Influence and Other Ventures
The success of Snow Patrol has influenced the thriving Belfast music scene positively. This includes Lightbody, who returned to the city and now lives there. The band's kindness towards local bands, partly by founding Polar Music, and Lightbody being an active part of the Oh Yeah Music Centre has resulted in high optimism in the scene. Musicians like Bono (of U2), Michael Stipe (of R.E.M.), Nikki Sixx (of Mötley Crüe) have also expressed their admiration for Snow Patrol. Terri Hooley, founder of the Good Vibrations label and a lifelong supporter of local Northern Irish music has expressed pride in bands like Snow Patrol.
Gary Lightbody and Tom Simpson are both fans of the football club Dundee F.C.. In 2008, they met the club's board of directors to find ways to financially help the short-of-cash club. The band also owns a stake in the Houndstooth Pub in New York City.
Snow Patrol have founded Polar Music, a publishing company run through Kobalt Music. The venture is independent from the band's publishing deal with Universal Music. Polar Music will sign artists regardless of their genre, as drummer Jonny Quinn explained: "there is no agenda—if it's good enough and we believe in it 110%, we will sign it." Quinn, and his fellow band members Connolly and Lightbody are acting as A&R. The company's first signing was Johnny McDaid, previously of the Northern Irish band Vega4. Quinn has said that they wish to sign artists to a one-album deal, and do not want to put undue pressure on the artists with a bigger, multi-year deal. Polar Music had its first chart hit in the first week of October 2009.
In June 2010, the band were commemorated with a Heritage Award by PRS for Music. A plaque was erected on the Duke of York pub in Belfast where the band performed their first gig. The band were the sixth to receive the award, with all the members turning out. They later performed a live set to a small crowd of around 30 people.
On 27 July 2012, Snow Patrol performed in Hyde Park, London, as part of the opening ceremony for the London 2012 Olympic Games.
Gary Lightbody is featured on a track entitled "The Last Time" from Taylor Swift's 2012 album Red.
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