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| Gary Lightbody | |
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 Gary Lightbody on stage
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| Background information | |
| Born | 15 June 1976 |
| Origin | Bangor, Northern Ireland |
| Genre(s) | Indie rock Alternative rock |
| Occupation(s) | Singer Guitarist Songwriter |
| Instrument(s) | Guitar Vocals |
| Years active | 1994–present |
| Associated acts | Snow Patrol The Reindeer Section The Cake Sale Listen... Tanks! |
| Notable instrument(s) | |
| Fender Telecaster Deluxe Gibson Les Paul |
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Gary Lightbody (born June 15, 1976 in Bangor,[1] Northern Ireland) is a Northern Irish musician and songwriter, best known as the frontman of the alternative rock band Snow Patrol.
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Personal Life
Lightbody is "terrified" of organized religion.[2]
Musical career
After attending Rockport School and Campbell College, he moved to Dundee, Scotland in 1994 to attend the University of Dundee. It is here that he formed the band Polar Bear (after the original name 'Shrug') with fellow student Mark McClelland, also from Northern Ireland. Initially Richard Colburn of Belle & Sebastian featured on drums. Lightbody then asked Jonny Quinn to move from Belfast to take over on drums. Facing legal action from an American band of the same name, the boys changed their name to Snow Patrol.
Snow Patrol
Lightbody formed the band with classmate Mark McClelland in 1994. In the band's first seven years of existence, they added drummer Jonny Quinn, released two albums (Songs for Polarbears, and When It's All Over We Still Have to Clear Up), and toured with bands such as The Levellers, Ash and Travis, before signing to Polydor offshoot Fiction. Their first album on Fiction, Final Straw, saw Lightbody working with producer Garret "Jacknife" Lee, who went on to produce U2. After the success of Final Straw, the band headed back into the studio to record the next album for Fiction, Eyes Open which was again produced by Lee.
Side projects and collaborations
Lightbody formed the Scottish supergroup The Reindeer Section, made up of 47 musicians from 20 different bands, in 2000. They released two albums — Y'All Get Scared Now, Ya Hear! in 2001 and Son of Evil Reindeer in 2002.
In 2005 he was included in another musical collective, The Cake Sale, formed by Brian Crosby to raise funds and awareness for Ireland's Make Trade Fair campaign. He partnered with Lisa Hannigan to perform "Some Surprise", a song written by Bell X1's Paul Noonan. The song reached #5 on Irish charts as a radio/single release.
His most recent side project is Listen... Tanks!, a Napoleonic rock-band collaboration with Garret "Jacknife" Lee. One-time bandmate Iain Archer has been approached to contribute.
In addition to work on Snow Patrol and side-project material, Lightbody has also lent his voice to the band Mogwai (one track on Rock Action).
Lightbody has also contributed vocals to The Freelance Hellraisers "Waiting for Clearance" debut album 2006 as well as UK producer Kidda's debut album Going Up, scheduled for release Spring 2008.[3] He has also produced a song "Just Say Yes" for Nicole Scherzinger's debut solo album "Her Name Is Nicole" set for a release on February 26, 2008.
Gary Lightbody is currently on the board of directors of the Oh Yeah Music Centre in Belfast, a project set up to give young artists from across Northern Ireland a place where they can share ideas and kick start their music career, as often is the trend of talent leaving the country from lack of appraisal.
Influences
The two albums Final Straw and Eyes Open were influenced by Lightbody's own infidelity and contain songs dedicated to his ex-girlfriend. In an interview with Ben Marshall from the Guardian, Gary said, "I agree that I don't paint too rosy a picture of my past in that respect. And I gotta say, I'm single right now. So I don't have a brilliant record in that department. But here's the thing, it's a lot easier to write about the bad stuff than it is the good stuff. When the good stuff is happening you tend to spend most of your time enjoying it and none of it pondering it. But when shit happens it forces you to ask questions. I can't think of many novels or plays that are about idyllic romances but there's libraries of stuff out there about bad relationships."
Musical equipment used
Guitars
- Lightbody's main guitar is a Fender '72 Telecaster Deluxe reissue in Black. Gary's guitars are known for the 'CELTIC' sticker on them.
- Gibson SG
- Fender Telecaster '72 Thinline Reissue – Blonde
- Fender Telecaster '72 Deluxe – Blonde
- Fender Telecaster Standard – USA model in Yellow
- Gibson Les Paul Deluxe - Black (also bears the CELT sticker)
Amplifiers
- Mesa Boogie Dual Rectifier Solo Heads With Rectifier Cabs
- Marshall JCM800 2203
- Marshall 3315 Transistor Amp(Originally Used By Nathan Connolly)
- Vox AC30's
Effects
- BOSS TU-2 Tuner
- BOSS TR-2 Tremolo
- BOSS CS-3 Compression Sustainer
- Two BOSS SD-1 Super Overdrives
- BOSS GE-7 Equalizer
Notes
External links
- Snow Patrol
- The Reindeer Section
- http://www.thewavemag.com/pagegen.php?articleid=25870&pagename=article
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