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Snow Patrol
Background information
Origin Dundee, Scotland
Genre(s) Indie rock
Alternative rock
Acoustic rock
Powerpop[1][2][3]
Years active 1994–present
Label(s) Universal Music Group
Fiction/Polydor/A&M
Associated
acts The Cake Sale
The Reindeer Section
Website www.snowpatrol.com
Members
Gary Lightbody
Paul Wilson
Jonny Quinn
Nathan Connolly
Tom Simpson
Former members
Mark McClelland
Snow Patrol are a Grammy Award-nominated alternative rock band who formed in
Scotland, with the majority of their members being from Bangor and Belfast,
Northern Ireland. They are currently based in Scotland's second city of
Glasgow and are signed to Polydor Records. Originally formed as an indie
rock band, Snow Patrol has sought a more alternative rock sound in recent
years on the heels of mainstream success with the songs "Run", "Chasing
Cars" and more recently, "Signal Fire" from the Spider-Man 3 soundtrack.
Snow Patrol were nominated for the Mercury Prize in 2004 and nominated for
the Q Awards in 2006.
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 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. Due to legal threats from an American band with the same name (led
by Eric Avery, the former bassist of Jane's Addiction), they became "Snow
Patrol". In a recent issue of Rolling Stone magazine, bass player Paul
Wilson joked the reason for the name stemmed from an encounter with police
in Telluride, Colorado. The band members apparently were caught trying to
cut down a Christmas tree from the skiing hotspot. The band successfully
eluded the police when they hid in a cave for over five hours. Drummer Jonny
Quinn suffered from pneumonia after the ordeal. There is a "thank you" to
Gary's English tutor Peter Easingwood in the sleeve notes of the original
Starfighter Pilot.
At this point, Jonny Quinn, from Northern Ireland, joined as permanent
drummer. With him rounding out the lineup, 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 Four documentary about Jeepster Records (which
concentrated mostly on Belle and 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 and 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.
Breakthrough success
It wasn't until after being dropped by Jeepster that 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. "Before we hit the scene,
rock music had too much balls, which made us and our parents nervous. So
what we tried to do really was neuter it, remove that dangerous element of
anti-authoritarianism and replace it with the kind of bland, vaguely
emotional sound of a disappointed sigh." said Iain Archer, a touring
guitarist and songwriting collaborator from 2001-2003, who won an Ivor
Novello award for his contribution to the Final Straw album. 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",
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. Their single "Run" was the
22nd most played British song on American airwaves, having been played just
under 28,000 times on US radio stations in that same year.[citation needed]
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 summer 2005, in between legs of their tour to support Final Straw, the
band toured with U2, one of their biggest influences, as an opening act on
U2's Vertigo Tour in Europe. 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."
The follow-up
The band completed recording Eyes Open in December 2005, with Jacknife Lee
returning for production, and this album was released in 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 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. The
song was also featured in another television show, One Tree Hill, during its
season finale. On the December 30, 2006, it was voted by Virgin Radio
listeners to be the #1 song of all time. Another one of the band's their
songs, "Open Your Eyes", was heard on the season finale of another medical
program, ER, on the May 18, 2006, the The 4400, the second episode of Grey's
Anatomy's third season on September 28, 2006, and the pilot episode of NBC's
series The Black Donnellys.
Snow Patrol live in New York City in 2005
Snow Patrol live in New York City in 2005
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.
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. Sequentially,
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 showtime, 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 sales. The album reached
platinum certification in the US as well, and as of February 2007, it has
sold nearly 1,000,000 copies. It has 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. This February tour,
the band asked long term friend and Boss Volenti drummer, Graham Hopkins to
play drums as Jonny Quinn had broken his arm. The band will tour Australia
again in September 2007.
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 will end their tour in Australia in September
2007, with shows in Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane, Perth, Adelaide, Newcastle
and Canberra. Gary Lightbody has stated that recording for the follow-up to
Eyes Open will begin in fall 2007, with Jacknife Lee returning a third time
for production.
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 the July 7, 2007, the band performed at the UK leg of Live Earth at
Wembley Stadium, London. They performed "Open Your Eyes", "Shut Your Eyes",
and "Chasing Cars". 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). He was held at
Uxbridge Police Station, and transferred to Strathclyde before being
released in time to perform with the band at T in the Park in Balado.
Simpson missed Snow Patrol's performance at the Oxegen Festival in Ireland
as a result.[4][5]
Band members
Current members
* Gary Lightbody – lead vocals, guitar
* Paul Wilson – bass guitar
* Jonny Quinn – drums, percussion
* Nathan Connolly – guitar, backing vocals
* Tom Simpson – keyboards
Former members
* Mark McClelland – bass guitar, keyboards
Discography
Albums
Songs for Polarbears
(August 31, 1998)
Jeepster Records/Never Records
#143 (UK)
When It's All Over We Still Have to Clear Up
(March 5, 2001)
Jeepster Records
#129 (UK)
Final Straw
(August 4, 2003)
Black Lion, Polydor UK, Fiction (UK)
Interscope (U.S.)
#1 (Ireland)
* #3 (UK)
* #91 (US)
* (Originally charted at #103 in the UK)
Eyes Open
(May 1, 2006)
Interscope Records
#1 (Ireland)
* #1 (UK)
* #1 (Australia)
* #1 (New Zealand)
* #19 (Canada)
* #19 (Germany)
* #27 (US)
EPs
Starfighter Pilot
(1997)
(Electric Honey)
Live and Acoustic at Park Ave.
(2005)
(Polydor UK)
Singles
Year Song UK UK Download U.S. U.S. Modern Rock U.S. Digital U.S. Pop IRE GER
VH1 Top 20 AUS BRA Album
1998 "Little Hide" - - - - - - - - - - - Songs for Polarbears
"One Hundred Things You Should Have Done in Bed" 157 - - - - - - - - - -
"Velocity Girl/Absolute Gravity" 177 - - - - - - - - - -
1999 "Starfighter Pilot" 161 - - - - - - - - - -
2000 "Ask Me How I Am" 116 - - - - - - - - - - When It's All Over We Still
Have to Clear Up
2001 "One Night Is Not Enough" 105 - - - - - - - - - -
2003 "Spitting Games" 54 39 - 39 - - - - - - - Final Straw
2004 "Run" 5 38 - 15 - - - - 19 - -
"Chocolate" 24 96 - 40 - - - - - - -
"Spitting Games (re-release)" 23 - - - - - - - - - -
"How to Be Dead" 39 - - - - - - - - - -
2006 "You're All I Have" 7 6 - 27 - - 21 - 9 - - Eyes Open
"Hands Open" - - - 21 - - 18 - - - -
"Chasing Cars" 6 2 5 8 3 6 1 8 2 1 -
"Set the Fire to the Third Bar" 18 22 - - - - 26 - - - -
2007 "Open Your Eyes" [6] 26 32 - 18 - - - - - 8
"Shut Your Eyes" [7] - - - - - - 18 - - -
"Signal Fire" 4 3 65 - - - 1 - - 22 - Spider-Man 3 Soundtrack
DVDs
* Live at Somerset House (2004)
Compilations
* It's a Cool Cool Christmas (2003)
* The Trip Created by Snow Patrol (2004)
Misc
* "I Am an Astronaut"; on the charity album Colours Are Brighter - October
2006
* "Signal Fire"; on the Spider-Man 3 soundtrack - May 1, 2007
Major tours
* Final Straw US Tour (Winter 2004; Fall 2004 with Eisley; Winter/Spring
2005 with Athlete)
* U2 Vertigo Tour (Openers on select dates in Europe, Summer 2005)
* SXSW Promo Tour w/ Republic of Loose (Winter/Spring 2006)
* Eyes Open US Tour w/ Augustana and Duke Special (or Aberdeen City on
select dates) (Summer 2006)
* Chasing Cars Tour w/ OK GO and Silversun Pickups (Winter/Spring 2007)
* Summer Tour w/ Hot Hot Heat on U.S. and Canada dates (Summer 2007)
* Australian Tour, w/ Iain Archer and Silversun Pickups September 2007.
References
1. ^ "Snow Patrol: Eyes Open" Pitchfork record review.
2. ^ Aversion, "Snow Patrol".
3. ^ Guardian Unlimited, "Snow Patrol".
4. ^ "Police release T in the Park star", BBC News, 2007-07-08. Retrieved on
2007-07-08.
5. ^ "Snow Patrol star arrested", NME, 2007-07-08. Retrieved on 2007-07-08.
6. ^ http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio1/chart/playlist.shtml Confirmation by BBC
Radio 1 of "Open Your Eyes" release.
7. ^ http://www.universal-music.de/inhalt/musik/kuenstler/ROCK/Snow%20Patrol/28771/anzeige/single/
Confirmation by Universal Music DE of "Shut Your Eyes" release.
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