S N O W B U S I N E S S With Snow Patrol having just released latest album Reworked, we meet frontman Gary Lightbody to discuss his recent team-up with Bono, winning awards, NI’s new breed of bands and more. INTERVIEW EDWIN MCFEE
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hen Snow Patrol quietly drifted off into their selfimposed Odinsleep at the start of the decade, some wondered if they would return and, if they did, would they be able to take back the stadiums and festivals of the globe? Last year’s Wildness finally ended their hiatus, and proved another commercial hit, maintaining the group’s place in the rock vanguard. Aiming to make up for lost time, and also to perhaps strike while the iron is hot, the (mostly) Bangor-bred bunch have served up another new record in the form of Reworked. The opus features 13 reimagined cuts from their back catalogue, plus three new tunes to tide fans over until Wildness’ sequel (more on that later…). When Enterprise catches up with singer/guitarist Gary Lightbody in LA he tells us that, like most worthwhile art, the seeds of the LP grew from a refusal to do what was expected “It’s been 25 years since we started,” he reflects. “So maybe the obvious thing would’ve been to release a Best Of, but we didn’t want to do that. We already released a Best Of 10 years ago, so we wanted to give people something they hadn’t heard before. That was preferable to trotting out another one, and rinsing people for the thing they’ve already got, you know? “We’ve been playing acoustically a lot on side tours these days, so I thought we could do an acoustic record. I talked to Johnny about it and he was like, ‘Nah let’s do something more ambitious than that!’ I didn’t think we’d have the time, but he made time on tour and worked his butt off. We recorded it across a hundred different cities, just setting up
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in hotel rooms and dressing rooms. Johnny worked until goodness-knows-when-o’clock in the morning. This is the first record we’ve ever made on the road.” Snow Patrol appeared at Belfast’s Ulster Hall on November 7, to receive their thoroughly deserved Oh Yeah Legend Award at the now annual NI Music Prize bash. How does Gary feel about being an official legend, then? “I think we all feel old,” he laughs. “It is an amazing honour. Therapy?, Ash and the legend that is Terri Hooley have received it in the past and we’re proud to be part of that list. I actually gave Terri his award at the first event many years ago. I’ve been to the Northern Ireland Music Awards a few times and it’s a brilliant night. “The NI music scene is infinitely healthier now than when I was starting out. When we were playing gigs at 18, 19, 20, there were great bands, but it didn’t feel like a deeply connected music scene, whereas now it does. There’s so many great young bands, there’s people playing on each other’s records, getting gigs sorted together… you feel like it’s a real scene, and more akin to what happens in Dublin. In my early days, I’d go down to Dublin and see what was happening and you’d be almost kinda jealous. Everybody knew each other, everybody was hanging out and enjoying themselves, and that’s how it feels now in Belfast, which is amazing.” The Best Album category was particularly competitive this year, and Gary marvels at the high standard of the nominated acts. “Saint Sister’s album is is my favourite record on there. Two Door Cinema Club’s is great too. They’re also Bangor lads and have recorded with our long-time producer Jacknife Lee. He’s actually their long-time producer too – they’ve done three albums with him. There are so many incredible records and they just keep coming out. Like Kitt Philippa just released an album, which is stunning and
