Business and finance teacher Paul O’Beirne lived a regular life consisting of attending school up until his college years. He graduated high school and then enrolled in community college, not expecting that within a few months he would be faced with another choice that changed the trajectory of his life. He was asked to be a part of a rock band that would eventually go on tour with the Foo Fighters.

Throughout their active career, the band reached many milestones, such as being invited by Metallica to play at the Orion Festival in 2013.

“None of [my plans were] preconceived,” O’Beirne said. “It just kind of happened that way. I wasn’t particularly a great student. I liked [community college], but I was working at the time too. I was going to school and then a rock band came around. So what do you do? Do you go back to community college or do you go play in a rock band?”

O’Beirne chose the latter and took the position of lead saxophonist in his band, Rocket From the Crypt in 1991. He adopted the stage name Apollo 9, and during his time in the band, the band released seven studio albums.

“I thought nothing of saxophone,” O’Beirne said. “I thought I put it down in ninth grade and I would never pick it up again. And I didn’t until I was out of high school. A friend of mine had started this band, and he wanted a saxophone player, and so there I was. I didn’t even have a sax. I [went] to this shop and financed a saxophone, which probably cost me — now I know something about finance — a lot more than it’s worth. But it took me around the world, so what is it worth?”

O’Beirne said he believes that his band’s success was possible because of many factors, such as the music industry in San Diego growing at a rapid rate.

“A lot of things were happening to make [our band] work,” O’Beirne said. “First of all, things become hot. And as we know, New York is usually pretty hot, LA is usually pretty hot. But in the ’90s, something happened where different cities were becoming hot. They were pushing San Diego, saying it was going to be the next hot city. We probably weren’t even ready to be that successful, but other forces wanted it to happen so badly. They started to look around for what was going to be the next hot band, and it just so happened that we had this momentum going on.” 

The band was more than just work for O’Beirne. He and his bandmates lived for their music, rather than money.

“Back [in the ’90s], we just did [music] for fun,” O’Beirne said. “We were kids, and we were making records. We were putting something on the Earth that is hard to go away. This is going to be my legacy. But in my opinion, that’s why you do things. For the lasting imprint that you want to leave.” 

O’Beirne also attributes his success to the opportunities they were given, specifically a trip to Japan where they played alongside a bigger band called Sonic Youth.

“[The band] worked hard, [and] we practiced all the time,” O’Beirne said. “We put out seven-inch record singles all the time. We put out more songs than probably we should have, just to saturate the market. Also, we got aligned with really important people.

While O’Beirne is now a full-time teacher at Westview, he still performs with his band occasionally. 

“We’re playing four or five times this year,” O’beirne said. “We’re playing Vegas in May and Minneapolis in October.” 

The way O’Beirne now sees the world was affected by his travels with the band in a positive way. Going out and experiencing the different cultures and people changed his mindset firsthand. 

“It makes you realize that we all have so much more in common than we do differences,” O’Beirne said. “It makes you appreciate other cultures, it makes you appreciate your culture.”