Club 9-Ball Proves Music Runs In The Family

One word to describe Paddo, Seamus and Macklin Devine? Irish. But that one is a given. A second word? Passionate. 

Just about six years after establishing their band Club 9-Ball, the brothers are gearing up for their most iconic gig yet: A performance at the prestigious rock venue Whiskey a Go Go in Los Angeles, Calif. 

But to know their story, you have to start at the beginning. 

Paddo, Seamus and Macklin grew up in Brewster with a seasoned musical theater director as a mom and veteran playwright as a dad. Art Devine and Maura “Mo” Hanlon have been longstanding staff at Cape Rep Theatre in Brewster. Hanlon is the current associate artistic director and program director of the Young Company, which provides free professional theater training to young local actors. Devine is a resident artist with three playwright credits for the Cape Rep stage, including his hugely successful first play, “9-Ball.” 

This familiarity with the theater stage still influences the brothers today. 

“We grew up in the theater, so all we have known from a young age, especially being homeschooled there, is the performance industry,” said Seamus. “We take a huge amount of inspiration, stage presence and how we approach a show with a certain level of professionalism, we take a lot of that from the theater.” 

As early as age 5, Paddo and Seamus remember their parents gifting them instruments to play with. “It kind of became like an obsession,” said Paddo. “We would sit around in my bedroom and just try and bang out Beatles songs.”

Paddo and Seamus started their music careers young, with stints in a number of bands, including Someone’s Little Brother, a local cover band. With their passion for songwriting growing, the boys decided to head in a different direction and start their own band, Club 9-Ball, in 2018. 

 They categorize themselves as a “dirty water rock band” with heavy blues influence. 

“I would say that we kind of have a little something for everybody, you know, we try to write a wide variety underneath the umbrella of rock and roll,” said Macklin. “I like to think that we have so many different influences that they've kind of come out in a way that if you like something specific, you'll probably like something that has to do with our music.”

Their debut EP, “Tomorrowland,” came out in 2019, sending them all over Cape Cod, Boston, North Shore and Providence to play live for fans.

Macklin, the youngest Devine, joined shortly after in 2020. “Macklin’s addition into the writing process really completes who we are as a group,” said Seamus. Paddo followed up, calling him a true student of his instrument, the bass.

While he may not have always dreamed of joining the band with his brothers, Macklin said, “One day when I was a freshman in high school, Paddo sat me down with an old beat up off-brand guitar and asked if I wanted to learn a song.” After six hours of practicing a Green Day song, Macklin said he was obsessed with teaching himself music and writing and performing songs. 

The type of dynamic the brothers share is fully dependent on their sibling relationship. 

“Being in a band with your brothers is the coolest thing ever because you get the purest ability to disagree,” said Seamus. They trust and respect that all three of them are looking to hold space for the integrity of the project, so disagreements never lead to hurt feelings. 

In 2023 the band was commissioned by the Cape Rep Theatre to write and star in an original musical. “Archibald Avery” is a tale of a writer trying to write, largely based on original characters and poetry by Macklin. The play was an exercise in tapping into the brothers’ theater origins. 

Now, with a newly-released album and gigs lined up, they couldn’t be more excited to look toward the future. 

The Chatham Orpheum, along with Pizza Shark (an avid supporter), will host a fundraiser tonight (Thursday, Nov. 21) at 7 p.m. with a screening of “This Is Spinal Tap.” 

“It’s the sandlot of rock movies for musicians,” said Seamus. The event’s purpose is to raise money for the band’s travel expenses as they head cross-country for their upcoming show at Whiskey a Go Go. 

What are they most looking forward to at their LA gig? To represent the New England music scene. 

“This [music scene] is made up of some hard, hard, hard working musicians and we all take pride in the fact that it’s got ice cold winters and everyone’s chain smoking outside of Dunkin Donuts,” said Paddo. “We want to take the opportunity to be like, ‘hey, look what’s coming out of this area.”

“This scene is happening organically without the help of major labels,” said Seamus. “That’s why we’re having things like this event where we can raise funds ourselves to get out to The Whiskey.”

The band credits a lot of their success to the people they have around them, including other local bands in the New England area. They also rely heavily on their crew, Jazzy MacDonald, Vinny Collucci and Jordan Corbett, as well as their manager and father, Art.