Snow Patrol
Snow Patrol are a Northern Irish–Scottish rock band formed in 1994 in Dundee, Scotland, consisting of Gary Lightbody, Nathan Connolly, and Johnny McDaid ; Lightbody is the band's sole remaining original member.
After briefly using the name Polarbear, releasing the EP Starfighter Pilot and losing Morrison as a member, the band became Snow Patrol in 1997 and added Jonny Quinn to the lineup as drummer. Their first two studio albums, Songs for Polarbears and When It's All Over We Still Have to Clear Up, released by independent record label Jeepster Records, were commercially unsuccessful. The band signed to Polydor Records, in 2002 and Connolly joined as lead guitarist.
Their major-label debut album, Final Straw, was released the following year. "Run", the record's biggest hit, saw the band rise to national fame as part of the post-Britpop movement. The album was certified 5× platinum in the UK. In 2005, McClelland left the band and was replaced by Paul Wilson. Their next studio album, Eyes Open, and its hit single "Chasing Cars"—reported in 2019 to be the most-played song of the 21st century on UK radio—propelled the band to greater international fame. The album topped the UK Albums Chart and was the best-selling British record of the year. Snow Patrol released their fifth studio album, A Hundred Million Suns, in 2008; their sixth, Fallen Empires, in 2011; their seventh, Wildness, in 2018; and their eighth, The Forest Is the Path, in 2024. Quinn and Wilson left the group in 2023.
During the course of their career, Snow Patrol have won seven Meteor Ireland Music Awards and been nominated for six Brit Awards and one Grammy. Final Straw, Eyes Open, and A Hundred Million Suns have sold ten million copies worldwide, combined.
History
Early years (1994–1997)
Snow Patrol were formed in early 1994 by University of Dundee students Gary Lightbody, Mark McClelland, and Michael Morrison, under the name Shrug. The band started by performing gigs at the university and local pubs such as Lucifer's Mill. Their first EP was entitled The Yogurt vs. Yoghurt Debate. In 1996, they changed their name to Polarbear to avoid clashing with any American bands that were also named Shrug. Shortly afterwards, drummer Michael Morrison left the group after suffering a breakdown and returned to Northern Ireland. In mid-1997, Polarbear released a three-track EP, Starfighter Pilot, on the Electric Honey label. The band was renamed Snow Patrol in 1997, because of a naming conflict with a band named Polar Bear, fronted by ex-Jane's Addiction bassist Eric Avery.''Songs for Polarbears'' and ''When It's All Over We Still Have to Clear Up'' (1997–2001)
Snow Patrol joined independent label Jeepster in 1997. Jeepster had the same plan for Snow Patrol as the approach they had used with Belle & Sebastian, who became popular by word of mouth without heavy promotion. The band were happy to be associated with an indie label, because they felt it gave them greater independence. They were quoted as saying that Jeepster would not expect them to have a strict work ethic or to focus too much on promotional efforts.Snow Patrol's debut album, Songs for Polarbears, was released in 1998 after the band had moved to Glasgow, where Lightbody was working at the Nice n Sleazy's Bar in Sauchiehall Street. The album was a critical success but did not make a commercial impact. The same year, the band came close to being featured in a worldwide advertisement for Philips, but Gomez was ultimately signed. In 1999, Snow Patrol won the "Phil Lynott Award for Best New Band" given by Irish music magazine Hot Press. In 2001, while still living in Glasgow, the trio released their next album, 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 and tour more. 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 received regular visits and letters from them while on tour. After the failure of the second album, Snow Patrol began to realise that the label's relaxed attitude towards management and record promotion, which had initially attracted them, was perhaps holding them back. The band's manager at the time, Danny McIntosh, who was described by Lightbody as "the angriest man in pop: great, great man", has said that he loved the band "with every atom in his body" and was never angry towards them. He owned a gold-coloured splitter bus, in which the band travelled to concerts. Lightbody has credited McIntosh with keeping the band together in those years.
Jeepster dropped Snow Patrol in 2001, a decision that was criticised by Hot Press magazine as brainless. By July 2001, major labels had started showing interest in the band, who 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. The singer said this time was "miserable", but he was confident that they would get signed to another label. The music scene in the United Kingdom had turned its attention to American bands, however, and British bands were not being signed. The group spent this time writing songs. Lightbody assembled The Reindeer Section, a Scottish supergroup, and found a record label to release the project's recordings. Quinn said that although the time was hard for everyone involved except Nathan, the question of splitting never arose. It was during this time that the band wrote "Run" on an acoustic guitar, and it later became the band's breakthrough single. The band's "low point" came when they played a concert to eighteen people at a 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 says the show was "horrendous". Desperate for attention, the band raised £200 to nominate themselves for a Mercury Prize but failed to get shortlisted.
''Final Straw'' (2002–2005)
In 2002, Snow Patrol began to be managed and published by Jazz Summers of Big Life.Guitarist Nathan Connolly, previously a member of the band File Under Easy Listening, was working in an HMV store room in Belfast, and the band were introduced to him by a mutual friend. Connolly moved to Glasgow to join Snow Patrol in the spring of 2002.
During Lightbody and McClelland's years at the University of Dundee, they had been noticed by Richard Smernicki, a senior student, and his brother Paul. Richard Smernicki graduated in 1996, two years before Lightbody and McClelland, and become Polydor's Scottish A&R representative. Paul Smernicki became Polydor's Press and Artist Development Manager and Fiction's label manager. Jim Chancellor, an A&R executive for Fiction, and fellow talent scout Alex Close, approached Snow Patrol in Glasgow, listened to their demos, and judged them on "the quality of the songs", according to Lightbody. Chancellor introduced them to producer Jacknife Lee, who despite having been a guitarist in 1990s punk rock band Compulsion, had no rock production experience at that point, being known instead for his work with Basement Jaxx and Eminem.
Final Straw was released on 4 August 2003 under Black Lion, a subsidiary of Polydor Records. Its music was the same as on the band's first two albums, and no attempt was made to change the sound to something more radio-friendly. Final Straw came out in the US in 2004 and sold more than 250,000 copies. It became the 26th most popular album in the UK that year and was eventually certified five-times platinum. In 2005, on a tour to support the album, the band were an opening act for U2 on the Vertigo Tour in Europe. Snow Patrol played a short set in London that summer at the worldwide benefit concert Live 8. After a two-year tour of Final Straw, the band took time off and began writing and recording songs for a new album. Snow Patrol's version of John Lennon's "Isolation" was released on 10 December 2005 as part of the Amnesty International campaign Make Some Noise. The song was issued on the 2007 John Lennon tribute album, ''Instant Karma: The Amnesty International Campaign to Save Darfur.''
''Eyes Open'' and worldwide success (2005–2007)
Bassist Mark McClelland left the band in March 2005. Lightbody said that "new and unexpected pressures" had "taken their toll on working relationships within the band", and it was felt that "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 replacement for McClelland. Snow Patrol also declared longtime touring keyboardist Tom Simpson an official member of the band.Snow Patrol completed the recording of Eyes Open in December 2005, with Jacknife Lee returning as producer. The album was released on 28 April 2006 in Ireland and 1 May 2006 in the UK, with the first UK single, "You're All I Have", issued on 24 April 2006. The record was released in North America on 9 May. "Hands Open" was the first American single, but "Chasing Cars" reached the download and pop charts after it was heard during an emotional scene in the second-season finale of the American medical drama Grey's Anatomy on 15 May 2006. On 23 July 2006, "Chasing Cars" was the last song performed live on the BBC's Top of the Pops. The song peaked at number 6 on the UK Singles Chart and number 5 on the US Billboard Hot 100.
On 26 November 2006, Eyes Open became the best-selling album of 2006 in the UK after selling 1.5 million copies. It was also the 15th best-selling album of the 2000s and one of the best-selling albums in UK chart history.
At the 2007 Grammy Awards, "Chasing Cars" was nominated for Best Rock Song. At the 2007 Brit Awards, it was nominated for Best British Single. On 1 September 2007, Snow Patrol headlined a "homecoming" mini-festival in Lightbody and Jonny Quinn's home town of Bangor, County Down. Around 30,000 people came to see the band.