Snow Patrol

About four years ago I was introduced to a band called Snow Patrol.  Snow Patrol is an alternate rock band that was formed in Scotland in 1994.  Snow Patrol only has two original members with it now, the lead singer/songwriter and guitarist GaryLightbody, and Johnny Quinn who plays drums.  The other members include Nathan Connolly (quitar, back-up vocals), Paul Wilson (bass), Johnny McDaid (piano, rhythm guitar, backing vocals), and Tom Simpson (keyboards).

Their 1998 album Songs for Polar Bears is named such because the band used to be called Polar Bear.  It was named Polar Bear until the band found out that Eric Avery (former Jane’s Addiction bassist) had a side project band called the same, and so “Snow Patrol” was born.  The second album by Snow Patrol was released in spring of 2001 called When It’s All Over We Still Have To Clear Up, which increased the band’s status but did not put out any big hits.  However, “in 2003 they released Final Straw their first number one album, which yielded the band’s first top 5 hit, Run”  (Reference).

In 2006 their album Eyes Open came with the bands biggest hit to date, Chasing Cars.  It was hugely popular in both the UK and the US and has been nominated for and won a number of awards.  “As of 8 January 2012, the single has spent 108 weeks on the official UK Top 75 Singles Chart and 154 on the Top 100 and has sold 816,877 copies in the UK by November 2011, despite missing the Top 5.  It also sold 3,131,000 copies in the US by November 2011, making it one of the top 10 best-selling songs by a British artist in the digital era” (Reference). 

Here is a link to an interview with Gary Lightbody at the Q awards after Chasing Cars won the “Q classic song.”  Click Here

Since the release of Eyes Open, Snow Patrol has put out three more albums.  A Hundred Million Suns came out in 2008, with varied reviews and adequate chart success.  Their sixth album called Up to Now is a greatest hits album of sorts, with three new songs.  The latest Snow Patrol album titled Fallen Empires was released in the UK on November 14, 2011 but has just been released in North America on January 20, 2012.  This album has also received some mixed reviews and a handful of the songs on the album really stray from Snow Patrol’s original style.

Personally, I absolutely love Snow Patrol.  My favourite songs by Snow Patrol are from their Eyes Open and A Hundred Million Suns albums but they have amazing songs on their other albums too.  I previously knew the song Chasing Cars because it made an epic appearance in the season 2 finale of the TV show Grey's Anatomy.  I instantly fell in love with the song but I never explored the band's other music.  About four years ago I heard a CD of Snow Patrol in a friend's car and I have been listening to and highly anticipating new releases of their music ever since.  My favourite song by Snow Patrol is called Make This Go On Forever.  I think that there can be different interpretations of the song but to me it is about a man going through a tough time in a relationship but he cannot imagine his life without the woman he is with.  I think that the woman in the song cares about him but knows that the relationship is over.  I find that a lot of Snow Patrol's songs comforting to listen to.  The songs describe different emotions such as love, sadness and hope, exactly how I feel them.

Make This Go On Forever

Here is a list of song links I recommend for anyone wishing to listen to more Snow Patrol songs

• Run
• Signal Fire
• Open Your Eyes
• If There's A Rocket Tie Me To It
• The Planets Bend Between Us
• Called Out In The Dark

References:

http://www.last.fm/music/Snow+Patrol/+wiki

http://www.snowpatrol.com/Default.aspx#!official

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chasing_Cars