About 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.
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.
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.
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