[Cover photo creditto Wyndham Garnett]
Northeast Rock artist Sean Griffin, frontman of the Irish Punk band The Ruffians, has announced his debut solo album, People Are Mad. Set for release on April 17, 2026, the project is a collection of songs pulled from both Griffin’s present day and his past.
Blending traditional acoustic Irish instruments with a Punk Rock ensemble, the project delivers plenty of cross-genre experimentation.
Alongside the announcement, Sean Griffin has shared the single + video, “Be My Girl.” The song “unfolds as a love story about discovering purpose and the profound sense of wholeness that comes with finding your other half.”
Griffin says:
It’s a raw expression of deep loneliness and daily grind, where the weary, isolated narrator pleads for a woman to become his partner and provide the companionship and understanding needed to escape his emotional pain and empty routine. The idea of complementarity and purpose in a vocational approach to a relationship and marriage.
Sean Griffin’s People Are Mad arrives after 25 years of The Ruffians, during which the Irish Punks shared the stage with Shane McGowan and many others.
As the intial stages of the album started to come together, Griffin reached out to Grammy-winning producer Kenny Siegal (Langhorne Slim, Chris Whitley) in 2023, and the pair got to work and recorded the entire album within the year.
They pursued the live sound that The Ruffians are known for, and the live feel was brought to a finish by Grammy-winning engineer Mathew Cullen, as well as through the mixing and mastering of Paul Kolderie and Greg Calbi.
The project also features contributions from Lee Falco on drums, Brandon Morrison on bass, Will Bryant on keyboards, Siegal throwing in pedal steel and guitar contributions, fiddle player Eugene Bender, and harpist Michaela Davis. In addition, Kaia Dedek provided backup vocals, after her recent stint in Sam Smith’s band as part of his recent Brooklyn residency.
Sean Griffin will be performing at The Bitter End in NYC on February 22, 2026.
