Snowpatrol – The Dundee Years

However embarrassing (or not) it may be to admit it Snowpatrol, the Norn Irish foursome are my ultimate guilty pleasure!

Having seen them live on six occasions and owning all their albums including their obscure early titles, Now It’s All Over We Still Have To Clear Up and Song’s For Polar Bears I may be described as a somewhat of a fan…

Being from Northern Ireland and growing up listening to local radio in the noughties it was pretty much impossible not to develop a soft spot for the band and being such a small country everyone seems to have a little knowledge of them and their time in Belfast but not so well know is their Dundee origins.

Snow Patrol were originally formed as Shrug in 1994 by Dundee University students Gary Lightbody, Mark McClelland and Michael Morrison the band rented studio space and local rehearsal studios, Stage 2000 and shortly after played their first gig in the union at Christmas of that year. After a number of lineup and name changes, Shrug eventually found success in the guise that we have now know them; Snowpatrol.

Sixteen years have passed from that first performance and Snowpatrol have became a global phenomenon selling millions of albums and becoming a household name worldwide. I am not ashamed to admit that growing up their music has provided the backdrop for many memorable nights in Belfast and it comes as a surprise that they evolved in the same surroundings that I now find myself studying.