Snow Patrol’s Gary Lightbody: ‘20,000 people were giving me the finger’
What’s the first rule of patrolling the snow? Is it: don’t eat yellow snow?
The first rule is don’t talk about patrolling the snow. We were originally called Polar Bear. I was at Dundee university and saw a friend of mine on the street who said, “How’s your band going? How’s Snow Patrol?” I was like: “Man, we’re called Polar Bear. I don’t know where you got that from.” A week later, we had to change the name of the band because one of the guys in Jane’s Addiction had just started a band called Polar Bear and his lawyers said we had to choose a new name. I’ve never met a polar bear, but I think I would love to, up until the point where it ripped my head off.
Should ketchup be kept in the fridge or the cupboard?
In the fridge. To be honest, I’d never thought about it. Now you’ve got me thinking it should be in the cupboard. Clearly I’m one of those guys that needs to be told to not iron their own face from the warning on the side of the iron.
Your new album is called The Forest Is the Path. When did you last get lost in the forest?
Very recently. There’s a forest near my house. I walk in it every day and I have got lost recently, which is kind of what this album is about. It’s about being lost and being OK with it, because for so many years of my life, I felt lost and I wasn’t OK.
What’s the weirdest thing you’ve done for love?
I shudder to think about the embarrassing poetry I’ve sent people, or the mixtapes with songs that weren’t even love songs, like Nirvana, Laurent Garnier or Megadeth.
Is Chasing Cars really the most played song on UK radio?
They gave us an award in 2018 and said it was the most played song on UK radio in the 21st century. I thought: “It’s a bit early for this. We’re only 18 years in. By the end of the century, it’s not going to be Chasing Cars. It’ll be something by Ed Sheeran, Adele, Taylor Swift, or perhaps someone we haven’t even heard of yet.”
When did you last have a wee at Sydney Opera House?
The last time I was in Sydney Opera House in 2019. I mean, I didn’t fly over to Australia just to have a pee in the Sydney Opera House and fly back again. We came to do some shows, which were extraordinary. Sydney Opera House is so iconic and revered that I assumed everyone would be sitting quietly and politely clapping. But it was one of the most raucous acoustic gigs we’ve ever done.
What’s the perfect length of men’s shorts?
Ankle.
If you removed your head, how light is your body?
Very light. Most of my density is in my head, made of nonsense and tangled mess.
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What’s the best part of being Gary Lightbody OBE?
The most amazing part was that my mum got to go to Windsor Castle. My mum loves a wee London trip and she got to watch then-Prince Charles pin the OBE on my chest. She was proud as punch. But it was also very sad because my dad had recently passed away and didn’t get to share the moment. Unfortunately it was announced that I was getting it two days after he passed.
What’s been your most cringeworthy moment with a celebrity?
We’ve opened for U2 over 50 times over the years. During the Vertigo tour in 2005 at an Amsterdam show, Andrea Corr came on as a guest vocalist. We were watching U2 from the monitor desk, which had a nine-foot drop behind it. I slipped off the railing, fell nine feet and somehow managed to catch myself on the bars below before hitting the ground.
Andrea – bless her, she’s so sweet – was all: “Oh my goodness, are you OK?” as I climbed back up. And just as I thought I’d maybe got away with it I turned around to see the whole right hand side of the stadium had seen me fall and about 20,000 people were pointing at me and giving me the finger.
Snow Patrol’s new album, The Forest Is The Path, is out now
