Sean Griffin — Bio, Album & Press Kit

Sean Griffin has spent twenty-five years on stage, beginning as frontman of The Ruffians — a Celtic punk outfit that SPIN called "a glory to behold" and that earned steady rotation on radio stations across the United States, Ireland, and the United Kingdom. The band toured relentlessly, released three studio albums, and built a reputation for ferocious live shows rooted in trad instrumentation and punk urgency. Now based in Kingston, New York, Griffin steps out alone with People Are Mad, his solo debut. The record pulls from the same well of Celtic and folk-rock influences, but in a rawer, more personal register — rock-forward arrangements, autobiographical storytelling, and the confidence of a writer who has nothing left to prove. People Are Mad is the album a twenty-five-year career has been heading toward.

People Are Mad is the bridge between Sean Griffin's Celtic-punk past and whatever comes next. The record begins where The Ruffians' last sessions left off — guitar, fiddle, accordion, drums, and a voice that has earned its rasp — and walks those roots into something leaner and more autobiographical. Songs about leaving home, about watching a small town change, about the friction between community and individuality. Griffin wrote everything himself and fronted the sessions in the studio.

For the recording, Griffin teamed up with producer Kenny Siegel, a Grammy-winning veteran with twenty-five years of credits in rock and independent music. Mixing came from Paul Kolderie, whose work on Pixies' Surfer Rosa, Radiohead's Pablo Honey, the Foo Fighters' debut, and Wu-Tang Clan's Enter the Wu-Tang shaped the sound of the late nineties and beyond. Mastering was handled by Greg Calbi — Springsteen's Born to Run, Bowie's Heroes, Lennon's Double Fantasy, Dylan — names that speak for themselves.

People Are Mad arrives April 17, 2026 through Right Track Records, with Universal handling global DSP distribution.

Logo, press photos, stage plot, and the full EPK PDF. No email required.