Dublin trio DIVIL return with debut single “Thanks A Million” and announce first EP

There’s something quietly powerful about the way some bands come together — not through industry matchmaking or scene hype, but through life itself pulling people back into orbit. That’s the case with Dublin trio DIVIL, who release their debut single “Thanks A Million” this week, alongside news of their first EP, DIVIL I, due June 19.

The band — Danny Dempsey McMahon (vocals), Jocelyn Vance (guitar) and Conor Cusack (bass) — have known each other since primary school, where they first picked up instruments side by side. Like most childhood friendships, life eventually got in the way. Years passed. They drifted.

They didn’t properly reconnect until a heavy night: the funeral of Danny’s father. Later that evening, as people gathered and sang, something clicked again. Watching Danny and Jocelyn perform “The Rocky Road to Dublin,” Conor saw the old chemistry still there — not nostalgic, but alive. It felt unfinished.

A month later, Conor was diagnosed with cancer, it's the the kind of one-two moment that reshapes everything. In its wake, music became less of a pastime and more of a necessity — a way of making sense of grief, illness, and the strange weight of time catching up with you. DIVIL was born out of that.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z-JAECwVveY

“Thanks A Million” was the first thing they wrote together, though it didn’t come easily. Built around a simple bass riff that looped stubbornly without resolving, the song took weeks to unlock. It only clicked when they flipped the structure on its head — turning verses into choruses and starting again. Once the melody landed, it stuck.

The title itself is as Irish as it gets — a phrase thrown into everyday exchanges without much thought. Here, though, it carries something heavier. The song circles around repetition, low moods, and the kind of self-made ruts that are hard to climb out of. But it’s not bleak. There’s warmth in it too — the sense of friends showing up, knocking on the door, making sure you’re still there.

The accompanying video leans into that sense of looking back. Shot in Mount Temple, the school where the band first met, it captures a place that won’t be around much longer. The building is due for demolition, which lends the whole thing a quiet sense of closure. Family members were present on the day, adding another layer — a reminder of what’s changed, and what hasn’t.

Mount Temple has long been part of Dublin’s musical DNA — the same halls once held early versions of U2, along with artists like Damian Dempsey and Gilla Band. DIVIL now join that lineage, though their story feels less about legacy and more about reconnection.

There’s also a wider network

behind them. Cusack, already a familiar figure in Irish music circles, has spent years supporting other artists — managing, organising, and building platforms. With DIVIL, that energy turns inward. Their debut EP, DIVIL I, is set to expand on what “Thanks A Million” hints at. Tracks like “Orang Utan” and “Chewing Gum” lean into themes of escapism, grief, and those strange moments that end up defining you long after they pass. If the single is anything to go by, the EP won’t be about grand statements — more about the small, human ones.

“Thanks A Million” is out now. DIVIL I follows on June 19.