happy mom

I thought it would be nice to have a thread for quotes by Snow Patrol band members, and for quotes by others about Snow Patrol. Feel free to post quotes and comment on them!

Here are some quotes taken from an interview by Michael Odell with Gary Lightbody. The full interview was published in Q UK Magazine, April 2007 issue.

We know so little about you. Describe your family.
My sister Sarah is 28. We fought with each other tooth and nail, almost to the point of violence. She works for kids with learning disabilities and she's one of my heroes now. And my mum and dad, Lynne and Jack. They weren't rich but they put us through school and are very open-minded.

Do they approve of you being a rock star?
Oh yes, sure. My mum is at the front row at our gigs in Ireland. It's endearing and funny, but it's also terrifying. It happened at a festival in Ireland. The crowd was jumping and beer was flying, and there was my mother laughing her head off in the front row.

Are they not at all religious and sectarian?
No. Very open-minded and tolerant. We knew of people who'd been injured or killed, but we weren't - aren't - in any way a fundamentalist family.

Where does the worry come from?
My mother is me. She's an over-thinker and a worrier. She'll work herself into tears worrying, like I will.

goodbreakingbad

Yay, bring on the quotes! Thanks for all those you kicked us off with.

Are there any quotes where they mention their songs...why they're named what they are, inspiration for the lyrics, etc?

happy mom

Yes, I can think of a couple...I'll go find them and post them soon.

goodbreakingbad

I was thinking you might. Thank you.

happy mom

It's my pleasure, Anji.

This quote is from the Final Straw Dual Disc (DVD side). Sessions@AOL did an interview with Gary and Nathan. One of the AOL members asked Gary what the song "Spitting Games" is about, and here's what he said:

Spitting Games is about child, eh, sort of, childhood love, my first love, I was, eh, six years old. She came up to me and said, eh, 'Do you, um, do you love me?' And I, and I said, 'I don't know. I'll tell you after P.E.' So after P.E., I went up to her, and I said, 'Yes, I love you.' So, that was my first experience with love, and, it's kind of went downhill ever since. [smiles]

This next one is also from Gary. It's taken from the Q UK Magazine interview (April 2007 issue) that I mentioned previously:

You used to say Run was about being a child. Yet the lyrics ["Light up, light up/As if you have a choice/Even if you cannot hear my voice/I'll be right beside you, dear"] suggest someone in hospital. Is it about you?
Yes. ****, yes. I've never told anyone before and I don't want to spoil it for people because it has its own meaning for them. But in 2000 I was on a massive bender and one night I was drinking in the bar of the Glasgow School Of Art. I fell down a full flight of stairs. Jonny Quinn found me in the stairwell with blood coming out of my head. He said I looked like a police chalk line and he thought I was dead.
I was very lucky. A fall like that could easily finish you off. I split my head open and my eye was closed and I lost a few teeth. I was put on a plane to see my mum and dad and they were terrified when they saw me. I wrote Run soon after on this little guitar I'd tried to smash up in my ****ty little room near Hillhead. The words "Light up, light up" gave me this sense of a beacon. There had to be a light at the end of the tunnel.

So what saved you?
Our drummer Jonny Quinn. I was doing bad things, but Jonny Quinn told me and he stood by me. It was the best thing anyone's ever done for me. If I ever go off the rails, I hear his voice saying, "Wise up, ****hole." He's the reason why the band is still together. He's like my older brother. I know he already has a younger brother because I went to school with him. But sometimes he has to snap me back into place again. He's my psychological chiropractor.

DanceWithLife

Great idea for a thread! And I love the quotes posted. Thanks.

happy mom

You're welcome! I'm glad you're enjoying them, Andrea.

goodbreakingbad

Thank you so much for those, Szilvia! I them!

happy mom

You're very welcome, Anji!

Some more interesting ones...they're from the Eyes Open Limited Edition CD+DVD set...Gary wrote about each song in the liner notes...here's a couple:

Shut Your Eyes
Today this is my favourite.
It's hypnotic and seemingly occupies its own little world on the record (perhaps joined only by 'Set The Fire To The Third Bar' but only in atmosphere. 'Third Bar' has something else).
This, along with 'You Could Be Happy' features the five of us all playing at the same time in the big room at Grouse Lodge.
I love the impurities that recording like this kicks up - laughing, chairs creaking, feet tapping and generally people getting it slightly wrong. Makes it all the more human.
The words are positive, hopeful and reaching. This makes me smile. To get this from a song which calls the world 'graves of dirt' is good, no? No? OK no then.

You Could Be Happy
This again was written in the rehearsal room in Glasgow in September 2005. It was a little ballad on the guitar that was sweet and sad but lacked something special. It was Garret's idea to put the melody onto a music box and instantly this turned it into something completely different. Ironically, though it was only when the rest of the band played on it that it got the magic touch. And the gorgeous strings which my sister insisted we put on. Thanks Sarah.

goodbreakingbad

I love:

and:

happy mom

I love what he wrote about "You Could Be Happy," about adding the music box.

It's great when songs let this show through...it's more like we're right there as they're playing it.

This is so sweet - his sister had a good ear for that. I love those strings!

happy mom

I found an interesting quote on this website:

Oh Yeah Music Centre, Belfast, Northern Ireland (UK)

Here's a portion of what Gary had to say...

"When I was growing up in Bangor I didn't even know there was such a thing as live music in Northern Ireland. No bands came here and I knew next to nothing about the local scene. When the bands I started at school were looking for some kind of rehearsal space, we relied on parents that were either deaf, out shopping or had just finished sound-proofing their garage. Either that or the church hall, and often that was being used for Seniors Karate."

Dashboard_Drummer

Do they have to be quotes from interviews ans stuff, or can they also be just things he said during one of their shows? 'cause I have some good ones for you than

happy mom

Well, a quote is a quote - if a SP member said/wrote it, it can be posted here. It's nice if the source of the quote (article, website, etc) can be named/linked to.

In your case, Aline, feel free to quote from the concert! I'm sure there are some good ones. Maybe just mention which show the quotes are taken from. Looking forward to reading them! Listening to Gary is such a treat.

Dashboard_Drummer

Oh okay, I'll do that

these quotes are from their show at Rock Werchter 2007 on June 30

Gary had dedicated a song to Andy from Razorlight 'cause it was his birthday that day, but he was having guitar issues during that song and he was like 'The one time I dedicate a song to someone, my guitar sounds like ****...wonder if that means something...well, if it does, what the hell, I'll just dedicate the next song to him too!'

'There's always something wrong when we come to Belgium, first time we were here, they lost all our equipment at the airport so we had to play an acoustic set, and this year, They lost our luggage at the *****in' airport! So the clothes we're wearing now are the clothes we'll wear 'till they *****in find them! So, anyone wanna smell my shirt?'

and While Gary was talking about their lost luggage later on in the show again, all of a sudden a few people in the front started clapping and yelling reallt loud and he said like 'thanks you four people over there...for finding our misery amusing!'

That's about all I can remember I read this interview somewhere this week and there were some funny quotes in that, but I can't find the magazine it was in anymore...