Snow Patrol Biography
Summary
"Snow Patrol" are a Northern Irish alternative rock band which formed in Bangor, Northern Ireland. They are based in Belfast and are signed to Polydor Records. Originally formed as an indie rock band, Snow Patrol have sought a more alternative rock and powerpop sound in recent years on the heels of mainstream success with the songs 'Run', 'Chasing Cars' and 'Signal Fire' from the "Spider-Man 3" soundtrack.
The band's first three records, including their first EP—"Starfighter Pilot", "Songs for Polarbears" and "When It's All Over We Still Have to Clear Up"—were commercially unsuccessful and were released by independent labels Electric Honey (for their first EP) and Jeepster (for their first two albums). When the band moved to a major record label "Polydor Records" they released their 2003 album "Final Straw" which crossed 4x platinum sales in the UK. The band achieved worldwide success due to 2006's "Eyes Open", which sold 4.7 million copies worldwide. Snow Patrol have been nominated for three BRIT Awards and have won five Meteors. Worldwide, the band have sold over 7 million albums.
History
Early years
Originally formed in late 1994 as 'Shrug' by students Gary Lightbody and Mark McClelland at the University of Dundee in Dundee, Scotland, the band started by performing gigs at the university and surrounding pubs before changing their name to "Polar Bear" (or "Polarbear") in late 1995. In the early days, the band used to pretend to be members of the Scottish band Belle & Sebastian in order to gain free entry to the Student Union club at the Glasgow School of Art.
In mid 1997, they renamed to Snow Patrol, and released a three-track EP, "Starfighter Pilot", on the Electric Honey label. Richard Colburn, from Belle & Sebastian, played drums on this record, and Stuart Murdoch, from the same band, sang on one of the B-sides.
At this point, Jonny Quinn, from Northern Ireland, joined as permanent drummer. With him the band released their next EP 'Little Hide' on Jeepster Records while still living in Dundee (its cover was a blurred photo of a football crowd watching Dundee United F.C. at Tannadice Park, taken by Gary Lightbody). A follow-up single 'One Hundred Things You Should Have Done in Bed' was a minor independent chart hit. Both of these early singles were heavily promoted by Jeepster - with videos included as computer files on the CD singles, and Snow Patrol starting to appear on television. Their first MTV interview was in 1998, and they briefly appeared on a Channel 4 documentary about Jeepster Records (which concentrated mostly on Belle & Sebastian) that same year. Two albums on Jeepster followed: "Songs for Polarbears" in 1998 (including a slightly remixed version of their debut single 'Starfighter Pilot') and "When It's All Over We Still Have to Clear Up" in 2001 (both recorded while the band lived in Glasgow). Also in 2001, Gary collected a group of Scottish musicians, from such acts as Mogwai and Belle & Sebastian together to perform as a 'supergroup', The Reindeer Section, who have so far released two CD albums. Gary also performed vocals on a single by Cut La Roc.
The band's website addresses the naming question in their FAQ, item #6:
After the critical successes but commercial failures of the band's two albums on the Jeepster label, the band became increasingly disillusioned with their relationship with their label. The band began to feel that Belle & Sebastian got all the attention from the label, and little effort was being made to promote Snow Patrol. Since the band was not making much money, the members were under financial pressure, with Lightbody having to sell off his CD collection in order to pay for his rent.
"Final Straw" and breakthrough success
After being dropped by Jeepster, guitarist Nathan Connolly joined, and the band signed to the mainstream Polydor label. They gained mainstream success with their song 'Run' (which debuted at No.5 in the UK singles chart), as well as the album it was from, the 2003 release, "Final Straw" which was produced by Jacknife Lee. The record peaked at #3 in the UK albums chart. Archer's final date with the band was September 27, 2003 in the St Andrews Students' Association. They followed the success of 'Run' up with three more singles from the album: 'Chocolate', as well as a re-release of 'Spitting Games', both reaching the top 30, and 'How to Be Dead' reaching number 39.
The release of "Final Straw" in the United States in 2004 saw the album notching up well in excess of a quarter of a million sales and becoming the 26th most popular British album of that year.
On March 16, 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.' Former Terra Diablo member Paul Wilson replaced him on bass. In April 2005, Snow Patrol declared longtime touring keyboardist Tom Simpson an official member of the band.
In mid-2005, during their tour to support "Final Straw", the band toured with U2 as an opening act on U2's Vertigo Tour in Europe. The band returned to the United States afterwards to continue touring in support of "Final Straw". That summer also saw Snow Patrol playing a small set in London at the worldwide benefit concert Live 8. After finishing their opening act duties and extensive 2-year tour of "Final Straw" in late July, the band took a few weeks off and began writing and recording songs for a new album. Snow Patrol's new version of John Lennon's 'Isolation' was released on December 10, 2005 as part of the Amnesty International campaign, Make Some Noise. The song was later issued on the 2007 John Lennon tribute album, "Instant Karma: The Amnesty International Campaign to Save Darfur."
"Eyes Open"
The band completed recording "Eyes Open" in December 2005, with Jacknife Lee returning for production, and this album was released on April 28, 2006 in the Republic of Ireland and the UK on the May 1, 2006, with the first UK single 'You're All I Have' having been released on the April 24, 2006. The album was released in North America on May 9. While 'Hands Open' was the first American single, 'Chasing Cars' pushed its way onto the download and pop charts after it was heard during an emotional and (plot-wise) huge scene in the second season finale of the television show "Grey's Anatomy" on May 15, 2006. Due to the song's surprise popularity, it was released as an overlapping single in early June and the video was re-recorded to include clips from the show. On December 30, 2006, it was voted by Virgin Radio listeners to be the #1 song of all time.
On July 30, 2006, Snow Patrol appeared on the finale of the long-running BBC music show "Top of the Pops", performing 'Chasing Cars'. The band was the last act to ever appear on the show.
Snow Patrol recorded a live session at Abbey Road Studios for Live from Abbey Road on October 4, 2006. The performance was included on an episode shared with Madeleine Peyroux and the Red Hot Chili Peppers and shown in the UK on Channel 4 and the US on the Sundance Channel.
The band was forced to postpone a majority of the American Eyes Open tour after polyps were discovered on Lightbody's vocal cords, and failed to heal after initial postponement of three dates on the tour. Dates were rescheduled for August and September. The year would continue to be difficult on the band for the U.S. legs of their tours, as they were also forced to cancel two west coast festival appearances in mid-August due to the threat of terrorist attacks on U.S.-bound flights from the UK. Two band members made it to the U.S. while two were stuck in London. Subsequently, they all made it to the lone U.S. tour stop in Boston days later but failed to recover any of their luggage, forcing them to shop for clothes on Newbury St. that afternoon. Their gear arrived hours before show time, just in time for sound check. The band also had to cancel appearances in Germany and France after bassist Paul Wilson injured his left arm and shoulder.
On November 26, 2006, "Eyes Open" had become the UK's best-selling album of the year, overtaking previous leader "Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not" by Arctic Monkeys. Despite very strong sales for Take That's comeback album "Beautiful World", "Eyes Open" marginally earned the title of the UK's best-selling album of 2006, with 1.6 million in sales. The album reached platinum certification in the US as well, selling over 1,000,000 copies, and it maintained a spot in the upper quarter of the "Billboard" 200 list for over fifteen weeks, on the heels of the popularity of 'Chasing Cars'. The band also holds the distinction of having one of iTunes' top downloaded albums and songs of 2006. Ahead of the band's February tour, "Eyes Open" topped the Australian charts some eight months after its release on January 22, 2006. Back home in Ireland, "Eyes Open" became one of the best selling albums of all time, staying at the top of the charts from the end of 2006 to early - mid 2007, and remaining in the charts to the present.
Snow Patrol appeared as the musical guest on the March 17, 2007 episode of "Saturday Night Live", hosted by Julia Louis-Dreyfus. They performed 'You're All I Have' and 'Chasing Cars'. The band toured Japan in April, followed by European festival dates, Mexico, and the US in the summer. They ended their tour in Australia in September 2007.
The band contributed the song 'Signal Fire' to the "Spider-Man 3" soundtrack, as well as the film. The song was the lead single from the soundtrack and was featured in the credits to the film.
On July 7, 2007, the band performed at the UK leg of Live Earth at Wembley Stadium, London. Shortly after the band's performance, Simpson was arrested at RAF Northolt for missing a court date in Glasgow after having been charged for possession of a Class A drug (cocaine).
September 1, 2007 saw Snow Patrol headlining a 'home coming' mini-festival in Gary Lightbody and Jonny Quinn's home town of Bangor, County Down. Around 30,000 people came to see the band.
On November 25, 2007, Snow Patrol performed an acoustic session for the charity Mencap, in a small chapel in Islington. They were one of the main bands to take part in the project, called 'Little Noise Sessions' which was curated by Jo Whiley.
"A Hundred Million Suns"
Gary Lightbody stated that recording for the follow-up to "Eyes Open" was to begin in Autumn 2006, with Jacknife Lee returning a third time for production. Since then the band stated that they wished to take a year off after the back-to-back tours of "Final Straw" and "Eyes Open" and intended to emerge at the end of 2008 with their next album. Gary Lightbody is also set to release an album as part of a solo project called 'Listen... Tanks!' but a date for this has not yet been publicly announced.
A post, dated May 23, 2008 on the band's official website stated that recording for the next album had been under way for a week; they began on May 19, 2008. The new album, entitled "A Hundred Million Suns", was released on October 24, 2008 in the Republic of Ireland and October 28 in the UK and US. The first single entitled 'Take Back the City' was released in the Republic of Ireland on October 10, 2008. Filming for the music video to 'Take Back the City' took place on the week of August 11, 2008 in Central London. The music video was directed by Alex Courtes.
Band members
Current members
Gary Lightbody- vocals, guitar (1994-present)
Jonny Quinn - drums, percussion (1994-present)
Nathan Connolly - guitar, vocals (2002-present)
Paul Wilson - bass guitar, vocals (2005-present)
Tom Simpson - keyboards (2005-present)
Former members
Mark McClelland - bass guitar, keyboards (1994-2005)
Discography
;Albums
1998: "Songs for Polarbears"
2001: "When It's All Over We Still Have to Clear Up"
2003: "Final Straw"
2006: "Eyes Open"
2008: "A Hundred Million Suns"
;EPs
1997: "Starfighter Pilot"
2005: "Live and Acoustic at Park Ave."
Major tours
Final Straw US Tour (2004) with Eisley; early 2005 with Athlete)
U2 Vertigo Tour (Openers on select dates in Europe, mid-2005)
SXSW Promo Tour w/ Republic of Loose (early 2006)
Eyes Open US Tour w/ Augustana and The Duke Spirit (or Aberdeen City on select dates) (mid-2006)
Chasing Cars Tour w/ OK GO and Silversun Pickups (early 2007)
Summer Tour w/ Hot Hot Heat on U.S. and Canada dates (mid-2007)
Australasian Tour, w/ Iain Archer (Australia and New Zealand), Silversun Pickups (Australia only), and Opshop (New Zealand only) September 2007.
External links
(SPIN's Review of 'A Hundred Million Suns')
Credit
This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article about Snow Patrol.
