This edition of the Chatterbox Redux podcast
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back to the Chatterbox Redux podcast with Sue
and Nick and today our special guest is Sean
Griffin. Nick and Sue with Chatterbox giving
you all you need to know about musical entertainment.
Chatterbox, the best interviews with Nick and
Sue. Chatterbox, the best news And now in Chatterbot,
we're just lucky enough to welcome Sean Griffin.
Sean, hello. Welcome, sir. How are you? Hey,
Sean. You're good. Thanks so much for having
me. No, thank you. It's great. Great to meet
you. And right, before we start talking about
the album and the new single Space Girls, let's
tell us, as it's the first time we've met you
and you've been new to quite a few of the member
stations, could you tell us a little bit about
yourself and what your influences were and how
you got here? Take as long or as short as you
like. It's up to you. OK. Well, I'm living in
Kingston, New York now, which is in the Hudson
Valley. Kingston was the first capital of New
York. It was originally a Dutch settlement from
the 1600s, so kind of old for the States. Yeah,
I've been here a while, moved up from the Bronx.
Got started with music, you know, like a lot
of us. When I was a kid, just grew up in a family.
My dad was always singing. He sang barbershop
and my mom played accordion and did some Irish
step dancing. And we kind of just grew up with
that kind of thing. And all of us singing in
the car and just being... always having a party
piece you know to sing and when we'd have you
know kitchen sessions or things like that growing
up so just you know that was just kind of part
of what we were used to and when i was uh like
14 started my first punk band started writing
songs then um entered some battle of the bands
at school and that things of that kind of Nature
and then in college started a band called svelte,
which is very Brit pop kind of influenced at
the time that was back in the early early 90s
and and then Got into a band with my brother
the ruffians Which is kind of an Irish punk Celtic
punk kind of band and we started that back in
97 started doing shows in 98 and Been playing
with that all throughout And this is my first
solo record. So I grew up with obviously a lot
of Irish music in the house and things like that.
And then also my dad loved 50s music, always
that, and a lot of vocal standards here and stuff
with barbershop, hearing songs from the 20s and
the 40s and things like that. Really loved the
50s music. He always played it. So when I first
heard the Ramones, Leave Home was like the first
record that I really heard that I was like, wow,
this just sounds like 50s music sped up. And,
you know, really liked that. And then obviously
got into the Pistols and The Clash and then eventually
The Smiths and The Cure, Billy Bragg and, you
know, things like that. And then, yeah, like
I said, all the Britpop stuff really liked, you
know, Pulp and Blur, Oasis, Suede, Supergrass,
all that kind of stuff. Absolutely great sound.
It's a very exciting time when that all came
out in the 90s. It was. It really put music up.
I think it was a bit lost. We had that sort of
dance stuff for Tour Unlimited and that sort
of stuff. And then brick pop came along and it
was quite a breath of fresh air, I thought. It
was a great sound for a few years. It really
was. Yeah, it was wonderful. And yeah, and then
obviously the Pogues and, you know, just Bothy
Band and Dubliners, things like that. And then,
yeah, so just kind of that was my I'm sure there's
a million things that influence me that I'm unaware
of or haven't mentioned, but that's just some
of the things that kind of come to mind. Well,
I wondered initially, and also looking at your
T -shirt, before I even heard you speak, I was
actually wondering if you were actually an Irish
-American anyway, that there might be some quite
Irish links in the past. Yeah, for sure. Yeah,
we've got pretty much both sides of my family,
pretty strong Irish roots. Is there not more
Irish people in New York than there is in Ireland?
Is that a fact? I don't know. If you go back
to two generations, however many, however many
generations they take it back to have that link,
it was something really ridiculous like that.
Is there not seven million in Ireland or is it
not that many? I don't know. Anyway, yeah, so
that's okay. I think Ireland's hovering around
five million at the moment. And I know there's
about 400 ,000 people of Irish descent in New
York City. Between the country, we've got about
30 million plus. Wonderful. Yeah, so there's
a lot. Like in London, there's about 800 ,000
people of Irish descent. Yeah, so it's kind of,
you know, it's a good... So sorry. She has to
say hello. She has to say hello to everybody.
Now she's seen you. She's great. She's rubbing
around and around our legs. So there we go. Yes.
Bless her. That's Twinkle. So sorry. I was thinking
that one day maybe we just put all the videos
together of her meeting everybody. It's even
Susie Quattro and Pete Best of the Beatles. Everybody.
So you're up there with them. And just Twinkle
meeting everybody. I just think it'd make a great
video. Yeah, so, you know, that was it. And still
enjoying, you know, obviously new stuff, you
know, always trying to hear new people, new things.
So nice about this record, this solo record has
kind of forced me to think about this new business
model with everything being online and social
media, all that kind of stuff. So, you know,
getting to check out a lot of artists just kind
of seeing what they're up to. So the Space Girls
song itself. I must say, you close your eyes
and the beginning, you could almost, and I was
saying to Sue, cast yourself back to that era
of the Beatles towards the end when they were
sort of getting a little bit adventurous with
the drug, not so insinuated for a minute you're
into drugs of course if you were on LSD when
you're writing it, but it was that sort of era
of the Beatles and I thought Wow, this is really
psychedelic and great. I've just talked to sound
effects. To me, that's how I interpreted it because
people probably interpret it differently. But
yeah, that was my interpretation of it. I thought
it was really great. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, you
know, just studying music in college, you get
turned on to all kinds of things, you know, John
Cage and some contemporary Philip Glass and different
things. So I really like the idea of, yeah, sounds.
So we were really trying to go for like a lot
of that, like just sound effects and different.
different kind of things. There was actually
quite a lot more. Some of it kind of got cut
out, but some of it was a little too wild. Oh,
it's a shame. Maybe there could be some time,
maybe when you do your vinyl or something or
you do your deluxe version, that could be the
bonus track sorted. Yeah, I've always worried
with the radio that they're just going to start
right where the guitar riff comes in and like
kind of not have that in the beginning, because
some people don't have the attention span, sadly,
to get through four seconds of something. No,
we'll be playing it. It was great. Well, listen,
it's a talking point that we've got, so hopefully...
Maybe the Brits have a different way on their
radio, because I like a good introduction or
a little soundbite or something on a song. I
think it can make it. I mean, it sounded great,
a lot of 80s songs, but no, I mean, it was great.
You'll probably find over here it'll probably
get played in its entirety, because, say, we're
talking about it, aren't we? You know, it's working.
It's working. And there's nothing like actually
having a CD instead of downloading. Well there,
thank you for saying that. So yes, we've got
in our hands, we've got a beautiful CD album,
Sean Griffin, People Are Mad. Is it called People
Are Mad? Well, it's the title track, you know,
so it is the title track. But yeah, I mean, just
we're all a little mad, aren't we? I mean, it's
just, you know, kind of the Irish sense of, you
know, redundancy of crazy, right? Some version
of it. Where we grew up, I grew up in Connecticut
initially. So we were by Danbury, Connecticut.
And Danbury is known as Hat City. So people who
were making the hats were always exposed to mercury
in the dyes. And they would act very crazy. And
they got known as being the Mad Hatters. And
that's where they had come from. So it was kind
of funny. So just that idea of, you know, the
next town over, it was like the mascot was the
mad hat or is everything was the mad hat city
and that kind of thing. So I guess it just kind
of always planted in me and just, you know, I
was prone to muttering it under my breath. People
are mad all the time. It was my way of just not
going crazy or losing it or yelling at someone.
I'd just be like. People are mad. You come out
of it quite well, so there can't be mercury in
the water as well, so you must be good. Could
I ask about the lovely picture of your daughter
on the CD? Oh yeah, that's my youngest, that's
Maren. So she was in the video for People Are
Mad. So there's a line in People Are Mad and
it says, people are mad, people are crazy, from
the moment you're born till you're pushing up
daisies. So we use the daisy imagery quite a
bit. in the record, in the video, and in the
song. So in the video, she is holding out daisies
at the end. So we just kind of grab that snippet
and use it. And it's funny because throughout
the video, she's passing out daisies to people.
So she's also kind of in a way, she's almost
like a little Grim Reaper. Even though she's
youth. So it's got a couple different things
in it. There's your youth and the rest of it.
So there it is. That's Maren. She's my youngest.
Youngest. She rules the roost here at home. Wonderful.
You've done yourself proud with the CD. This
is what a proper CD should be like. You've got
the lovely picture of you on the front. You've
got a lovely... Yeah, notes, we say, CD notes.
Nice monochrome picture, black and white picture.
That's nice. The first thing I saw was the CD,
the picture on the CD. Beautiful. Thank you.
If you pop it off, there's another one behind
it. Oh! Oh, wow. Hmm. Good. And on the back slope,
as you know. Oh, there you go. And you also wanted
to ask about that one. Oh, yeah. Could I ask?
We'd be thinking all sorts here. It's probably
obvious, but... Track 80s. JFK. Is it obvious
about JFK or are we just being brutes? It's actually
about the airport and it's not about the man.
Okay. So it's about summer love on a J -1 visa.
So kids come over from all over the world to
the states in the summertime and they get a three
month visa, working visa and a lot of times summer
love happens. So it's about summer love on a
J -1 visa and then dropping someone off at the
airport. That's great at the end of it and then
this person reflecting back on it and then You
know as an older person and kind of thinking
of it But then it builds and and and then the
person saying come away with me and it gets quite
You think the song is ending and it really builds
like quite a bit. We've got great singers in
it and we've got a harp It's quite orchestral
almost. And it's the highest note that I sing
on the record. I sing an E above high C on that.
one. It's like a yodel almost. The new Frank
Ifield. That's another talking point. Just JFK.
So there you go. So there's a British saying,
JFK, what's that one about? There you go. Perfect.
So we've got a lovely song and a story out of
it. Yeah. Yes, it was nice. It kind of ties in
with the Irish New York scene, which kind of
I've always been part of. So it kind of pulls
in, you know, JFK, the imagery and the airport.
and the whole thing. Wonderful. I'm going to
say, well I shouldn't say it, but this is the
best CD we've had brought to us so far and I'm
being honest, best CD ever. Well packaged, very
well packaged. Also, even having the package
so I can put it back in there to keep it in good
condition. Yeah, it's got a little pocket that,
isn't that nice? Yeah, brilliant. And I should
really put my little pin badge on, shouldn't
you, really, for the interview? No, we didn't
even know this was coming, did we? I like having
the badges and the stickers and the whole bit.
I'll do it later. So what other singles have
you got planned from the album? To be honest
with you, we've done like... We've done five
singles off the record. Oh, you better tell us
about them. I guess we started off we started
off with people are mad and that was that was
the first one off and we did that we worked out
for a little bit and then Rocks off number 11
on there is actually kind of an extra track that
wasn't with this producer and it wasn't really
during this record, but I had it sitting around
and The gentleman who had mixed the album, Paul
Caldery, he had mixed the Pixie stuff and he
also had done Echo Belly and he did the first
two Radiohead albums. And so I was just like,
what would you do with this? And he just brought
it to such a great level. So super guitar heavy.
And we put that out kind of when this whole Oasis
thing was coming back because I don't want to
toot our own horn. I think it rocks as hard as
anything they've ever done that track and So
that was the second single and then be my girl
we did be my girl is kind of a big It's kind
of a big power ballad in a way It's about someone
kind of looking for a permanent relationship
and Most of their friends are kind of moving
on with their life and getting married. So we
did that We're taking a quick break to talk about
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And then we did Space Girls, totally took it
to a different place. And yeah, Space Girls,
it's a really tough story. It's kind of autobiographical.
I mean, every night, amorous space women come
and take me away in their ship. And it's down
to me to repopulate their planet. And it's been
happening for decades now, and it's just... Yeah,
we're getting there. We got a couple thousand.
All very, very cute, just like my daughter. No,
but I'm Jeezy. But yeah, so that was the next
one. And then we just had That's All She Wrote
come out. That one just came out when the album
was released on the 17th. That's All She Wrote
was the focus track on April 14th. Oh, wonderful.
What about Molly? Yes, what about Molly? Molly
is very much an Irish bar brawl of a song. It
kind of starts off like a ballad about how this
person is heartbroken, but then he kind of gets
worked up and punches the guy and starts dating
the girl's best friend and flips over the tables
and yeah, it's a bit of that. What about nothing?
So nothing is kind of new territory for me. It's
a very thoughtful, kind of introspective ballad.
It's about kind of unplugging from the world
and just having time to yourself and kind of
shutting things out, not feeling like you have
to do anything. And some people see it as a breakup
song. I kind of see it as more of a song about
just stepping away from people who aren't really
doing things in your life that are good. or good
for you, just kind of unplugging from it, stepping
back and just saying, yep, I take my time myself.
This gypsy girl, is there anything, any Irish
links with gypsy girl? Yeah, sure. Travelling
people. So that song is about an old man kind
of at the end of his, towards the end of his
life. And he's just thinking back to this very
beautiful, innocent moment he had with a gypsy
girl where he just saw her and it was just taken
by her her beauty and this brief encounter he
did he loved and she she read his his palm and
she said that he would always love her and But
the relationship never really was and it just
you know But he did like he's at the end of his
life and he's thinking about this and this is
what's capturing his imagination and kind of
in his twilight moments and Yeah, so she stole
his heart and his wallet Yeah. That's a good
one. Number seven. Number seven. Youth is wasted
on the young. It's quite tightly. Youth is wasted
on the young. That song, it was a real development.
The arrangement, we really worked that one through.
It had a very different feel and yeah, it was
just that. I mean, just being a little older
in life and just realizing like, yeah, these
are still the best days of our lives. you know
you look back at the folly of youth and not just
like the romanticized idea and just like all
the fumblings and the mistakes and the rest of
it and just saying you know this is this is a
great time to be alive now and we have a great
time of our life ahead of us and um yeah so just
kind of a bit a bit of that i was lucky lucky
enough reckless eric sang background on that
song and that was quite fun have you got a favorite
on the cd That's kind of like picking your favorite
child Well, we're both alright because we've
had this from Chesney Hawkes We're both okay
because although we don't have any children together.
We've both got one So we're okay on that so but
I have I have six I have six Beautiful we got
three boys and three girls. That's perfect wonderful
wonderful. Well, that's an album then isn't it?
Do your children ever sing with you? I mean,
just kind of at home. We haven't done anything.
I don't drag them into my stuff because it's
just not fair to them. They're finding their
own way. It could happen. You never know. They're
getting a little older. The boys, the older boys
are playing the guitar and the piano. I'm just
going to say I'm sure at least one of them will
go. It's got a law of averages says one's got
to at least one's got to follow. It's going to
be musical gene there somewhere that's naturally
there isn't it? It's got to be. So Sean Griffin,
People Are Mad, the album and Space Girls the
single, they're both out already. as we're talking,
and we've got a lovely quote here from musicnews
.com. It's a stunning debut overflowing with
character, humor, and pure sublimity. It's a
nice little plug there, isn't it? Nice little
plug. Yeah, I like that. It's a nice little quote.
Yeah, I don't take compliments well, so you're
probably, you know, hiding and turning red here,
so. I get that. I like that. So, yeah. Brilliant.
Now, what about coming to the UK to do some live
stuff? Have you ever done it before? Was it something
you did? I was over in October. I was over in
October around the first kind of singles coming
out. I did six shows over in London and that
was really nice. I'm hoping to get back over
before fall at some point. That's my hope. Fingers
crossed. Let's hope, you know, well, if you're
using Heart Media again, obviously we get the
press clicks. Yeah, well, hopefully we'll have
a chat about that. We'll give you dates out and
things like that then. So, yeah. And if it is
London again, at least we can make it. We'll
come and say hi at the same time. Do you have
any favorite venues there or locals that you
like? Obviously the Royal Albert Hall's got to
be the one, so you're working on that one of
course. I was at the bigger venues, the O2, there
are some quite good... Well tell you what, there
is the one that keeps cropping up, that old St
Pancras Church by King's Cross Station. St Pancras,
King's Cross St Pancras. Near Hart Media's office
actually, there's an old church there they've
turned into a venue. And quite a few of the artists
we've interviewed are there, have played there,
or are playing there, so that is a nice sensible
sized venue. as well. We're doing a hope and
anchor in Islington, aren't we, next Friday,
to see somebody else we've interviewed a few
times. So yes, we are getting a bit old for the
standing up stuff, of course. Apart from that,
no. I really like doing shows at three o 'clock
in the afternoon. We're not that bad yet, but
I've been to matinees of West End shows. We're
not quite that bad. I have my afternoon nap then.
Funny joke. We could go and listen to Sean, then
in the interview, you've got your daughter coming
out giving daisies to everyone. Sorry, just that
image in my head. Check out the video. So if
you look at our videos, we've done proper...
music videos for all of the singles. And I have
to tell you that they're quite the endeavor.
So if you look at my name, Sean Griffin on YouTube
or on my web page, which is SeanGriffin .rocks,
so S -E -A -N -G -R -I -F -F -I -N .ROCKS, then
you can seize the links to some of the videos.
and you can see what we've been up to. But it's
been fun making those. Those have been a challenge
at first for me, kind of getting used to doing
that and looking at myself and saying, my goodness,
I didn't know that was happening with me at this
point. But you know, things, my march is on.
What does your daughter think? Because her pitch
is on the CD. Oh, yeah. You know, she hasn't
said much. I mean, I showed it to her. I think
she was like... slightly surprised but I think
she was pleased. Well it would be this day to
the interview before he said goodbye that I would
say we're doing the social media but you've basically
done it so I think you said Sean Griffin rocks
but he had chucked at them again so they're all
ears so yeah so yeah good yeah so yeah my Instagram
is whatever that is yeah so it's a Griffin g
-r -i -f -f -i -n dot Sean is my Instagram and
Yeah, and then as far as yeah, the web page is
a Sean sen Griffin dot rocks. Yep. So Yeah, thank
you. And I'm hoping to get maybe vinyl pressed
at some point. We're kind of waiting. Oh, you
got cello vinyl, don't you? Oh, yeah. Well, to
be honest with you Oh, wow Vinyl, isn't it? It's
just opening a new vinyl. It's like opening a
decent coffee, isn't it? It's just that smell
of new vinyl. It's just, it is. It's one of those
things of a certain era. It really is, yeah.
Hang on, Bose. I must comment. I love, Nick's
just gone onto your website and the picture that's
just come up, I love the pose with your hands
and your trousers and your, and your, the pose,
but you're leaning against a brick wall. That
is beautiful. And of course, yeah, you mentioned
Sean Griffin Rocks. Sean Griffin dot Rocks. Having
said that, there's links to all your other social
media there I can see anyway, so it's all there.
Brilliant. Sean, wish you every success with
the singles and the album. I hope you do get
over it, but every success in general. Hopefully
we can have a chat again sometime. It's been
great meeting you. Oh, absolutely. Yeah, look
forward to meeting you when I'm over there. That's
brilliant. Every successful. Take care, mate.
Thank you. Thank you very much. Bye. Thank you.
been listening to the Chatterbox Redux podcast
with Sir Nick and today our special guest was
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