Snow Patrol is an indie rock band from Northern Ireland, currently on Polydor Records. It was formed in Scotland by vocalist/ guitarist Gary Lightbody and bassist/ keyboardist Mark McClelland, two students from Northern Ireland who were, at the time, pursuing an education in Dundee.
Originally known as "Polarbear", they released a three-track EP, Starfighter Pilot, on the Electric Honey label. Richard Colburn, from Glaswegian indie band Belle & Sebastian, played drums on this record. Due to legal threats from an American band with the same name (led by the former bassist of Jane's Addiction), they became "Snow Patrol".
At this point, Jonny Quinn, also from Northern Ireland, joined as permanent drummer. With him rounding out the lineup, the band released Songs For Polarbears in 1997 and When It's All Over We Still Have To Clear Up in 2001.
However, 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 the song " Run" (which debuted at #5 in the UK singles chart), as well as the album it was from, the 2003 release, Final Straw. The record peaked at #3 in the UK albums chart. They followed the success of "Run" up with 3 more singles from the album, "Chocolate", and 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 USA 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, beating artists such as Muse (Absoluion), David Bowie (Best of), Cold Play's Parachutes and The Beatles Sergeant Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. Their single Run was the 22nd most played British song on American airwaves, having been played just under twenty-eight thousand times on US radio stations in that same year.
