Gary Lightbody
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Gary Lightbody (born Bangor, Northern Ireland, on June 15, 1976) is the frontman of the Scotland-based rock band Snow Patrol.
After attending Campbell College, he moved to Dundee, Scotland in 1994 to attend Dundee University. It is here that he formed Polar Bear with fellow student Mark McClelland, also from Belfast. Initially Richard Colburn of Belle & Sebastian featured on drums. Lightbody then asked Jonny Quinn to move over from Belfast to take over on drums. Facing legal action from an American band of the same name, the boys changed their name to Snow Patrol, the affectionate nickname a friend had dubbed them.
Over the years they released two albums, Songs for Polarbears, and When It's All Over We Still Have to Clear Up, and toured with bands such as The Levellers, Ash and Travis, before signing to Polydor offshoot Fiction. Their first album on Fiction, Final Straw, saw Lightbody working with producer Garrett "Jacknife" Lee, who went on to produce U2. After the success of Final Straw, the band headed back into the studio to record the next album for Fiction, Eyes Open.
He also formed in the Scottish supergroup The Reindeer Section., made up of 27 musicians from 10 different bands. In 2006 he featured in another musical collective, The Cake Sale, formed to raise funds and awareness for Ireland's Make Trade Fair campaign.
Lightbody now lives in Glasgow and is a friend of the BBC Radio 1 DJ Colin Murray.
Lightbody is known for being very into contributing to Charities, recording charity songs and helping raise awareness of such events.
Contents |
[edit] Equipment
[edit] Guitars
Lightbody mainly uses a Fender Telecaster 1972 Deluxe (Reissue) which has twin humbuckers. His guitars are known for the 'CELT' sticker on the body of the guitar.
His other guitars are:
- Gibson SG
- Fender Telecaster 1972 Thinline (Blonde/Reissue)
- Fender Telecaster 1972 Deluxe (Blonde)
- Fender Telecaster 1972 Deluxe (Black)
- Fender Telecaster USA Standard (Yellow)
[edit] Amps
He mainly uses Marshall but recently he has switched to Mesa Boogie Triple Rectifier Solo Heads and uses them with a Marshall 1960A Cab
His other amps are:
- Marshall JCM800 2203
- Marshall 3315 Transistor Amp
[edit] Effects
Lightbody uses Boss Floor Effects
His pedalboard consists of:
- Boss TU-2 (Tuner)
- Boss TR-2 (Tremolo)
- Boss CS-3 (Compression Sustainer)
- Boss SD-1 (Super Overdive) He uses two
- Boss GE-7 (Equalizer)
