Uh oh, here we go again. Another Irish pop sensation, another No 1 hit across the water. And sure, why not create pop music history while you're at it?
B*witched might be the latest Irish pop group to score a hit in Britain, but they're also the first Irish act to get to the top of the UK charts with their debut single. The four-piece are also the youngest ever girl group (each of them are teenagers) to achieve such instant heights of success, beating the top two female pop groups of all time, The Supremes and Bananarama.
As if this wasn't enough - just when you thought it was safe to put away your dog-eared copy of The Guinness Book Of Records - another unique Irish record has been created by the type of eerie synchronicity that give pop pundits pleasure: B*witched entered the top of the single charts the very same week that Boyzone entered the UK album charts at the same position. Boyzone's Shane Lynch is big brother to B*witched's Edele and Keavy Lynch. Spooky, or what?
They might be B*witched, they're not very b*thered or b*wildered. The four members of Ireland's latest "teen pop sensations" (copyright Smash Hits) are sitting suitably composed in a suite in an upmarket Dublin hotel. They are chaperoned by their burly English tour manager, who sits behind the four throughout the interview. This is a sure sign of pop star inexperience and of record company protectiveness. It's also an apparently calculated move to deflect any "difficult" questions, and, perhaps unwittingly, to irritate the hell out of the interviewer. (Which it does. Well done to all concerned.)
Regardless of inexperience, Lindsay Armaou (17), Sinead O'Carroll (19), and twins Edele and Keavy Lynch (18) seem to know exactly why we're here, and precisely what will happen to them in the future. At the time of talking (mid-May) their chart-topping single, C'est La Vie, had yet to be released. Expectations, however, were running moderately high, with the band and record company ideally wanting to take things slowly but surely. On the day of the interview, the pace had heated up considerably: the news that the single had been placed on the A playlist at BBC Radio 1 received whoops of self-congratulation from the girls. Even Mr Burly Tour Manager raised a smile.
In the lead-up to the release of the single, B*witched had been on a radio and PA tour of the UK, from Glasgow to Southampton, from Liverpool to London, and most major points in between.
"All the magazines and kids' TV shows are totally behind us. And all the regional radio stations are up for us, as well," says Edele, by all accounts the group's chosen leader. "We all just had hopes and dreams. Every day those dreams are being fulfilled. We always hoped for good management, and that every day we'd be doing something different. You never know what you're doing the next day until the night before, and that makes it all very exciting."
"We all enjoy everything so much, I don't think we'll ever get bored with it," says Keavy, the chattiest of the lot. "It's all to do with faith. We have a belief in ourselves. We just knew that when we met each other it would work."
After briefly meeting Keavy in a garage (Keavy worked as a petrol pump attendant and a tyre-fitter in her dad's garage business in Finglas, north Dublin, just in case you're wondering), the girls clicked musically and socially, eventually pooling their resources and talent. At this point, they didn't really know what they were working towards, and with Lindsay still at school, knew they couldn't even begin to think of touring.
Their hard work paid off, the band finally achieving their dream of signing to a record label. Glow Worm is headed up by Ray Hedges, the man who has produced Boyzone, Bros and other teen heart-throbs, and former New Kids On The Block manager, Kim Glover. Ray wasn't exactly looking for a girl group to place on his label, perhaps feeling that he had worked enough with the type of pop act that has a fickle fan base, and by extension a short life span. When B*witched came along, however, his commercial instincts told him not to be so high-minded.
Discovered after a tip-off from Louis Walsh, Boyzone's manager who would have been well-placed to act as an industry insider, B*witched were signed at the beginning of 1997, following negotiations. It took more than 12 months for things to gel. In the meantime, under the aegis of twomember, London-based management team, the girls moved to London, where they lived in a house, Monkees-style, getting their act together. Come to think of it, their video echoes the madcap capers of the Monkees, for anyone who remembers them.
"Bands like All Saints come from and live in London," says Sinead, who has a very realistic tattoo transfer encircling her neck, "but when we're over there, we know we've got somewhere to come home to. We have each other whenever we're away, and that's a huge advantage. We don't have any other distractions. We left our social life behind . . . Being away is all about looking after yourself."
Keavy and Edele have experience of how the entertainment industry works through their brother Shane. Their older sister, Tara, is in FAB, another all-female Irish group who have yet to prove themselves. A younger sister, Naomi, is already waiting in the wings.
"It was a help for us," says Keavy of the Boyzone connection, "because we saw how hard Shane had to work, and how long he was away from home. He just said to us that we should make sure we wanted the success, because it's really hard work. Shane hasn't helped us get anywhere, as such, but he's been great for practical advice."
And the music? B*witched wanted to come up with something that sounded different, so they say they invented their own category - Irish hip-hop pop. It's not such a ridiculous notion - C'est La Vie fuses an irritatingly catchy pop melody with judiciously-placed fiddles, while at the same time shamelessly plagiarising Neneh Cherry's Buffalo Stance. It's cheeky pop music with a capital P.
"It's good music, irrespective of category," says Lindsay. "Something that puts a smile on your face, that you can sing along to and dance to," adds Edele.
"C'est La Vie applies to a wide audience," says Keavy. "We've never come across anyone who says they hate it."
Not yet, anyway. But hold on, girls, what's this - Irish hip-hop pop with a French title?
"We had to put French in there," chirrups Keavy, "just to prove to our teachers that we actually learnt something."