Traditional Music. Listening to their new CD, 'Walking Up Town', it is clear they are going to be leading the way for quite a while yet.

Having been caught up, like many musical groups, in the whirlwind of the set-dancing era, Shaskeen's last four albums were of music for the sets. Now they are making a change to concert style performances.

At the core of the band are Tom Cussen on banjo, Eamonn Cotter on flute, Patsy McDonagh on accordion, Johnny Donnellan on bodhrán, Pat Costello on banjo, mandolin and guitar, Pat Broderick on pipes and whistle, Tony Howley on flute and saxophone and Geraldine Cotter on piano. Geraldine accompanied Shaskeen on all their recordings for the sets and is now a regular in the band. Pat Costello has a long involvement with Shaskeen having produced many of their recordings before becoming a regular band member.

This CD is produced by P.J. Curtis and engineered by by Martin O'Malley/Paul Mulligan in the west of Ireland (Kinvara and Miltown Malbay). The band welcome guests Seán Tyrrell and Seán Conway on board for some songs but, at the heart album, number fifteen marks a return to their original musical formula. It's an album 'for listening to' and features a generous collection of jigs, reels, waltzes, polkas, barndances, and songs. The title tune 'Walking up Town' is an American 'breakdown', a fun rag-style tune. It's probably the best summing up the band could ask for. Ita Kelly

The Irish World

Shaskeen celebrate forty years with original member, Tom Cussen

Tom Cussen one of the original members that formed Shaskeen in 1970, taking their name from the great Michael Coleman reel. They're still going strong — and the road to that meeting of musical minds was varied and stood them in good stead for the years of musical partnership ahead. Who would have thought that, four decades later, they would still be at the forefront of traditional Irish music, as vibrant as it ever was.

Tony Howley, of Monlea, Aclare, Co. Sligo, picked up the sax at aged 12, inspired by local talents Mike Marron, Martin Higgins and Mick Delahunty. He played with J P Boland band and then the Tommy Rowley band, coming to London in '57, where he became a well-known figure on the Irish music scene playing with acclaimed musicians such as Martin Burns (fiddle) Raymond Roland (accordion) and others.

Tony made the move to Manchester in 1965, when he had the opportunity to play with the late Desi Donnelly on the Irish trad scene there. He went on to form his own band and is still a familiar face on the music scene in and around the North West.

Bandmate Tom Cussen, from Broadford, Co. Limerick was always interested in Irish traditional and ceili music. His interest intensified frequenting Ceili Dances and listening to bands like the Tulla & Kilfenora.

Tom headed across the water to London in 1968. and during this time truly immersed himself in the music, buying his first banjo. He said, 'I learned most of my music in London among great players like Johnny Clifford, Sean McDonagh, Jimmy Power, Bobby Clancy, Maureen Minogue - to name but a few.'

He played a host of sessions and gigs with ever-evolving line-ups while in London, and at one point played with The Sugawn Folk Group, before starting the Shaskeen group in 1970 playing every Friday night in the Oxford Tavern, Kentish Town, North London. He returned to Galway in 1971 and now resides in Clarinbridge where he continues to play and make his famous 'Clareen Banjos'.Tom still leads Shaskeen as they enter their 40th year on the road, while the line up has changed over the years the enthusiasm & fire in the music still lives on.

Tony Howley now plays on regularly with Shaskeen, and performed in the bands latest CD called 'Walking up Town' with other members Patsy McDonagh, accordion,Eamonn Cotter, Concert flute, Pat Broderick, Uilleann pipes, Geraldine Cotter, Piano, Johnny Donnellan, Bodhran & Patt Costello, Vocals, guitar & banjo.

The latest and 15th album from this brilliant band reflects the long and exciting journey they have made since forming all those years ago. A concert-based collection (moving on from a series of set-dancing albums) with a wonderful variety of arrangements of songs, hornpipes, jigs and reels within its 16 tracks, plenty of music to get your dancing shoes on to.

The title track is a joyous, American rag-style tune, and it's what this band is all about. Much of the album is instrumental, with classic old drinking songs such as 'All For Me Grog' and 'The Jail of Cluain Meala', but what each has in common is a real sense of fun; it makes you want to seek out a good session.

Indeed, it might even remind a few old hands who saw the group in action in the 70s, when they played Tuam's Shamrock Bar every Monday for years. An album which conveys some of the 'fun and mischief' the pair confessed to having while making it, Waking Up The Town is a great showcase of trad played with panache and great authority.

These guys seem to only get better with age — and their love for their roots and the music of their homeland shines ever brighter. Shelley Marsden

"Tuam Herald" newspaper

IN the mind's eye many may remember the memorable music sessions with Traditional group Shaskeen in Tuam's Shamrock Bar (now Geoghegan's Bar) in the early 1970s.

Those delightful, though perhaps now dusty memories, may be rekindled by listening to the new album Walking Up Town which is the 15th by the group since Shaskeen were formed in London almost 39 years ago. "We played every Monday night in the Shamrock Bar for over two and a half years from 1973. "I came back from London in late 1971 and we restarted the band in Galway in '72.

Some time later we started to move out of the city area and Tuam's Shamrock Bar was to become a regular great gig for us," says founding member Tom Cussen. While Tom says that Shaskeen have made a number of excursions into other musical enclaves over the years they have never strayed too far from their Traditional roots and most of the tracks on this new album reflect those roots very well. Tom adopted the name Shaskeen for the group when the original members first got together in London in 1970.

"As far as I can remember it was in early May of that year which means the band will be 39 years old next May. "I got the name from The Shaskeen Reel as played by Michael Coleman, the band has been going more or less continuously since then," says Tom. "But of course there have been many changes of personnel over the years and sadly many fine musicians and singers who were involved in the group over the years are no longer with us," he added.

Tom, who recently retired from his day job with the Biochemistry Department of NUIG has been the fulcrum around which the band has revolved, and evolved, over the years. He is also a talented craftsman who is well known all over the world as the maker of the Clareen Banjos at his workshop in Clarenbridge.

The Shaskeen line-up of today features eight musicians and the group has branched out more into concerts and cabaret rather than concentrating so much on set & ceilí dances as during some of the past decades.

"With eight musicians in the band we are more in it for the love of the music and entertaining people at concerts etc, and with a few notable exceptions we are now inching towards the geriatric twilight," says Tom with a smile.

On the album he acknowledges the contribution of special guests including Galway city singer Sean Tyrrell who came up with the song Angel's Whisper for the new album. This is a poem from the 19th century Irish poet Samual Lover which Sean has set to music.

Another outstanding track on the album is the Folk song The Roseville Fair which came from the pen of Bill Staines who was a veteran of the mid 1960s brief international Folk boom.

On this album the song is given an arrangement which has shades of Bluegrass music about it, especially during the intro. Pat Costello is in fine vocal form on this track.

Sean Conway a former member of Shaskeen is the guest vocalist on a nice revival of the old rousing ballad All For Me Grog Pat Costello is back on vocals for the final track which is a popular old ballad especially

in Tipperary titled The Jail at Cluain Meala.

Apart from the few vocals it is mostly music on this new album by Shaskeen

and the group are in fine fettle as they play their way through a series of jigs, reels, waltzes and barndances.

This is a fine production recordes at Paul Mulligan's Audio Monkey Studio in Kinvara.

The album was mixed by PJ Curtis in Martin O'Malley's Malbay Studio, Miltown Malbay. PJ has made a great contribution to the way the music and songs flow so smoothly on this album.

For many Walking Up Town will be a trip down memory lane, for some in North Galway perhaps it will be a nostalgic look back towards the sessions in Tuam's Shamrock Bar in the early 1970s.

Tom Cussen says the musicians hope those listening to the CD will experience some of the fun and mischief that prevailed while Shaskeen were recording this set of songs and tunes.

But Tom added that the group are also issuing a hilarious health warning with the CD.

"If at any time it becomes distressful please stop the CD player and seek professional help or else ring Joe Duffy," he concluded. - Tom Gilmore.

Shaskeen — Walking Up Town

In the wake of heavily punk influenced Irish folk music, ala The Dropkick Murphys, Flogging Molly or The Pogues, it is a rare treat to listen to some of the real deal. Where the aforementioned bands have their place, and an amazing sound, nothing quite drives home the brilliance of the roots of that music like hearing the real thing done by people that love it and have done it for a long time.

Together in some incarnation since 1970 Shaskeen has a sound that can only really be defined as practiced and well seasoned. On 'Walking Up Town,' their 15th album you can hear the level of experience and heart that is put into their music. With a mixture of Jigs, Reels, and Songs you have no shortage of music to dance to on this album.

A full two thirds of this album is just instrumentals, with a few nods to some of the classic Irish Drinking songs like, 'All For Me Grog,' and 'The Jail of Cluain Meala,' but no part of it is a let down. And seeking out the rest of their albums will become a must. There is just something about their sound that is undeniably fun spirited, and the kind of sound that you want coming out of the corner in your local pub.

If you are a fan of the kind of traditional Irish Folk Music that has been a driving force in a lot of popular bands these days, then you can do no wrong with 'Walking Up Town.' And if you want to expand your musical horizons and listen to something that is pretty much guaranteed to put a smile on your face and a spring in your step then Shaskeen is the choice for you. Gabriel Llanas