Snow Patrol

Originally formed in late 1993 by University of Dundee students Gary Lightbody, Michael Morrison and Mark McClelland as the Shrug, the band started by performing gigs at the university and surrounding pubs such as Lucifer's Mill. Their first EP was entitled the Yoghurt vs Yoghurt debate. In 1996, they changed their name to Polar Bear (or Polarbear) to avoid issues with any American bands that were also named Shrug. Shortly afterwards, drummer Michael Morrison left the band after suffering a breakdown and returned to Northern Ireland. In mid-1997, Polar Bear released a three-track EP, Starfighter Pilot, on the Electric Honey label. The band again renamed, this time to Snow Patrol in 1997, because of a naming conflict with another band of the same name fronted by Jane's Addiction's ex-bassist Eric Avery. At this point, Jonny Quinn, from Northern Ireland, joined as permanent drummer.

Snow Patrol joined independent label Jeepster in 1997, home of Belle & Sebastian.[8] Jeepster had the same idea for Snow Patrol as the approach they had with Belle & Sebastian, who had become popular by word-of-mouth, without heavy promotion. The band were happy to be associated with an indie label, because it provided them greater independence than a major label. At that time, they were quoted as saying they expected Jeepster wouldn't expect them to have a strict work ethic or focus too much on promotional efforts.

Snow Patrol's debut album was Songs for Polarbears, released in 1998 after the band had started living in Glasgow. Lightbody was then working at the Nice n Sleazy's Bar in Sauchiehall Street. The album was a critical success, but did not make any impact commercially. The same year, the band came close to getting featured in a worldwide advertisement for Philips. Gomez was ultimately signed. In 1999, the band won the "Phil Lynott Award for Best New Band" by Irish music magazine Hot Press. In 2001, still living in Glasgow, the band followed up with When It's All Over We Still Have to Clear Up. Like its predecessor, the album was praised by critics, but did not sell.

The band began to work harder by touring more, but continued to be in control. They slept on fans' floors after concerts and pretended to be members of Belle & Sebastian to get into nightclubs. They owed rent to their landlords and used to receive regular visits and letters from them when on tour. After the failure of the second album, the band began to realise that the label's lax attitude towards management and record promotion, qualities that had initially attracted the band to Jeepster, was likely holding them back. The band's manager at the time was Danny McIntosh. Lightbody has described him as "the angriest man in pop: great, great man". He has said that he loved the band "with every atom in his body", and was never angry towards them. He has credited him with keeping the band together in those years. McIntosh had a gold coloured splitter bus in which the band used to travel to play concerts.

Jeepster dropped Snow Patrol in 2001, a decision that was criticised by Hot Press magazine as brainless.[19] By July 2001, many major labels had started showing interest in Snow Patrol, but the band were cash-strapped and had no record deal. Lightbody sold a major part of his record collection to raise money to keep the band going. Lightbody calls the time "miserable", but was confident of getting signed to another label quickly. However, the music scene in the United Kingdom had turned its attention to American bands and British bands were not getting signed. The band spent this time constantly writing songs. Lightbody, bored at this point, assembled The Reindeer Section, a Scottish supergroup, and found a record label to release the group's recordings. Quinn said that though the time was hard for everyone involved except for Nathan, the question of splitting up never arose. It was during this time the band wrote "Run" (which had been around since 2000) in a room on an acoustic guitar, which later became the band's breakthrough single. The band's "low point" came when they played a concert to 18 people at a popular strip club in High Wycombe. The show took place in a shoddy VIP area, and the management had to unscrew poles used by pole dancers to make space for the band to play, something that Gary would later joke about whilst performing at a sold out Wembley Arena. Quinn calls the show "horrendous". Desperate for attention, the band raised £200 to nominate themselves for a Mercury Prize, but failed to get shortlisted.

In 2002, the band started to be managed and published by Jazz Summers of Big Life.

On 16 March 2005, McClelland left the band, with Lightbody stating 'a whole new set of new and unexpected pressures... have unfortunately taken their toll on working relationships within the band, and it was felt the band could not move forward with Mark as a member.' At the end of March 2005, former Terra Diablo member Paul Wilson was announced as the official replacement for McClelland and Snow Patrol also declared longtime touring keyboardist Tom Simpson an official member of the band.

Snow Patrol headlined the Tennent's Vital festival in August 2013 and performed a special warm-up show in London before the festival. Lightbody said in an interview that "[they] were going to do the show so that [they] haven't gone rusty". After the show, the band announced that Simpson would leave the band. At their Tennent's Vital concert, Lightbody announced that it would be Simpson's last night with the band.

The success of Snow Patrol has influenced the thriving Belfast music scene positively. This includes Lightbody, who returned to the city and now lives there. The band's kindness towards local bands, partly by founding Polar Music, and Lightbody being an active part of the Oh Yeah Music Centre has resulted in high optimism in the scene.

Snow Patrol have founded Polar Music, a publishing company run through Kobalt Music. The venture is independent from the band's publishing deal with Universal Music. Polar Music will sign artists regardless of their genre, as drummer Jonny Quinn explained: "there is no agenda—if it's good enough and we believe in it 110%, we will sign it." Quinn, and his fellow band members Connolly and Lightbody are acting as A&R. The company's first signing was Johnny McDaid, previously of the Northern Irish band Vega4. Quinn has said that they wish to sign artists to a one-album deal, and do not want to put undue pressure on the artists with a bigger, multi-year deal.Polar Music had its first chart hit in the first week of October 2009.[82]

Johnny McDaid
Gary Lightbody and Tom Simpson are both fans of the football club Dundee F.C.. In 2008, they met the club's board of directors to find ways to financially help the short-of-cash club.The band also owns a stake in the Houndstooth Pub in New York City.

On 25 November 2007, Snow Patrol performed an acoustic session for the charity Mencap, at Union Chapel, Islington. They were one of the main bands to take part in the project, called "Little Noise Sessions" which was curated by Jo Whiley.
In 2009, Gary Lightbody and Nathan Connolly donated plectrums and certificates to the Music Beats Mines project that aims to clear unexploded mines/landmines from conflict zones. The items were auctioned on eBay.


Band members
Current members
Gary Lightbody – lead vocals, rhythm guitar (1994–present)
Jonny Quinn – drums, percussion (1997–present)
Nathan Connolly – lead guitar, backing vocals (2002–present)
Paul Wilson – bass guitar, backing vocals (2005–present)
Johnny McDaid – piano, guitar, backing vocals (2011–present; touring member: 2007–2011)
Former members
Tom Simpson – keyboards, samples (2005–2013; touring member: 1997–2005)
Mark McClelland – bass guitar (1994–2005)
Michael Morrison – drums (1994–1996)


Studio albums
Songs for Polarbears (1998)
When It's All Over We Still Have to Clear Up (2001)
Final Straw (2003)
Eyes Open (2006)
A Hundred Million Suns (2008)
Fallen Empires (2011)