Snow Patrol
Mar 23, 2018

Snow Patrol recently premiered “Don’t Give In,” the lead single from “Wildness,” their first record in seven years. This collection will be released on May 25th via Republic Records.
Lead singer and songwriter, Gary Lightbody explains: “‘Don’t Give In’ was originally about a friend going through a tough time but the more I wrote into it I realized it was about me and the struggle of making the album - which took 5 years and was not easy - coupled with the struggle with depression I’ve had since I was a kid, so it has become the talisman of the album. The song that became a self-fulfilling prophecy.”
“Wildness” taps into something raw and primitive. Lightbody explains: “There are many types of wildness, but I think it can be distilled into two: the wildness of the modern age, all its confusion, illogic and alienation and a more ancient wildness. Something primal, alive and beautiful that speaks to our true connectivity, our passion, our love, our communion with nature and each other. This is the kind of wildness the album is centered around. The loss of it. Trying to reconnect with it. To remember it.”
Since their 1998 debut, “Songs For Polarbears,” the Northern Irish-Scottish band have racked up an impressive number of critical and commercial accolades, including 15 million global album sales, 1+ billion global track streams, five U.K. Platinum Albums, and are Grammy, BRIT Award and Mercury Music Prize nominated. After their Fallen Empires tour ended in 2012, band members —which also include multi-instrumentalist Johnny McDaid, guitarist Nathan Connolly, bassist Paul Wilson, and drummer Jonny Quinn — decided to take a step back from the band, and focus on their own projects.
Gary Lightbody continued his work with his Tired Pony side project with members of Belle and Sebastian, R.E.M, Reindeer Section and Fresh Young Fellows. He also moved to Los Angeles where he began writing songs for films (including “This Is How You Walk On” for 2017’s Gifted), and doing a number of high-profile co-writes with Ed Sheeran, Taylor Swift, Biffy Clyro, and One Direction.Taking this extended break from Snow Patrol proved to be a source of inspiration, and writing songs that were not pulled directly from his own psyche helped heal what Lightbody considered to be not so much writer’s block as life block.
Snow Patrol have announced shows in New York City, Los Angeles, and London in April and throughout Ireland & the U.K. in May.