Shillelagh Sisters

Shillelagh Sisters
Shillelagh Sisters, 1984
Background information
Origin	UK
Genres	Rockabilly, new wave
Years active	1983–2002
Labels	CBS, NV Records, AlmaFame
Past members	Jacquie O'Sullivan Lynder Halpin Patricia "Trisha" O'Flynn Maria "Mitzi" Ryan

The Shillelagh Sisters were a UK female group composed of Jacquie O'Sullivan (vocals), Lynder Halpin (double bass), Patricia "Trisha" O'Flynn (saxophone) and Maria "Mitzi" Ryan (drums). Their music style was a mixture of rockabilly and punk rock, influenced by Halpin and O'Sullivan's boyfriends, who were, respectively, Boz Boorer (guitarist) and Phil Bloomberg (bassist), both of the rockabilly group The Polecats.

The group was founded in early 1983 in a men's restroom at a party. The group had little experience playing instruments, but learned as they went along. Initially the group had two other members, Helen Shadow and Amice Boyde, both of whom played guitar.

With this line-up, they toured, playing at London clubs and appearing as the supporting act for the likes of the Pogues (then named Pogue Mahone) and Bad Manners, mostly playing covers of rockabilly tunes. However, they soon lost both female guitarists, and Boz Boorer took over playing the guitar for their shows. Phil Bloomberg managed the group.

After gaining a substantial club following and some press coverage, they signed a record deal with CBS Records, a move which Halpin later regretted:

“It was not particularly what I wanted to because I can’t stand majors. I would have gone for an independent like Rough Trade and keep more control over what we were gonna do. The records we did with CBS were not really what I would have wanted them to have been.”

Tensions arose when recording the first single, "Give Me My Freedom", a cover of little-known female soul group The Glories, who released their version in 1967. O'Sullivan called it "an old Northern soul song". CBS felt the final result wasn't commercial enough and so it was re-done with a different producer, losing, Halpin later commented, the band's original sound in the process. In addition, CBS refused to allow Boz Boorer to be a full band member, not letting him appear on the single cover or in interviews or video clips.

Despite all these problems, "Give Me My Freedom" was released in April 1984. The group had some press coverage and also did some television shows (most notably The Tube) and a John Peel session at Radio One. The Shillelagh Sisters also went on tour as the supporting act for British rock band Spear of Destiny. However, all this promotion did not lead to pop success and their single charted poorly at No. 100 in the UK charts in May 1984.