Gary Lightbody
Gary Lightbody ( born June 15, 1976 in Bangor, County Down ) is a Northern Irish singer, songwriter and front man of the North Irish-Scottish alternative rock band Snow Patrol.
Life
After visiting the Campbell College in Belfast, Lightbody moved in 1994 to Dundee (Scotland) and studied at the University of Dundee English and English Literature. Here he founded with his two fellow students Jonny Quinn and Mark McClelland, the band Polar Bear. As a musician of the band Jane's Addiction led an eponymous side project, the band was renamed to Snow Patrol for legal reasons.
Her first recording contract they signed then the label Jeepster Records, which also features in the indie rock scene known bands such as Belle & Sebastian acted. While the albums Songs for Polar Bears and When It 's All Over We Still Have to Clear Up toured Snow Patrol with bands such as The Levellers, Ash and Travis before Polydor / Fiction have been contracted by the major label and with producer " Jacknife " Lee their third album, Final Straw produced which contained the successful and written by Gary Lightbody and Iain Archer song Run, which brought them up to 5th place in the British charts. The now sparked mainstream success until then as indie rock group known and respected band increased noticeably with their fourth album " Eyes Open " and the resulting adapted single, the international number one hit Chasing Cars. Their album A Hundred Million Suns Snow Patrol produced again with " Jacknife " Lee; it was described by Gary Lightbody and his bandmates as "the musical probably the best album we 've ever written ". The album was recorded in Ireland and in Berlin at the legendary Hansa Studios and released in October 2008. It was played as part of their 2008/2009 tour named Take Back the Cities and accompanied with impressive art and light show effects on screens at Snow Patrol's performances. His bandmates are Jonny Quinn ( drums ), Nathan Connolly ( lead guitarist ), Tom Simpson ( keyboards ) and Paul Wilson ( bass).
Lightbody lives in Northern Ireland and keeps his personal life out of the public away.
Musical projects
In 2001, Gary Lightbody called as a side project, the Scottish ' supergroup ' The Reindeer Section in life that counts 47 musicians from 20 different Scottish and Irish bands as members. The Reindeer Section, published in 2001, the album Y'All Get Scared now, Ya Hear! and Son of Evil Reindeer in 2002.
Even acting as a songwriter, he wrote for other musicians, such as Kidda and Nicole Scherzinger, the duet Mishka sang with the British Electronica musician Cut La Roc, the duet Set the Fire to the Third Bar with originating from New York singer Martha Wainwright, which was released on the album Snow Patrol Eyes Open. He also lent his voice to the Scottish band Mogwai and also worked with on the album for Ireland's charity Make Trade Fair Campaign, for which he shared the duet Some Surprise sang with the Irish, based in Dublin vocalist Lisa Hannigan, whose single release # 5 of the Irish Charts reached and was written by musician Paul Noonan of the band Bell X1.
Gary Lightbody is involved in particular for young musicians and bands in the music scene in his hometown Belfast in Northern Ireland and co-founded with fellow musicians and the music journalist Stuart Bailie the Oh Yeah Music Centre, a music center and former distillery in the Cathedral Quarter in Belfast, the young bands in the alternative rock and indie rock scene Belfast support production and concert technically. From Belfast he speaks in many conversations with journalists as one of the " fastest growing and most exciting music scene," he knows now. Even otherwise, he feels very attached to their home and dedicated the song Take Back the City to Snow Patrol's album A Hundred Million Suns of the Northern Ireland capital of Belfast, which inspired him to write the song text.
In 2010, Lightbody founded, among others, Richard Colburn ( Belle and Sebastian ) and Peter Buck ( REM), another side project called Tired Pony and released the album The Place We Ran From. In 2013 came the second album The Ghost Of The Mountain
Trivia
Gary Lightbody, who, as far as himself to his musical taste, as " Indie Rock Kid" called, felt as a student of musicians and bands like Kurt Cobain of Nirvana, Lou Barlow of Sebadoh and the Super Furry Animals inspired, even to become a musician and works alongside his job at Snow Patrol with his bandmate and friend Tom Simpson as a DJ. One of his favorite bands, the Super Furry Animals, he once described as the Beatles of his generation.
Musical Equipment
Guitars
- Lightbody 's main guitar is a Fender '72 Telecaster Deluxe black in color.
- Gibson SG
- Fender '72 Telecaster Thinline Reissue - blonde
- Fender Telecaster '72 Deluxe - blonde
- Fender Telecaster Standard - USA model in yellow.
- Gibson Les Paul Deluxe - Black
- Gretsch 6120 New Nashville - Orange
Gary Lightbody 's guitars are known to be almost always provided with a sticker of the lettering " Celt "
Amplifier
- Mesa Boogie Dual Rectifier Solo Heads
- Marshall JCM800 2203
- Marshall 3315 Transistor Amplifier
- Vox AC30 's
Effect boards
- BOSS TU- 2 Tuner
- BOSS TR-2 Tremolo
- BOSS CS-3 Compression Sustainer
- Two BOSS SD-1 Super Overdrive
- BOSS GE -7 Equalizer
Other equipment
- Picks: Dunlop Tortex Standard .60 mm Orange
- Ernie Ball Guitar Strings .009