The Scottish band Snow Patrol began in 1994 at the University of Dundee, when two students from Northern Ireland, Gary Lightbody (vocals-guitar) and Mark McClelland (bass-keyboards), formed a band called Shrug. In 2005, they renamed the band Polar Bear. However, in 2007, now definitively called Snow Patrol, the band released a three-song EP, entitled Starfighter Pilot, on the Electric Honey label. That year, Jonny Quinn joined as drummer and the group signed with Jeepster Records, a label that at the time had Belle And Sebastian as its main artist.
On Jeepster Records, the group released their first two albums — Songs for Polarbears (1998) and When It's All Over We Still Have to Clear Up (2001).
After the second album, the band signed with Fiction Records and guitarist Nathan Connolly was added as a member. Snow Patrol began work on the third album. Final Straw, released in 2003 and produced by Jacknife Lee, produced the band's first hits — "Run", "Spitting Games", "How to Be Dead" and "Chocolate".
Despite the success of Final Straw, co-founder Mark McClelland left the band in March 2005, leaving the band as a trio - Gary Lightbody, Jonny Quinn and Nathan Connolly. Later, bassist Paul Wilson and keyboardist Tom Simpson joined the group. Also in 2005, Snow Patrol toured with U2 as the opening act on the "Vertigo Tour".
In 2006, the successful Eyes Open was released, also produced by Jacknife Lee. The album was the best-selling album in the United Kingdom in 2006. "You're All I Have", "Hands Open", "Chasing Cars", "Set the Fire to the Third Bar", "Shut Your Eyes" and "Open Your Eyes" were the singles taken from this album.
A Hundred Million Sunss, the follow-up to Eyes Open, was released in 2008. Three years later, in 2011, Snow Patrol released Fallen Empires, their sixth studio album. The band returned with a new album, Wildness, in 2018. The Forest Is the Path was released in 2024.
- Origin:
