Snow Patrol

Shrug, Polarbear, Snow Patrol

Gary Lightbody, Michael Morrison and Mark McClelland formed the band in 1994 as University of Dundee students, first as Shrug (debut EP The Yogurt vs. Yoghurt Debate), then Polarbear from 1996, and Snow Patrol from 1997 after a conflict with the American band Polar Bear. Jonny Quinn replaced Morrison in 1997. Songs for Polarbears (1998) and When It's All Over We Still Have to Clear Up (2001) came out on Jeepster, who dropped them in 2001. Nathan Connolly joined in spring 2002, after working in a Belfast HMV store room, and Iain Archer was a guitarist and backing vocalist in 2001 and 2002 and co-wrote songs for Final Straw. They signed to Polydor in late 2002 and were managed by Jazz Summers of Big Life. Lightbody told the Official Charts Company that it was ten years of no success, and then Final Straw was very successful.

Final Straw (August 4, 2003) was recorded in February 2003 at Britannia Row in London with Jacknife Lee, their first time recording there. It reached 3 in the UK and has sold six times platinum there, and Gold in the US, after about 20,000 sales before the album was repromoted; it sold ten million with Eyes Open and A Hundred Million Suns combined. Eyes Open (2006) went to number one and was the UK's best-selling album of 2006, with "Chasing Cars" nominated for a Grammy for Best Rock Song in 2007 and named the most played UK radio song of the 21st century by the BBC in 2019. McClelland left in March 2005 and Paul Wilson replaced him. They opened for U2 on the Vertigo tour in Europe in 2005 and played Live 8.

A Hundred Million Suns (2008), Fallen Empires (November 14, 2011), Wildness (May 25, 2018) and The Forest Is the Path (September 13, 2024, produced by Fraser T. Smith) followed. Johnny McDaid became a full member in 2011. Quinn and Wilson left in 2023, announced on September 1, and the band continued as a trio. Side projects include the Reindeer Section, Tired Pony and Listen... Tanks! with Jacknife Lee. Their first gig is marked by a plaque on the Duke of York pub in Belfast, a PRS Heritage Award in June 2010.